We just had to run down to SeaTac, and along the way lost count of the amount of road repair and construction projects going on. August is the Pacific Northwest's official Road Repair Month, on account of its stretches of good weather, and transportation crews work around the clock to get the most paving done possible. SeaTac is always under construction, so nothing new there, but Mercer has a lane closure or two, which ought......

The Seattle Times is reporting that the Blue Angels have arrived. Boy howdy! We're thanking our lucky stars that we're heading to Portland for the weekend and will be able to avoid the traffic and insanity of Sea Fair. But, if you're staying in town, you may want to plan ahead for the impending air show. It'll be our tax dollars at work this weekend, showing off how close to bridges the U.S. military can......

After a few leisurely days cruising highways and back roads, Seattlest is in our native Chicago. To get here, we had to traverse through southeastern Wisconsin, which on a Sunday evening was unfortunately overrun by FIBS. Being surrounded by these mouth-breathing jerks who weave across three lanes without signaling, who tailgate within 5 feet of your car, and who form a three-mile-long column in the passing lane made us long for you, Seattle. Like Audrey,......

"Sound Transit test" courtesy of Flickr contributor andrewmartin Seattlest always kind of wants to roll our eyes when some transportation option gets put to voters in these parts. Call it a Pavlovian response trained into us through years of noncommittal discussion about monorails. But, today the Seattle Times is reporting that we'll get to vote on a light rail system that'll take folks to places like Overlake, Star Lake, and Lynnwood (sweet!). In order to......

CSI Seattle has the lowdown. He may spend most of his days playing a real-life version of Gil Grissom,* but one day a year he has to skip the lab tests and explain to people why this road is closed. What makes it all worthwhile? "Double time. Cha-ching!" (*We're sure he's sick of the comparison. Sorry. But it seemed nicer than comparing him to Horatio Caine.)......

Yesterday afternoon we were trying to jaywalk across 15th when a #10 bus pulled up. We walked past it, hoping to use it for blocking. Another #10 bus pulled up. Then we looked down the street. Another #10 bus was pulling up. Thanks to a Metro "more frequent service" upgrade, the #10s run every 15 minutes during rush hour -- or even every 15 seconds, if they all get stuck in downtown traffic. Over on......

In case you got slowed down on I-90 this morning, and were cursing to yourself in the car, we thought we'd help calm you down with a little on-the-scene info. This just in from Seattlest Tera, who was stuck on the scene for an hour: "I have a hilarious bus story. Our bus broke down on I-90 and we are all stuck on Mercer Island. Our 'rescue' bus missed the exit. Good job, Metro.......

So much for feeling all wonderful and relaxed after getting out of the city and off the computer for the three-day weekend. This is what greeted Seattlest at the 93 mile marker when we left The Gorge early "to miss concert traffic:" Stop and go traffic, as bad as any Seattle rush hour we've ever encountered, in the middle of the mountains. The car and camper crawl lasted from mile marker 93 to 60, and......

Not the Bicyclist(s) in Question--Photo Courtesy of Seattlest Flickr Contributor Josh Larios As a driver, we admit we've cursed our bicycle brethren more than once and occasionally blamed them for things far beyond their two-wheeled control. That being said, we've never blamed cyclists for interstate or highway traffic, but after an incident on I-5 yesterday, that may change. A bicyclist caused a big traffic snafu on I-5 after he pedaled down the HOV lane and......

Lower Queen Anne is dead to us. And we like Lower Queen Anne, we do: Many's the night we've whiled away down at Solo chatting up Kultur Shock's Val behind the bar, or closing out the Great Nabob with co-workers. But last night, it became clear that they no longer want us to visit. Because for reasons we don't quite understand, there is no longer any parking in Lower Queen Anne. And not just street......

A bird's-eye view of I-5 from the Seattlest Flickr Pool, thanks to subactive photos Usually, when traffic is dawdling on I-5 at 30 m.p.h., we're longing for the arterial: same speed, fewer Seattle drivers. But starting next year, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) may be intentionally slowing down drivers on I-5 in hopes that it will ease traffic. The $25 million dollar project will focus on a six-mile stretch of I-5 where......

The aptly titled, "Empty Viaduct?" by Seattlest Flickr Contributor slightlynorth The Alaskan Way Viaduct is closed for its semi-annual inspection this weekend. The viaduct will be closed from 6am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. The Battery Street Tunnel will be closed all weekend to traffic. The semi-annual inspections check for that settling Dan was talking about earlier this week and the cracks we all pretend aren't there when we speed down the viaduct, fearing......

Slow! by smohundro, another fun image found in our wonderful Seattlest Flickr Pool.......

We spend a lot of time at the Seattlest newsroom talking about the problems bicycle riders in this city have and how the city should make it easier for us since we reduce congestion and emissions at the same time. Now we realize we’ve been ignoring the good our our two-wheeled motorized brethren (and sistern) on scooters. According to the PI, Vince Rowley and Eric Pravitz are regular scooter riders who want the City Council......

This is the coolest collection of random, old Seattle photos we’ve ever stumbled upon while not working at work. For anyone who can’t imagine 3rd and Pine before crack, or the masochistic liberal who wants to marvel at a time when people would have paraded massive, old growth firs down the street in celebration, this is your time capsule. If you like slacking off at work or just appreciate a little cultural history, these......

