Ryan Packer
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
The councilmember stewarding Seattle's next big transportation levy says his goal is prioritizing all modes at the same time. It may be hard to square this approach with pressing climate goals and an urgent traffic safety crisis.
After building over 40 miles of protected bike lanes since 2015, the City of Seattle only promises around 10 additional miles through 2032. The potential for extra projects depend on additional funding beyond the mayor's levy proposal.
The Seattle Department of Transportation's project delivery is ramping up in 2024. What does that tell us about where the department is heading under a new levy?
The location of future light rail stations in South Lake Union has been the subject of intense debate among Sound Transit boardmembers. The agency's staff are officially recommending that the alignment not veer off course despite pressure from Vulcan, Amazon, and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Seattle could hit the brakes on implementing an energy code that's much more stringent than the state code, in the hopes of getting more housing units into the development pipeline.
WSDOT is set to delete the 10th Avenue E tunnel underpass from Seattle's planned Roanoke Lid despite only saving around 10 to 15 million dollars.
King County's popular Trailhead Direct weekend shuttle service between Seattle and Eastside hiking hotspots returns on May 25 with two separate routes to choose from. The last two seasons, the County offered just one route.
State highways like SR 900 in Skyway are missing safe places to bike and walk. A mandate to fix that could be expedited by an ambitious $100 million grant that the state is seeking from the EPA.