Traffic analysis says SoDo arena would put Port jobs at risk
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SEATTLE -- A new traffic study says a proposed SoDo sports arena would be a roadblock for the Port of Seattle and put thousands of jobs at risk.
Many of the findings in the study, which was commissioned by the Port, directly contradict an earlier study funded by developer Chris Hansen, who wants to build the arena.
Moving freight through the Port of Seattle keeps 17,000 men and woman employed, but road congestion could threaten the port's future.
On Tuesday, port commissioners got a look at just how bad traffic could get if a new arena is built in SoDo.
"What we would like to see is people not gamble with other folks' jobs," said Commissioner Bill Bryant.
According to the new study, freight trucks would have a harder time moving around the added congestion caused by a third sports venue in the area. Street closures around the site would only make that worse, the study says.
Many of the port's concerns aren't addressed in the traffic analysis that Hansen paid for.
"And to date we have seen no actual commitment for mitigation for this arena, and that frightens me," said Marni Heffron, who wrote the new study.
Heffron's company has a long history of working with the port, and she was hired to create a more detailed traffic analysis.
"I think what we have today is a more detailed list of what a real study would look like and the information we need to have before we make any more decisions," Bryant said.
What's missing in both studies is a list of projects that would fix the congestion, as well as what that would cost. Given that, port commissioners voted to ask the Seattle City Council not to commit to Hansen's arena plan until a full-scale environmental impact statement is done.
"Essentially, what you have are people on the city and county council playing poker blindfolded, and the ante is other people's jobs," Bryant said.
Many of the findings in the study, which was commissioned by the Port, directly contradict an earlier study funded by developer Chris Hansen, who wants to build the arena.
Moving freight through the Port of Seattle keeps 17,000 men and woman employed, but road congestion could threaten the port's future.
On Tuesday, port commissioners got a look at just how bad traffic could get if a new arena is built in SoDo.
"What we would like to see is people not gamble with other folks' jobs," said Commissioner Bill Bryant.
According to the new study, freight trucks would have a harder time moving around the added congestion caused by a third sports venue in the area. Street closures around the site would only make that worse, the study says.
Many of the port's concerns aren't addressed in the traffic analysis that Hansen paid for.
"And to date we have seen no actual commitment for mitigation for this arena, and that frightens me," said Marni Heffron, who wrote the new study.
Heffron's company has a long history of working with the port, and she was hired to create a more detailed traffic analysis.
"I think what we have today is a more detailed list of what a real study would look like and the information we need to have before we make any more decisions," Bryant said.
What's missing in both studies is a list of projects that would fix the congestion, as well as what that would cost. Given that, port commissioners voted to ask the Seattle City Council not to commit to Hansen's arena plan until a full-scale environmental impact statement is done.
"Essentially, what you have are people on the city and county council playing poker blindfolded, and the ante is other people's jobs," Bryant said.
I am against anything Balmer is supporting happen not come to pass... Seattle traffic sucks enough during Mariner / Seahawks games... hope this proposal dies ... basketball is just another sponsor fest of overpaid athelets we can do without...
@Freespeech I agree. Not a fan of basketball or overpaid prima donnas. They played in the Arena the way it is now. Now because another team has something fancier, we are supposed to cave in and bow to them. I say if the teams want it, they should pay for it.
So jobs are at stake beause the drivers don't want to wait in traffic? Boo hoo, neither does anyone else.
The city is up against the union now. The arena is good as dead. No one is going to risk losing $100K longshoreman union jobs for an arena.Â
Is there a map of exactly where these trucks need to travel?  Any links to a copy of either of these studies (which were produced with speed that is unusual for Seattle, land of the endless studies).
 @georgef You read my mind. I also cringed when I heard "study, which was commissioned by the Port" - makes me want to know who did the study, and smells of bias.
What a load of crap. But I say screw Seattle and its quest to protect itself from progress. Just build the stadium in Kent, Bellevue, Lynnwood or Everett and be done with it. Any of those communities (except probably Bellevue) would accept the stadium and its tax base with open arms - some of the east siders might not take well to the uncivilized sport coming to town - LOL.
 @Howard Beale "Just build the stadium in Kent, Bellevue, Lynnwood or Everett"...
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Yes, please!
 @OrcasThunder Or Renton. Even Tacoma is an option.Â
Build the dang thing further South. Why does it have to be in Sodo whe we have a huge, wide open valley that spans all the way to  Fife? Seattle traffic is gross, and the streets look like a war zone. It will never get better.
 @Saving Grace It has to be on I-5. If you travel at all further south in the valley you would be forced onto 405 and 167, both of which have about 20% of 1-5's capacity.
BS.
The Traffic has not been exactly stellar down there for many years, and some of the problems should have been fixed a long time ago.
The Port, County, and City now believe they have found their sugar daddy in the form of Mr. Hansen.
Tax dollars have been misused, or reallocated in shell games to fund whatever whims of the politicians deemed a priority.
Now, they want Chris to pay for it all. Like a road planners gone wild, they'll come up with "solutions" to alleviate the traffic problems, and have Hansen whip out the Master Card and cover what should have been previously taken care of.
There all no jobs at risk....Chicken little needs to set the crack pipe down and give it a rest.
 @Sydthepiper Does it matter how those traffic issues got there or whose fault it is? What matters is traffic is bad there and an arena would make it worse and hurt jobs.
 @NorthwestEconomist The last project on First Ave So tightened up the traffic lanes and added bicycle lanes. What did the POS( love that acronym) have to say about that?
Why would the port make this up? If it wasn't going to hurt their jobs why would they be opposed to the arena? They have NO MOTIVE for opposing the arena unless they believe it really WILL hurt their jobs.
