Plan ahead for tunnel closure

Dear Tunnel Vision:
Kudos to you for thinking ahead and looking for ways to help employees lessen the impact the tunnel closure will have on their commutes. As you know, in September 2005 the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel will be closed for up to two years to retrofit the tunnel for use by both buses and light rail.

Sound Transit, the City of Seattle, King County Metro Transit and Community Transit are partnering together to find ways to mitigate the impacts of more buses on downtown surface streets, and ultimately on your employees’ commutes. These groups, with the help of others like Commuter Challenge and the Downtown Transportation Alliance, are working to ensure that those who work in downtown Seattle have viable and attractive alternative transportation options during the tunnel-construction period.

Improvements will be made to downtown streets in the next year to improve traffic flow during the tunnel closure and accommodate the extra buses that will operate on the surface. A package of incentives and services also is being designed to help and encourage employers, property managers and individuals to take advantage of alternative transportation options. Some of these incentive options may include additional features for Area FlexPass and/or Puget Pass, incentives for setting up pre-tax employee transportation contributions, and more direct provision of transportation information.

Rollout of the incentive and outreach plans will occur in Spring 2005. Look for updates and links to partner programs on the Commuter Challenge web site as they become available. Questions or comments on these programs should be directed to Carol Cooper of King County Metro Transit at 206-684-6766 or carol.cooper@metrokc.gov.
HOV