| Councilmember Dave Gossett |
March 13, 2009 |
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Dave Gossett's eNews
3000 Rockefeller Ave., M/S 609
Everett, Washington 98201
Office: 8th floor, Robert J. Drewel Building
Phone: 425-388-3494
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Governor Reappoints Gossett to AHAB
Governor Chris Gregoire has reappointed Councilmember Dave Gossett to the state's Affordable Housing Advisory Board (AHAB). Gossett will represent Western Washington counties.
"It is a real honor to be reappointed to the board," said Gossett. "The board plays a critical role in shaping the state's housing policy."
AHAB is currently drafting the update to the 5 year Strategic Plan. The plan will outline goals and programs to meet those goals in areas such as homelessness, special needs populations, homeownership, workforce housing, land use/infrastructure, preservation, and how to increase housing supply and decrease costs.
"I'm particularly interested in ways to promote home ownership and workforce housing," commented Gossett. "We need to ensure that police officers, teachers, fire fighters, and other moderate income workers can afford to live in the communities where they provide services."
Gossett was appointed to finish a partial term on AHAB in February of 2008. His new term will expire January 26, 2013.
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Reducing Congestion Through Increased Transit
Traffic congestion on 164th between I-5 and Highway 527 is a major problem. In 2007 the county decided that it was not practical to add more lanes to the road-in too many places homes and businesses were too close to the existing road.
Since widening 164th to accommodate more vehicles is not an option", said Councilmember Dave Gossett. "We needed to explore innovative strategies to find cost-effective solutions to get people out of their cars and use van pools, ride share and transit."
Working together with Community Transit the county implemented "Curb the Congestion". The program includes outreach to local residents and employers whose commute trips impact 164th. People are given subsidized bus or van pool passes for a few months to encourage them to try alternative transportation options.
"The program is off to an excellent start," commented Gossett. "In just 7 months we have 92 new bus riders and 7 vanpoolers. And 90% of them have indicated they intend to continue to use the bus or van pool after the subsidies end."
The goal of the program is to reduce peak traffic, when it is at its worse, by 10% (300 trips) by 2013. In the first 7 months a 2% reduction was achieved.
"We're well on our way to reaching our goal," said Gossett. "Reducing the number of peak hour trips by 300 will increase the speed of traffic on 164th by 48%."
Community Transit has made service and capital improvements to support the program. Bus service on 164th is now running every 15 minutes. A new "park and pool" lot has been established at 164th and North Road. And 10 new bus shelters have been built.
"This is very cost-effective," said Gossett. "Public Works is studying other areas where we can reduce congestion with this program. The 128th/Airport Road and 20th St SE corridors are both being evaluated."
Persons who commute by driving alone on the 164th corridor and are interested in participating in the program should contact Kate Tourtellot at (425) 438-6136 or kate.tourtellot@commtrans.org
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County Improving Pedestrian Safety
The county is planning to spend millions on new walkways in south Snohomish County in the next few years.
"I often hear from citizens about the need for safer walking conditions," said Councilmember Dave Gossett. "I've been working hard to improve all aspects of transportation-transit, roads, bikeways, and pedestrian facilities."
Amongst the walkway projects planned:
East Shore Drive between 155th St SE/SW and 2nd Ave W
- 4,900 feet of walkway (2,500 of sidewalks, 800 feet of shoulder walkway, 1,600 feet of walkway separated from the shoulder
- Under construction now-completion date May of 2009
Cascadian Way between 164th St SW and Meridian Ave
- 10,000 feet of walkway separated from the shoulder on the east side
- Construction to begin June of 2009-completion in 2010
Lockwood Road between Locust Way and Carter Road
- 1,200 feet of sidewalk on both sides of the road in front of Lockwood Elementary
- Construction to begin in 2009-completion in 2010
45th Ave walkway between 240th St SE to 228th area
- 3,950 feet of sidewalk on east side from 240th St SE to 228th St SE; 1,000 feet of sidewalk and 1,800 feet of walkway on west side between 228th St SE and 212th St SE
- Construction in 2010
Meadow Road between 164th St SW and Meridian Ave
- 10,000 feet of sidewalk or separated walkway on one side of the road (which will be determined in design)
- Design beginning now-construction in 2011
Larch Way between SR524 and 180th SW
- 5,000 feet of sidewalk or walkway on one side of road (which will be determined in design)
- Design beginning now-construction in 2011
228th St SE between 39th Ave SE and SR 9
- 18,200 feet of sidewalk on both sides of street
- Design beginning now-construction in 2012
Total cost for the walkway projects is over $20,000,000.
"Many of these projects will provide safe walking conditions to area schools or parks," said Gossett. "This is a great investment in protecting our kids."
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I hope you found this eNEWSLETTER informative and useful. You can make it even more valuable by suggesting topics and issues for future newsletters. Please contact me at 425-388-3494, or e-mail Dave.Gossett@snoco.org. If you would like to share this newsletter, select the Forward email link below. Sincerely,
Dave Gossett
Snohomish County Council |
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