March 2012
Border Crossings and Curveballs: Spring Arts Preview 2012
Refresh your cultural awareness without renewing your passport.
Marvel at splendid Egyptian artifacts excavated from the tomb of TUTANKHAMUN: THE GOLDEN KING AND THE GREAT PHARAOHS (5/24–1/6. Times and prices vary. Pacific Science Center, 200 Second Ave. N; 206.443.2001; pacificsciencecenter.org). Discover the films of 20th-century Indian filmmaker RAJ KAPOOR (3/30–4/12. Times and prices vary. SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St.; 206.324.9996; siff.net), an…
Dance: Spring Arts Preview 2012
Upcoming performances in contemporary and modern dance we want to see.
On the Stage at On the BoardsContemporary dance fans may as well camp out at On the Boards this season—it’ll be easier than driving home and coming back and finding parking for each of these stellar performances. 3/1–3/3 Portland dance company Teeth (which won the A.W.A.R.D. Show contemporary dance competition at On the Boards in…
Local Rock Stars of Clay
A national ceramics conference takes place downtown this month, so Seattle is showing off its tremen
For the first time, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) is convening in Seattle (3/28–3/31), which means approximately 5,000 ceramics fanatics are descending on our city. In celebration, 183 venues—stretching from Bellingham to Tacoma, and ranging from art galleries to Harborview Medical Center to the windows at Nordstrom—are showcasing works of…
So Long, Viaduct. Hello, Ultimate Boring Machine!
Once the flashpoint for heated debates, the Viaduct now lies partially in ruins, and the changes tha
A Wrecking Brawl For nearly 60 years, Seattle’s polarizing north-south thoroughfare, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, crouched in concrete splendor along Elliott Bay, carrying 100,000 cars a day the length of the city, from SoDo to Belltown and beyond. Irreparably damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, the thing has since been at the heart of a…
Transportation Solutions to Look Forward To
Reducing car traffic takes persistence, determination and innovation. Here are three hot new technol
NOW Many big employers, such as hospitals, build parking garages and charge employees to park in them. But garages cost millions of dollars to construct and they encourage people to drive. Enter Seattle-based Parkio, which offers a way for employers to discourage driving while encouraging alternate transportation. Instead of a monthly fee, Parkio’s software tools…
Solutions for Stressed Seattle Commuters
Eco-conscious (and frugal) Seattleites are finding alternatives to car usage, from the basic to the
ELECTRIC COMPANYCharging stations are popping up all over the city, making it easier for Seattleites to turn to green, clean electric-powered cars. Perhaps you’ve considered buying an electric car, only to be haunted by “range anxiety”—the fear that your battery will die without a charging station in sight. In Seattle, that’s becoming less and less…
How to Find Parking in Seattle
Helpful tips on finding a reasonably priced parking spot in Seattle (while you're still young).
With peak-hour downtown parking meter fees now as much as $4 an hour, Seattle is the sixth-most-expensive city in the nation in which to park a car, according to a 2011 Colliers International survey (an average of more than $24/day, behind Manhattan, Boston and Chicago). Savvy downtown parkers know that many local lots have “early…
Gotcha! 3 Parking Rules to Remember
These little-known laws will get you a ticket in Seattle faster than you think.
Every month, 97 Seattle Police Department parking enforcement officers print around 45,000 citations (about 7 percent of the city’s total population). While most tickets are for commonsense infractions—the most common: not paying or letting your time expire—there are a few lesser-known ways to end up with the dreaded envelope tucked under your wiper. Seattle Municipal…
Worst Traffic Spots in Seattle
Avoid these nightmare spots if you can, or bring a book-on-tape and make the most of the crawl.
It usually feels like the worst traffic spot in Seattle is the one you’re stuck in, but during peak traffic hours (6–9 a.m. and 3–6 p.m.), SDOT says these locations officially rack up some of the most stop-and-go traffic—sometimes minus the go. Check out King-5’s Jam Factor app (king5.m.mlnwap.com) and WSDOT traffic cameras (wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle) for…
Why the Monorail is Still the Best Ride in Town
The monorail's had its ups and downs, but some locals still love this retro rail rider.
Is there any form of transportation in the Northwest more bizarrely storied than the monorail? In a region famous for infamous means of travel—the barrel-rolling Boeing jet, Galloping Gertie crumbling into the Tacoma Narrows, the zombie ferryboat Kalakala emerging from the mist again and again, unidentified flying objects first called “flying saucers” near Mount Rainier…
The Big Idea: Transportation Edition
What locals would do to fix Seattle's transporation problems, if they had a blank check.
If money were no object, what single thing would you do to improve transportation in the region? We put that question to dozens of local transportation thinkers and limited their responses to 150 words—short answers to a long-debated question. Here are a few; add your own idea in the comments section below, or write to…
The Evolution of Seattle’s 520 Bridge
Big changes are under way on the 520 bridge, the longest floating bridge on Earth.
Just when you thought cross-lake commuting couldn’t get any more fun, tolling on the S.R. 520 bridge went into effect. Now, crossing the floating bridge can set you back as much as $5 one way, depending on the time of day and whether you have a prepaid “Good to Go!” pass affixed to your windshield….