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INITIATIVE

Transportation:Creating a Safe, Reliable, and Affordable System

By convening public agencies, the University of Washington, and businesses, we work to address our region’s transportation challenges.

The Challenge

Over the last decade, the central Puget Sound region was the fastest growing region in the country, adding hundreds of thousands more people and commuters. At the same time, rapidly increasing housing prices caused many Washingtonians in this region to move further from their workplaces to find more affordable homes, which has led to longer commutes and additional congestion. The region will grow by another 1.6 million people by 2050, which will create continued challenges to mobility.

Annual cost of congestion per driver:

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Inrix, 2022

Our Focus

Challenge Seattle represents some of the region’s largest employers, with hundreds of thousands of workers who call Puget Sound home. From finding new technology and policy solutions to address the congestion faced by our workers, to ensuring a high quality of life for our community members, Challenge Seattle convenes businesses, academia, and public sector transportation agencies to focus on key questions and solutions to our transportation challenges.

Our Work

Transportation Vision for 2035

In 2016, Challenge Seattle launched a transportation vision for the region, Transportation Vision for 2035. We are one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, but our aging infrastructure and disconnected systems have not kept pace. The initial report makes key recommendations to create an I-5 system for the 21st century, integrate operations and planning, establish a sustainable funding model, and better integrate land-use and transportation planning.

Virtual Coordination Center

After a series of significant incidents that closed I-5 and SR-99, Challenge Seattle convened agencies to improve coordination during major roadway incidents. Following the publication of the Beyond Incident Response, the Washington Department of Transportation, the University of Washington, and Challenge Seattle worked with first responders and transportation agencies to further develop technology to enhance communication among the agencies during major incidents. Launched in October 2022, this cloud-based system pulls in real-time data and coordinates messaging across public agencies during major incidents.

UW Mobility Innovation Center

In 2016, Challenge Seattle created a new multi-disciplinary center at the University of Washington to bring together the region’s leading business, government, and academic experts to work on real-world transportation problems facing the Seattle region. The Mobility Innovation Center delivers projects on short timelines that produce technology and policy solutions for real-world application. The center’s projects have tackled issues including autonomous vehicles, passenger loading zones for Uber and Lyft, successful high-speed rail projects across the world, and emerging commute patterns in Seattle post-pandemic. Learn more about the Mobility Innovation Center here.

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All Transportation Reports

Keeping It on the Tracks: High-Speed Rail Success and Lessons Learned

Keeping It on the Tracks: High-Speed Rail Success and Lessons Learned

This study provides information useful to transportation agencies, potential partners, and decision makers who seek to develop an ultra-high-speed line to connect Cascadia…

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602 781 Challenge Seattle
2022 Seattle Commute Survey

2022 Seattle Commute Survey

This report provides insights from the Washington State Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) citywide dataset along with small businesses surveyed in the Center City and across the city…

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1253 628 Challenge Seattle
Beyond Incident Response: Mitigating Impacts of Major Traffic Incidents in the Seattle I-5 Corridor

Beyond Incident Response: Mitigating Impacts of Major Traffic Incidents in the Seattle I-5 Corridor

Regional stakeholders came together to articulate a shared vision that builds on past accomplishments, works beyond agency silos, and embraces opportunities offered by new technological capabilities…

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812 1054 Challenge Seattle
Challenge Seattle 2017 Annual Report on Transportation

Challenge Seattle 2017 Annual Report on Transportation

We made a commitment to publish an Annual Report to track the region’s progress on achieving the vision—a user-focused transportation system that is safe, reliable, equitable, and environmentally sustainable…

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846 1099 Challenge Seattle
Transportation: Working Together for a Better Future

Transportation: Working Together for a Better Future

We need to be bold. Considering the growth we face, this means not just preparing for tomorrow, but for the decades ahead…

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620 806 Challenge Seattle
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