Ordinance 2021-94 - Laserfiche WebLink

1110 Overview Introduction The Transportation Element follows requirements of the Growth Management Act, ' including the Act's only specific reference to "concurrency", which calls for transportation facilities and services to be provided concurrently with the approval of development permits. The Element includes an estimate of future fmancial capabilities, a roster of ' transportation improvements and programs and a general strategy for how to fmance the improvements in the same time period as development approvals. The transportation system investment strategy is designed to implement the Comprehensive Plan and ' incorporates the required level of service standard through a balance among three public policy issues: 1.)the amount of growth that the City has agreed to accommodate in the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan, 2.) the amount of financial resources that ' the City has agreed will be available to fund transportation improvements and programs, and 3.)the resultant level of service standard for transportation that the City has agreed to maintain over the planning period. The Transportation Element has a central theme: to assure that transportation facilities and P P ' services support and implement the Comprehensive Plan. This theme assures that the Comprehensive Plan is the primary determinant of the location, type, design and timing of transportation facilities and services. Background Everett celebrated its 100th year as a City in 1993. The gridiron of streets in what is now North Everett is a signature of this century-old beginning: streets went through rather than ending in cul de sacs or dead-ends; and they created relatively small blocks that made it easier to get from one place to another. Horse-and-buggy and people on foot influenced this early layout of streets. As Everett enters its next 100 years, it covers a much larger geographic area and the street system in its newer areas reflect the emergence and eventual domination of the automobile as the primary means of travel for most residents. The street system in the newer areas is characterized by curvalinear routes, cul de sacs, incomplete networks and dead-ends. Its layout is best suited for making trips by private auto. ' Over the past several decades, the adverse effects of the domination of auto travel have been felt in Everett as in most areas of the region. With a rate of growth in the demand for vehicle travel that has greatly exceeded the rate of population growth, the supply or investment in roadway infrastructure has noticeably lagged relative to demand. A gradual but significant shrinking of available financial resources, not just for transportation improvements, but for other public facilities and services, has produced smaller and smaller amounts of real dollars with which to invest. Contributing further to the lag in providing needed transportation infrastucture is the escalating cost of new improvements due to I ' T-1