This comes to us courtesy of our friends in public relations. PEMCO Insurance did a poll in June of this year that found that text-messaging is on the rise.

It's like Prohibition: There's nothing like a ban to make something really popular -- or so it seems.

Washington made texting while driving a secondary offenses, which means drivers have to be caught doing something else wrong before they'll ever get a ticket for text messaging. (I suspect the odds of dying while text-message are greater than the likelihood of getting a ticket.)

The PEMCO poll showed 70 percent of drivers think text-messaging should be a primary offense. On the other hand, only 58 percent think talking on a cell phone while holding it in your hand should be a primary offense. (That also is a secondary offense today.)

Two years ago, 65 percent of people thought talking on a cell phone should be a primary offense. What does that tell you? To me, it says a lot of people are thinking about the tickets they COULD HAVE GOTTEN if it already were a primary offense. Hence, the greater degree of acceptance. But that's just me.

Texting-While-Driving Doubles in 18 Months Among Washington Drivers

SEATTLE, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ ‹ A poll by PEMCO Insurance reveals that the practice of reading and sending text messages while driving has more than doubled in the past 18 months, even while an increasing number of drivers believe the activity is unsafe.

The poll, taken in June 2009 shows that 18 percent of Washington drivers who use electronic devices admit to reading or sending text messages while driving, although University of Utah research suggests such behavior increases the likelihood of accidents eight-fold. Only six percent of respondents using electronic devices admitted to texting behind the wheel in February 2008.

=> Read more!

The lane closures will allow crews to re-stripe the lanes in preparation for work on the carpool lane project between the Port of Tacoma Road and the King County line.

I-5 reduced to one lane in Fife for HOV widening project

FIFE – If your Saturday night plans include traveling north on I-5 from Tacoma to Seattle, be ready for backups or, better yet, adjust your plans.

Crews on the I-5 HOV widening project through Fife begin closing lanes at 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22. By 11 p.m., a triple-lane closure will be in place, leaving just the inside lane open to traffic.

There will be workers and equipment on the freeway, so please stay alert and drive cautiously through the work zone.

Crews plan to begin reopening lanes by 8 a.m. Sunday, and have all four lanes open to traffic by 10 a.m. Sunday.

=> Read more!

UPDATE: (6:22 a.m. Thursday) All lanes opened this morning at 4 a.m.

This is really short notice, but the Washington State Department of Transportation has decided to shut down the mainline of Interstate 5 through Tacoma tonight at 11 o'clock and divert those four or five lanes of traffic into a single lane.

The diversion will last until 4 a.m. Thursday. It will be done to allow DOT and other work crews to set up some equipment for the Nalley Valley Viaduct replacement project.

Just to be clear, here's what's going to happen: If you drive southbound on I-5 past the Tacoma Dome, you'll come upon the three-lane off-ramp that carries traffic onto westbound Highway 16 at the Nalley Valley Viaduct. Actually, the two far right lanes carry traffic across the viaduct. The third lane (the far left one) is a collector-distributor that takes you either to the 38th Street off-ramp (and toward the Tacoma Mall or other stores there) OR, if you stay in the collector-distributor lane, it will take you past the 38th Street interchange and you can get back onto the southbound I-5 mainline.

Here's the DOT news release:

Construction closes I-5 lanes in Tacoma overnight Wednesday, Aug. 12

TACOMA – A change in work plans means crews close the southbound I-5 mainline near Nalley Valley overnight Wednesday, Aug. 12. Southbound traffic will be diverted off I-5 to the 38th Street collector-distributor lanes and then back to I-5 using the 38th Street on-ramp.

=> Read more!

About $100 million worth of the pontoon work for the 520 bridge replacement project will be done in Tacoma, but the bulk of it will be done down south in Grays Harbor County.

WSDOT picks the Aberdeen Log Yard as its preferred site for SR 520 pontoon construction

ABERDEEN – The Washington State Department of Transportation announced today that the Aberdeen Log Yard is the preferred location for a new construction facility to build SR 520 bridge pontoons.

=> Read more!

