Bellevue Envisions a Fleet of Driverless Vans to Help Commuters Skirt Congestion

Seattle Times | David Gutman | June 14
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/bellevue-envisions-a-fleet-of-driverless-vans-to-help-commuters-skirt-congestion/

“Autonomous shuttle pilot projects are sprouting in myriad locations across the country, gauging people’s reactions and trying to increase their comfort with driverless transit. Bellevue wants in, too. The city has hired a manager of transportation technology partnerships who’s working on the early stages of what officials hope will eventually be a vanpool service of autonomous vehicles, scheduled and summoned by smartphone app. The goal is to coordinate with the region’s big employers to offer a transit option that can serve suburban areas better than full-size buses or trains.”

The Brilliant Vigilance of Seattle’s Gargantuan New Tunnel

Wired | Tim Newcomb | June 13
https://www.wired.com/story/seattle-sr-99-tunnel-tech-bertha/

“SAY THERE’S A fire. A fire caused by a car crash, inside a 2.5-mile tunnel under a major American city. It’s a terrifying idea, but if you want that kind of problem to ignite anywhere, it’s in the stretch of State Route 99 that, later this year, will start whisking traffic underneath downtown Seattle. That’s because this bit of SR 99 is more than the hemisphere’s largest-diameter bored tunnel and the country’s longest roadway tunnel outside of Alaska, much of it dug by Bertha, formerly the planet’s largest boring machine. To go with such superlatives, it might be the world’s smartest tunnel, too.”

Sea-Tac Airport Speeds to the Top of the List in Ookla’s Ranking of Best Free Wi-Fi in North America

GeekWire | Kurt Schlosser | June 12
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/sea-tac-airport-speeds-top-list-ooklas-ranking-best-free-wi-fi-north-america/

“When it comes to flying these days, few things are free anymore. But free Wi-Fi is still a perk worth enjoying and a new analysis by Seattle-based Ookla ranks the best airports in North America when it comes to speed and reliability. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has taken over the top spot, unseating Denver International, which held the title for fastest free Wi-Fi in the U.S. and Canada the previous two years. Sea-Tac’s download speeds jumped from 43.66 Mbps in 2017 to 103.00 Mbps in 2018. The testing and analysis was run on Ookla’s flagship application, Speedtest, from January through April of this year.”

50 Software Developers a Week: Here’s Who’s Moving to Seattle

Seattle Times | Gene Balk | June 11
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/50-software-developers-a-week-heres-whos-moving-to-seattle/

“In this decade, perhaps more than at any other time in the city’s history, newcomers have reshaped the culture of Seattle…The data show that, on average, more than 45,000 newcomers moved to Seattle each year between 2012 and 2016. And one stereotype certainly holds true: A lot of them are tech workers. In 2016 alone, an estimated 2,600 software developers made their home in Seattle — that’s about 50 a week.”