NEWS BRIEFS

Community Transit asks for input on its Journey 2050 long-range plan

Community Transit is asking residents, transit riders, and anyone who travels in Snohomish County to comment on the next phase of the agency’s long-range plan called Journey 2050.

This plan will guide Community Transit’s vision and long-term priorities for the years 2025-2050 to adapt and meet the public transportation needs of the growing region.

When light rail reaches Snohomish County in 2024, the local transit system will expand to connect with light rail as well as serve new areas of the county. Commuter bus service that now travels to downtown Seattle and Northgate will be reinvested into more local bus service, and a microtransit pilot project will have started in Lynnwood.

People can give their feedback in an online survey, available in five languages, through Aug. 26 at www.communitytransit. org/journey2050.

Earlier this year, the agency asked the public to weigh in on values and priorities for future transit services and learned:

•8 0% of respondents fe el high-quality transportation is important for Snohomish County.

•Convenience, reliability, and efficiency are cited as the most important features of transit.

• The top two benefits of transit according to respondents are “getting people where they need to be” and “providing options for those who use transit as their primary option.”

For this second phase of comment, Community Transit is asking people what types of transit service they would like to use in the future, and to prioritize the following service types:

•Swift bus rapid transit – More Swift service along busy corridors where there are more people and jobs.

• Innovative services – Community-base d services like microtransit or bike share that meet a local community’s needs (Community Transit will launch a microtransit pilot project fall in Lynnwood).

•Regular fixed-route bus service – More traditional bus service to more places in the county.

Community Transit staff will use this input to create a final long-range plan that will be presented to the board of directors in early 2023.

EV drivers can charge vehicles when visiting Everett

A pair of recently installed electric vehicle fast chargers at Snohomish County PUD’s headquarters in downtown Everett are now see NEWS BRIEFS page 11 u ping land at Seattle’s West Point by 3 feet.

Land level changes during the next earthquake may establish a new shoreline in many locations close to the Seattle Fault zone.

Tsunami waves arrive in minutes at many locations

The Seattle Fault crosses east-west through Puget Sound and downtown Seattle, and has produced several earthquakes documented in the geologic record throughout the region. The earthquake scenario used in this modeling is for a very large, low-probability earthquake of about magnitude 7.5).

It produces the maximum-considered Seattle Fault-generated tsunami for emergency planning purposes.

Tsunami waves reach the shoreline in fewer than 3 minutes in many places on the eastern side of Bainbridge Island, Elliott Bay, and Alki Point. Tsunami inundation and strong currents may continue for more than 3 hours from the start of the earthquake.

While this study found the 6 feet of inundation at the Port of Tacoma would be lower than previous studies, it also found that waves may travel up to three miles inland in parts of the port.

While inundation from the tsunami will be greatest closer to the Seattle Fault, the study showed shoreline flooding and increased currents throughout the Salish Sea, from Blaine to Olympia.

The model does not account for tide stages or local tsunamis triggered by earthquake-induced landslides.

Snohomish County not immune

While the study focused on the Seattle Fault, Snohomish County residents shouldn’t think they are immune to an earthquake in our backyard.

The South Whidbey Island Fault, which runs just south of Mukilteo and Picnic Point, has not experienced a major rupture for almost 1,000 years.

It’s a shallow, crustal fault, similar to the Seattle Fault.

“Although the chances of (a 7.5 earthquake) happening in our lifetime is low, it’s important for families to get prepared now,” said Maximilian Dixon of the Washington Emergency Management Division (WEMD).

“The ground shaking will be your warning that a tsunami may be on the way. Make sure you know where the closest high ground is and the quickest route to get there. Get signed up for tsunami and local alerts.”

The MyShake app, which warns users of an impending earthquake, can give you time to drop, cover, and hold on before a big earthquake hits.

MyShake uses ground motion sensors that provide residents with a quicker response time when an earthquake is about to hit their area.

The app is free to download for iOS users through the Apple store for iPhones and through GooglePlay for Android phones.

In addition, all of Puget Sound is, of course, is at risk from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, capable of producing a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Last summer, the WEMD placed its newest pole-mounted tsunami siren – also known as an All Alert Hazards Broadcast tower (AHAB)

–in the parking lot near Olympic Beach at Dayton Avenue West and Railroad Avenue in Edmonds.

According to the WEMD, if a tsunami occurs, the sirens supply audible and visual warnings of the impending danger via a wailing audio sound and an intense blue light for the hearing impaired, which can also cut through fog and is visible from a long distance.

According to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, residents along central Puget Sound’s shorelines would have “minutes to tens of minutes” to evacuate if the Cascadia Subduction Zone breaks.

The siren is tested in Edmonds on the first Monday of every month at noon, playing the familiar “Westminster Chimes” melody. The sirens are also tested once a year, with the actual wail sound on the third Thursday in October in conjunction with the Great Washington ShakeOut.

For the yearly test, the wail sound will be followed by a voice message in English and Spanish explaining that it is only a test.

99 Years and Counting