Uptown (a.k.a. Lower Queen Anne) holds a distinction that the Seattle Department of Transportation would like to see disappear. At 41 percent, the neighborhood has the highest rate in the city of people driving alone in their vehicles, according to Peg Nielsen from SDOT.
Downtown and Capitol Hill, by contrast, have drive-alone rates of 28 to 30 percent, she said. The rates are based on the 2000 census and the 2004 update of the city's Comprehensive Plan, Nielsen added.
But SDOT isn't asking Queen Anne residents to make major changes in their lives. "We are not trying to change their commute patterns," she said. It's all those little trips to the grocery store and other places that mount up, said Nielsen, who added that a whopping 70 percent of the drive-alone trips are not made to and from work.
Cosponsored by the Uptown Alliance, the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce and King County Metro, the Uptown In Motion program will encourage people to take the bus, ride a bike or walk instead of hopping in their vehicles. The effort lasts for 10 weeks starting this month, and all SDOT is asking is that neighborhood motorists eliminate at least two drive-alone trips a week, she said. "So what we're asking them to do is not that big a deal."
Eliminating two trips may not sound like much, but based on past experience, just that small reduction can make a difference, according to Nielsen. The In Motion program has been tried in other neighborhoods such as Columbia City, the Rainier Beach area and Ballard.
In Ballard alone, more than 800 participants eliminated 183,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions by driving fewer than 189,000 miles, which in turn saved 9,400 gallons of gas, according to an SDOT press release. "In fact, Ballard was so successful, they're continuing the effort," she said.
SDOT has mailed out 5,000 information packets about the Uptown In Motion program to residents in the area. "We hope to get 500 registered," Nielsen said.
The agency has also hung banners from light poles, posters will be put up, and there's a chance the program's logo might be painted in some intersections, she added.
Benefits are including for those who sign up to take part as well. Participants will receive 10 free bus tickets, but there's more. "As they report their progress they will earn awards that include an Uptown In Motion tote bag, valuable vouchers, and an In Motion pin that will entitle them to discounts on Discount Days at various Uptown businesses," the press release notes.
Participants will also have a chance to win prizes that include, among others, CDs from The Mountain radio station, $5-off coupons for Silver Platters, two-for-one coupons at Uptown Espresso and tickets to Bumbershoot, the ballet, Seattle Children's Theatre and the Mainstage Comedy and Music club.
The bottom line is the city needs to do something to reduce its growing traffic problem, Nielsen said. "The whole thrust of this [program] is: 'Think before you jump in the car.'"
[[In-content Ad]]
