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A nationwide traffic study just released by traffic data firm INRIX found that Seattle has the 10th worst congestion in the nation.  That’s the second time in the last few months that Seattle has ranked in the top 10 in a national congestion ranking.  But more interesting than the city vs. city rankings is this:  if you believe INRIX’s national ranking tables, Seattle-area congestion fell by nearly one-third between 2006...

This weekend, I’ll be heading to Portland—and no trip to my old stomping grounds is complete without a stop at my favorite food cart pod. (BBQ jackfruit fried pie? Yes, please!) But soon, my food cart cravings may not require a three-hour trek across state lines. By the end of the month, the Seattle City Council could enact legislation to get more food carts rolling in the Emerald City. Seattle...

Editor’s note: We’re trying out a new weekly post to share some of our favorite reads from the week—things concerning the Northwest, sustainability, or that are just plain entertaining. Let us know your favorites, or submit your own to editor@sightline.org. Center for Public Integrity exposes how reckless the oil industry is with workers’ lives.–Alan Evidence from Victoria Transportation Policy Institute that demand for vehicle travel is leveling off throughout the...

I think you can officially call this a pattern:  traffic volumes all around the Pacific Northwest are falling short of the projections made just a few years ago.  Take a look at just a sampling of the evidence: The Golden Ears Bridge:  Both traffic volumes and tolling revenue on this new bridge outside of Vancouver, BC are falling short of expectations, adding up to “a cumulative shortfall of $63.8 million...

A report detailing Canadian and US public opinion on climate change and based on the results of two national surveys was released Wednesday by the Public Policy Forum and Sustainable Prosperity (full report here, pdf). The big takeaways: Far more Canadians than Americans believe climate change is real (80 percent vs. 58 percent). Canadians, unlike their US counterparts, see clear government responsibility in addressing climate change (65 percent vs. 43...

[WARNING:  As mentioned in the comments below, this post’s discussion of the “Coase theorem” contains several errors—most notably, that Coase himself did not present his arguments mathematically.  In fact, according to a number of sources, there really is no single “Coase theorem”—instead, there are several different and somewhat conflicting notions that followers and interpreters of Coase have presented as theorems.  For more, please read the comments, below.] Those inclined to...

Oregon is looking to ban BPA from baby bottles, sippy cups, baby formula cans, and reusable sports water bottles. Washington did a similar ban last year—minus a ban on formula cans. And Oregon is proposing an interesting add-on to its proposed rules: requiring manufacturers to label cans as containing BPA. Then shoppers get to decide if they want a can of peaches lined with a known endocrine disruptor for their...

Stormwater obviously causes problems for the environment and infrastructure, washing away salmon eggs in torrents of runoff and flooding basements. But does it threaten human health as well? You bet it does, and in ways that might surprise you. Polluted runoff flushes raw sewage across beaches, triggers blooms of toxic algae in our drinking water systems, and contaminates shellfish and seafood we eat with bacteria and dangerous chemicals. Over the...

There are a couple of ways to tackle the problem of polluted runoff: keep the water from getting fouled in the first place, or clean it up once it’s contaminated. It doesn’t take a hydrology expert to figure out that in many cases, it’s cheaper and easier to deal with a pollutant at its source before it’s dissolved in water and spread far and wide. So goes the logic behind...

Here’s an odd tidbit from a story on highway tolling in the Seattle P-I: The [Washington] Highway 167 HOT lanes cost about $90,600 per month to operate, on average, and take in about $52,600 in tolls per month. [Emphasis added.] For those who aren’t hip to the lingo, HOT stands for “high occupancy/toll“—basically, HOV lanes that solo drivers can use for a fee.  Ideally, HOT lane tolls are tuned to...