On this Valentine's Day, we also take the time to honor the kind of love that exists between two straight dudes -- the primarily heterosexual feelings that a man has for his BFF. Exhibit A: Stan and Kyle. Exhibit B: Jay and Silent Bob. Exhibit C: Matt and Ben, the celebrity spoof of the relationship between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, focusing on the period right before they became famous (i.e., the making of......

Photo by Tim Willis Thanks, snow. You've got one guy pledging never to take the bus again, and another venting obscenities. Both on LiveJournal. First, the new car convert:In Dec I got a job in the South Lake Union area, close to REI. I live in Greenlake and was busing it into the city everyday ... Today I drove to work because of the weather and fear of bus delays... My trip by car: $5.25......

Photo by cory schmitz from the Seattlest Flickr PoolNorth Seattle got snow, West Seattle didn't. Issaquah got snow, Federal Way didn't. The picky snow has made for an odd commute. We were rolling down an iceless hill this morning near Renton, annoyed that the person in front of us was proceeding with such outsized caution. At the bottom of the hill, we saw a Geo that had spun into a ditch. Guess it was icy......

We were delighted to read in the P-I this morning that Seattle's traffic management white hats have plans for the Pine Street zigzag. As anyone who's walked down Pine to downtown knows, the north side of the street east of Boren Avenue doesn't have a sidewalk; it has a ledge. People still walk it, single file, even though there's a sign that says not to. Part of the problem is that there's a sidewalk that......

We're working in a building next to Westlake Center, and just heard about a bajillion emergency vehicles go by. Looking out the window, they're all Fire Dept cars and trucks, and smoke seems to be coming from a construction site next to Pacific Place. Not that horrific billowing clouds of black kind of smoke, but disturbing nonetheless. There must be at least 12 emergency vehicles blocking the street. Anyone in the area know what is......

Bolstering our faith in the local transit authorities, for the second time this week, the downtown bus tunnel is closed. The official reason is computer problems, as a H.A.L.-like super-brain down in the I.D. station controls the heating and ventillation, traffic signals, and zombie-workers that make possible Seattle's pathetic attempt at a subway. No word on when the tunnel will re-open, but earlier this week it was same-day; as before, tunnel lines are re-directed......

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer’s market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs One of our best friends from college spurned her native Portland to live in a......

Bellevue is entertaining its crazed shoppers and downtown urbanites with daily holiday drum lines, snowflake lights and snow (yes, fake snow). We have seen it with our own eyes, and it is as if you chasséd on stage of a live performance of the Nutcracker. Snowflake Lane is a Bellevue tradition and is going on now until December 24, beginning at 7 p.m. daily. If shopping under fake snow doesn’t get you excited, you......

One thing that jumps out at us right away about ex-Boeing engineer Ben Missler and his jet-tram is that he keeps telling people he thought up the idea while stuck in a Seattle traffic jam. You know, just "traffic jam" would be fine, Missler. But the Seattle connection might be important to make, because Missler's Mass Tram America company proposes building its tramcars out of decommissioned Boeing fuselages. The towers will be power stations --......

The snow is falling, our dear Seattle friends, it simply isn't falling here. Whistler just announced it is open for business, bagging the ultimate ski resort coup of cutting powder before we cut the turkey. Of course you want to go, but in fondly recalling the days of 1998 when the US-CA exchange rate swung wildly the other way, you fear you can really only afford to stay home and play Ski Resort Extreme Halo......

Back in 1981, Mike Nichols directed a famous version of Waiting for Godot at the Lincoln Center in NYC, starring Steve Martin and Robin Williams. We recall that at some point in college, we saw an interview with Steve Martin about that production, and Martin said something memorably apt: "We decided to serve the comedy of the play, because the ideas would serve themselves." Steve Martin's intuition was on our minds Saturday, while sitting......

It's been said that Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot was a play in which all that was left to the characters was hope; if that's the case, then Endgame is what you get when you lose even that. In one long act, the play features a cast of four characters in increasing states of immobility and decrepitude, the last dismal dregs of humanity gasping their final breaths, telling incoherent stories and hoping for a bitter......

Prop. 1, the roads and transit measure. Supporters say it will help solve our gridlock problem. Anti-tax opponents say"no it won't" and environazi opponents say "roads are killing the planet, it's transit-only or nothing." Tomorrow's election day. Here's how Seattlesters are voting. Dan: I'm not exactly turning cartwheels as I cast my "yes" vote, but I look at it as "which is easier to get passed, roads or transit individually?" I couldn't pass up the......

Tonight would be the night to dominate the jukebox at the Wildrose, because all the ladies (except for us) will be at the Paramount drinking a nice tall glass of alt.country goodness. Brandi Carlile's back in town with her hot twin-powered band and we understand she tends to pull traffic away from the corner of 11th and Pike (at least until 11 PM). We don't really get it, but whatever. We so don't get it,......

The South Lake Union Streetcar will begin an eight-week test period soon, according to the Seattle Transit Blog. First they will do a walk through test to ensure that the streetcars are able to clear branches, traffic signals, and other erroneous things that may disrupt the streetcar along the whole route. Once that is done they will do speed tests on Valley between Mercer and Westlake to see that the streetcar can achieve and maintain......