Seattle has the Best Public Transportation in the United States, According to a New Study, Planned Apartment Construction in Seattle Dips from Record-Setting Pace, and more in this week’s Seattle in the Spotlight.

Seattle has the Best Public Transportation in the United States, According to a New Study. Here’s How Other Cities Compare

Business Insider | Graham Rapier | September 12

“Seattle has the United States’ best public transportation network, according to a new study from WalletHub, surpassing New York and other East Coast cities that are nearly synonymous with transit.

The study ranked 100 cities over 17 metrics, including the share of commuters who use public transport, average commute times for cars versus transit, miles of bus lanes, connectivity, and more…”We determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the cities in our sample,” the company said. “Our sample considers only the city proper in each case and excludes cities in the surrounding metro area.””

Bringing Light Rail to Central Ballard Would Cost an Extra $450 Million; Here’s Why

Seattle Times | Mike Lindblom | September 12

“For an extra $450 million, Sound Transit says it could build a central Ballard tunnel and underground station, bringing people directly to small shops, pubs and bus stops in the walkable old neighborhood. A Ballard light-rail tunnel, at 20th Avenue Northwest, could be built instead of a proposed cheaper high-level train bridge next to the Ballard Bridge roadway. Transit staff released the concept along with new Sodo and West Seattle options on Thursday, responding to board members’ requests in the spring. Many Ballard residents have criticized early plans to cross over the Lake Washington Ship Canal and land on 14th or 15th Avenue Northwest, saying that would be too far from “downtown Ballard.””

Planned Apartment Construction in Seattle Dips from Record-Setting Pace

Seattle Times | Katherine Khashimova Long | September 12

“Seattle is still in the midst of a building boom that’s adding thousands of new apartments to the city each year — but new data shows a slowdown is likely to begin soon. There are fewer planned apartments and condos on Seattle’s horizon than this time last year, according to housing market data firm RealPage. The city issued permits to build 14,816 multifamily units in the 12-month period ending July, a dip of 6.3% compared to last year’s permitting. And as of June, Seattle had 19,345 apartments under construction — 19% fewer than the same time last year.”