by Guest Blogger Vickie Sheehan

There seems to be some confusion on what exactly is High Speed Passenger Rail. Many people keep asking - Will this be like bullet trains? Will we be able to zip between Vancouver, B.C. and Eugene, OR at 150 miles per hour? Well, not today or in the near future, but a possibility we are working towards in the long term.

Amtrak Cascades trains travel at a maximum speed of 79 mph today. Although our trains are designed to go as fast as 125 mph, we are restricted to 79 miles per hour due to Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations, track conditions, rail traffic congestion, and our geography (mountains, water, lots of curves, etc.).

by Guest Blogger Steve Peer

Thank you for your comments about the lane striping on southbound I-405 in Bellevue. We take your comments very seriously – in fact, we investigate each and every one and act on them if there is something we can do.

This is a highly unusual situation with many factors making for a challenging southbound drive out of Bellevue on I-405. Along with our contractor for the South Bellevue Widening project, we’re doing everything we can to look for solutions to keep drivers safe and traffic moving.

Early Saturday morning, we painted black borders on the lane striping on southbound I-405 between SE Eighth and I-90.  We anticipate this will further define the lanes in the area for drivers and make for a safer ride out of Bellevue and solve the issue. If not, we’ll look at other alternatives.

Thanks again for your questions and comments.   Your input it very valuable to us.

By Guest Blogger Steve Peer

Lately we’ve received comments from drivers about the lane striping on southbound I-405 in Bellevue on a stretch of road between SE Eighth Street and I-90. The striping in the area has been a challenge for drivers, but rest assured, we’re doing everything we can to try to improve the lane visibility.

by Guest Blogger Steve Peer

We’ve received several comments about the new lane opening on southbound I-405 between SR 167 and I-5 in Renton as part of the I-405 Renton Stage 1 project. While many drivers have told us traffic flow has really improved, they’ve also let us know they don’t like the signs or striping. So we are going to fix that as soon as we get some dry nights.

Maintaining and managing a web page that averages a million page views a day can be challenging. We work hard to make sure that the hardware and software work well together to deliver information in an instant when you want it.

We are very lucky to have you. You pay attention, ask questions, offer opinions AND solutions. Many times, your letters, e-mails and phone calls bring up issues or questions and I think – you can’t be the only person who thinks that. So, we add information to our Web site or try some other way to get the info out to drivers.