On one side are the berm proponents, those who think it will be just fine to have the Sounder train climb from Freighthouse Square to a bridge over Pacific Avenue via an earthen berm.

On the other side are those who prefer a post-and-beam structure – essentially a viduct – to do the same work.

Tacoma cartoonist R.R. Anderson weighs in with his perspective.

This is a second roundtrip train between Portland, Ore. through Tacoma and Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. site of the 2010 winter in February.

Service will begin Aug. 19 (next Wednesday) when a northbound train pulls into Vancouver at 10:45 p.m. The next morning, the train will leave Vancouver at 6:40 a.m. and will arrive in Portland at 2:45 p.m.

Here is the news release from Amtrak Cascades.

The Amtrak folks managed to bury a huge bit of news at the very bottom of this news release, too. Apparently, all of the Talgo trains, which have been off line for more than a year, undergoing repairs, will be back in service.

May marked the end of the first year of operation for the High Occupancy Toll lanes on Highway 167 in South King County. That's 1 year out of a 4-year experiment to see whether the state can squeeze more use out of the highway by getting solo drivers to buy their way into the carpool lane when traffic is really heavy in the general purpose lanes.

The state Department of Transportation is declaring the first year a success. (Here is the 20-page report.) What do you drivers say?

According to the DOT, here are the highlights:

--More than 30,000 individual Good to Go! customers paid to drive the HOT lane.
--The average toll rate paid was about $1.
--The average number of daily tolled trips continues to increase monthly from 1,050 trips per weekday in May 2008 to 1,710 trips per weekday in April 2009.
--General purpose (GP) lane speeds increased 10 percent.
--GP lane volumes increased up to 4 percent.
--HOT lane volumes increased up to 3 percent.
--HOT lane traffic speeds increased up to 8 percent.
--Carpool and transit travel times maintained at HOV-only (pre-HOT) levels.
--The HOT lane does not appear to have any adverse impact on safety.

Carpools, buses, solo drivers saving time in HOT lane

First annual report shows HOT lane option still growing in popularity

KENT – More than 30,000 solo drivers paid an average toll of $1 to escape heavy traffic on State Route 167 and drive in the high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane during the pilot project’s first year.

=> Read more!

You'll note that 1,300 riders had to take a bus shuttle to get all the way to the airport because that final segment won't be open until December.

Here is a link to the Washington Policy Center's take on ridership. (It also appears in the comment section).

The center's points are well taken. The 12,000 "riders" probably is only 6,600 different "people." But I'm not going to get bent out of shape by that. I don't think Sound Transit was deliberately distorting the numbers. Rather, the agency was just writing in a language the average person could understand.

Strong ridership during first week of Link light rail service
Link proves popular option for special events

During its first week of regular service Central Link light rail carried an estimated average of 12,000 riders each weekday. Another estimated 16,900 riders took Link on Saturday and 15,100 on Sunday.

“We're encouraged by the large numbers of people who boarded light rail on opening weekend and have started using it every day," said Sound Transit Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "This is a new way to think about getting around our region and we know ridership will continue to increase as more people try the system and we expand the line to more communities."

Nationally, ridership on new light rail systems ramps up over time as more and more people find out about the service and give it a try. Weekday ridership during the first week was already more than halfway to the level Sound Transit projections show for the end of 2009.

=> Read more!

Sound Transit is unlikely to make major changes to the design of a Sounder commuter rail extension through Tacoma’s Dome District despite opposition from area businesses and residents.

That message came through clearly this morning at Freighthouse Square at a meeting about Sound Transit’s plans for the commuter rail segment from the Tacoma Dome to South M Street.

The agency plan relies largely on earthen berms to elevate the track as it rises to cross Pacific Avenue and climb a hill along South Tacoma Way. Opponents say the berm will divide the business district and prefer a “post and beam” support structure that would leave open space beneath the tracks.

“The City of Tacoma is letting Sound Transit come through and do it the way they want it, rather than the way that’s best for the City of Tacoma,” said Dan Fear, who lives in the First Creek neighborhood.

