Fishpolelease,

I wasn't trying to make this personal and hope you don't think so. Sad fact is as human populations get really large, it's impossible, given the economic reality of supply and demand, for any but the affluent and those who can or will accept sub-standard accomodations to live in or near the city core. And it still applies that it's economically and physically impossible to have it both ways - living in the suburbs or rural areas and commuting quickly and efficiently. The experts willing to be honest about it say it's impossible to spend or build our way out of gridlock. So if you're among the middle class who can find your best employment opportunity downtown, I don't see any alternative forever into the future except long commutes that absolutely suck. They're bad now, and it's gonna' get worse.

Quite honestly, there have been jobs I'm interested in that are in the Seattle area. I don't even look at them because I'm not willing to commute from Oly and I'm not willing to pay that much for housing, assuming I even could.

Chum Man,

Without an alternate reality then, much of the middle and lower economic classes are doomed to miserable commutes. If there's a way out of gridlock, and I'm not sure that there is, it's gonna' take a ton of buses and possibly a sophisticated train system.

When I have to commute the I-5 corridor, I wonder why the heck there isn't a commuter train running up and down the median that links to east-west buses at the major interchanges. I hate sitting in stop and go as much as the next guy and took my present job knowing I don't have to depend on an I-5 commute. I'm just worried that the arterials I use could get as bad. Of course I can resort to my bicycle if car traffic gets too slow.

Sg