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17,000 jobs are not worth a new arena in Sodo.
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 @NorthwestEconomist The port of seattle generates something like 300 billion dollars in revenue annually. if they really couldn't survive without the two flyovers most people talk about, they can damn well build it themselves.
 @Mesh "something like 300 billion dollars in revenue annually"
Where do you get that figure? The report at http://www.portseattle.org/About/Publications/Documents/2009_POS_AR2009_PrintVersion.pdf puts 2009 gross revenues as $449 M, with expenses at $245 M.
 @Mesh Did you even look at the report? It includes not only the PORT of Seattle, but ALL other operations the Port of Seattle covers - like the aviation operations.
How about you back up your $300 Billion claim with an actual link from the Port?
And please, don't bore us with your hatred of women...
 @Mesh Are you saying that the port increased revenues over 1,000% in just 2 years - during a recession?
Really?
I did find the 2011 report - which has revenues at $443 M in 2011.
http://www.portseattle.org/About/Financial-Info/Documents/CAFR_2011.pdf
Care to fail again?
 @OrcasThunder 2011 fiscal statements, which you can google.
 @NorthwestEconomist correction, only 203 billion in 2011.
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the actual cost of the atlantic street flyover will be something like 15.6 million.
 @NorthwestEconomist Because they were promised things such as an Atlantic street flyover and other improvements when Safeco was built, but that money went to the Mercer mess.
The Port is rightfully putting up a stand to get the improvements that never happened.
The Mainers on the other hand are worried about their bad product and knowing that if other attractions were available the dancing grounds crew, bobbleheads, and hydroplane races on the big screen might not be enough to keep people coming.
How much is the port of seattle paying to have these reports come out in their favor?
 @Cooter_Brown How much is Hansen paying for his studies to come out in his favor?
 @jedifarfy I get really excited when I see someone answer a question with a question, fallacies in action, yeah!
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My philosophy professor was right after all....
 @jedifarfy  @Cooter_Brown What a constructive comment.
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and to answer, he's spent 3 million dollars of his own money to come up to the exact same conclusion as the port of seattle.
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a new arena will add 8 minutes of traffic.
Wow. Â There is a distinct lack of reading the flippin' article in the comments section. Â Color me shocked ;)
The Port of Tacoma is a better Port and a far better managed Port.
I'm sorry, I'm not seeing anything that benefits that BS claim! But since it was commisioned by the port, I guess they get to believe their own bald faced lies. Here the REAL info!
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http://seattle.gov/arena/docs/120523PR-SDOT-ArenaReport.pdf
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http://www.sonicsarena.com/info/sonics-arena-traffic
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 @Zoso Great post Zoso (Houses of the Holy #1). I can't stand all the misleading news stories there are with improper facts on the arena deal. WSDOT did the analysis for Chris Hansen, I did not see who did it for the Port.
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 @msouthj This is all you need to know about who did the study for the port: "Heffron's company has a long history of working with the port, and she was hired to create a more detailed traffic analysis."
If Bill Bryant actually believes this bull he is spewing from his mouth he is a fool! And whoever is paying him is a bigger fool.
Is this the same Port of Seattle that advocated for the "light" rail and watched as $7.5 Billion over the last 16+ years has demonstrably negatively impacted the road-building situation around here?
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The Port should be mandated to use the "light" rail to move their goods. After all, they used OUR tax dollars to support it!
So the current traffic problems are why the port loses jobs to Tacoma, Vancouver, Portland, and the Bay area?
Got it.
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Thanks for the heads up. I'm glad it's not the City or the County that's to blame.
Where's the independent voice on this?????
 @DualLeads Independent voices are a myth. Someone always foots the bill, and thus there will always be at least the appearance of influence.
I guess the P.O.S. still can't tell time. Basketball games are generally when Mickey's big hand is on the twelve and his small hand is on the seven. Furthermore, if 18,000 seats are going to kill jobs, what's Safeco Field doing to you. There are two prime time football games on this year as well, what's that cost, 900 jobs?
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I get it, the city of Seattle screwed you over when they dirverted money over to the Mercer mess. However, there are two other sports venues that have to be hurting you more since they hold MORE SEATS than the proposed arena.Â
 @path_tech So all those Sounders, Seahawk, and Mariners fans I see parking, walking, and clogging roads between 4 and 6:59 are a figment of my imagination? Good to know! Thanks!
 @path_tech Ports like Seattle run 24/7, not 9 to 5. It doesn't matter what time the actual events are, road closures and heavy traffic are an impact. We can argue over how much impact it has, but it certainly does have an impact.
This is not a new traffic study, it was done months ago and the results were withheld by the port because they knew they had no case.
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Releasing this "study" less than a week before the vote does nothing to benefit the port as they are already in negotiations with Chris Hansen on settling this "dispute".
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All this does is serve to display to all the public what a fragmented and dysfunctional body operates our port, one of the largest and most profitable in the world.
To clarify, even the ports own traffic study list a time delay of 8 minutes as a worst case scenario
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8 minutes.
What do you know....he who pays for the study benefits from the study.
 @K00lGuyÂ
how does traffic threaten there jobs?
@takingamericaback "their" jobs
I am kind of confused on how traffic would put peoples jobs at risk?
 @takingamericaback It's not the competition of sporting events that will hurt the Port of Seattle jobs...It's the Port of Tacoma, Port of Portland, Port of Chehalis, Port of Bellingham, Port of Vancouver (and B.C.) , Port of Kalama, Port of Longview, Port of Olympia. That's the competition the Port of Seattle is losing too!!! The Port of Seattle doesn't have the space nor the equipment to be more efficient.