Sound Transit officials listened to those concerns and answered questions about the design today. But they say the berm design makes engineering and economic sense for a project that already is behind schedule and over budget.

And while members of the agency’s board of directors wouldn’t rule out small changes, they said they’re unlikely to order a full redesign.

“Will it be a whole different structural arrangement? I doubt that,” said Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, a Sound Transit board member.

The design is just the latest controversy over the commuter rail segment, part of a larger extension of Sounder service to South Tacoma and Lakewood. The exact route from the Tacoma Dome to M Street prompted debate. So did the agency’s original plans to cross Pacific at street level.

Sound Transit ultimately decided to elevate the tracks over Pacific to address safety and aesthetic concerns. But that redesign came at a cost. The Tacoma-to-Lakewood project’s budget ballooned from $76 million to $151 million, and the agency is still at least $22 million short on money for the segment.

Agency officials say the “post and beam” alternative would cost another $4 million and would further delay the project, originally scheduled to be finished in 2001. Moving ahead with the current design – which relies mostly on berms but includes some post-and-beam support – would open commuter rail service to Lakewood in 2012.

Opponents fear focusing on the short-term budget and time constraints may have long-term consequences for the Dome District. Resident Jori Adkins said the berm will use land beside the track that otherwise could be used for future retail development.

“This can’t happen if we `berm out,’” Adkins said.

=> Read more!

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy in inviting politicians and neighbors to a meeting July 27 to talk about Sound Transit's plans in Tacoma's Dome District.

More specifically, she is creating a forum in which neighbors can raise doubts about the transit agency's plans for putting Sounder tracks on an earthen berm rather than on an elevated structure.

Dome District residents and others think the berm will place a wall between the upper dome district and the lower dome district. Sound Transit thinks the current plan is the most affordable way of getting trains from Freighthouse Square to existing tracks on the south side of Pacific Avenue.

Those trains will then travel to stations in South Tacoma and Lakewood, hopefully by 2012.

Neighbors think Sound Transit and the city of Tacoma has stopped listening to their concerns. McCarthy, a member of the Sound Transit board, and wants staff to make a presentation on existing plans and then listen to concerns. The meeting will include a walk of the proposed route.

It will begin at 9 a.m. in the meeting room of Freighthouse Square.

Here is the pdf of the meeting invitation.

Just got a call from Jamie Swift, one of the spokesmen for the state Department of Transportation in Pierce County. He said later today, DOT will announce that a contract has been awarded to build carpool lanes on Interstate 5 between the Port of Tacoma interchange and the King County line.

This is the project that will use most of the $70 million in federal economic stimulus money for transportation projects in Pierce County. It was one of those projects that was pretty much "shovel ready" because the state DOT was going to use state funds to do this project this biennium. As it works out, federal money will pay for this project and the state funds for this project will be shifted to the second half of the Nalley Valley Viaduct project.

That project was facing a two-year delay -- until the 2013-15 time frame -- under the governor's budget proposal. But after we got assurance of the federal funds, the eastbound Nalley Valley project was put back on the Legislature's schedule. It will be done in 2011-13.

Also, the way contractors have been competing for projects, I'm expecting the DOT to announce that the bid for the I-5 carpool was well below the DOT engineers' estimate.

UPDATE: (3:10 p.m.) Here is the DOT news release. Tri-State's bid amount of $31,095,383.05 is about 25 percent below estimated cost, continuing a trend directly linked to tough economic times.

=> Read more!

The tunnel boring machine pictured below was built by Herrenknecht AG (which has an office in Tacoma), for a tunneling job in Madrid, Spain. Below the picture are links to three companies that are in the business of building these huge machines (they're about 55-60 feet in diameter) and which are likely to be interested in getting the job to build a "drill bit" for the 1.7-mile deep-bore tunnel under First Avenue in Seattle to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Here is a link to Herrenknecht AG. This is a German firm with an office in Tacoma.

Here is a link to RobbinsTBM in Kent. Company HQ is in Ohio.

Here is a link to NFM Technologies. This is a French firm that recently was sold, to Mitsubishi, I think.