Road Kings

King County's traffic engineers have opened more of the county to development by calculating lower traffic congestion levels in some areas, according to Keith Ervin in today's Seattle Times. An engineering consultant has concluded that "technical changes have accelerated the pace of development since 2004." The county concluded that in some areas of the county congestion was actually lower in 2004 than in 2003, which beggars belief. The county's roads planner defends the changes in traffic modeling saying that "the changes were not substantial." Of course, they don't have to be to have a substantial impact: small adjustments in traffic predictions can make a huge difference in whether developers are allowed to move ahead with projects.

And this wouldn't be the first time the county has fiddled with numbers in favor of goosing development. In 1998, after complaints from neighborhood activists on the Sammamish Plateau, it was discovered the the county's software was rigged to underestimate traffic. The county later claimed to have fixed the problem.

Traffic modelling is arcane and complex, but it is essential to making the Growth Management Act work. It is also in the hands of enigineers and road-builders who have a stake in the game: more growth means more traffic means more pressure to build and expand roads (520, I-405, etc. etc.), which, in turn, drives more growth (If you build it, they will come). It ought to get more oversight.