Preliminary work is about to get underway on planned upgrades to an aging and undersized regional sewer line that is a critical part of King County’s clean-water infrastructure in Bellevue and Newcastle. 

While construction on the Coal Creek Trunk sewer upgrade isn’t expected to begin until 2021, crews will begin drilling test holes in early January near Coal Creek Parkway to help determine soil conditions along the new line’s recommended alignment. 

Starting Jan. 4, crews will perform two to four days of test drilling per week at five locations along Coal Creek Parkway. 

The work is expected to take about five weeks to complete and will require travel lane, bicycle lane and sidewalk closures near drilling locations from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Some work could also occur on weekends to minimize weekday traffic impacts. 

The proposed alignment for the 2 1/2-mile-long Coal Creek Trunk replacement sewer line protects sensitive areas by moving the line out of the Coal Creek Natural Area. The preferred route for the new sewer runs west of Coal Creek Parkway Southeast between I-405 and the parking lot at the Upper Coal Creek West Trail trailhead. 

King County is committed to keeping interested citizens informed about this project: 

• Sign up for text alerts by enteringKING COALCREEKto 468-311;
  • Project updates will be posted at kingcounty.gov/CoalCreekSewer;
  • Call or email Monica Van der Vieren at 206-477-5502 or Monica.Vandervieren@kingcounty.gov. 

Crossposted from Go, Green Team! 

Easy ways to help the environment are to compost your food waste and not waste food. On average, Americans waste about 25 percent of all food and drinks we buy. That’s not only wasting food, that’s wasted money – $130 every month. By helping prevent food waste, you are also saving water, energy and fuel that are all used to produce, package, and transport food. 

Learn more at Food: Too Good to Waste. 

Recently, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) did studies in three cities- Denver, New York and Nashville – to get detailed information on why people waste food and which foods are wasted most often. An important finding is that people feel less guilty about wasting food if they compost it. But while composting is a good solution for food that can’t be eaten, it’s not at the top of the hierarchy of food recovery strategies, the first of which is to reduce food waste. How can you be part of the solution and not part of the problem 

Here are some things you can do in your school, household, and workplace: 

Read more at Go, Green Team! 

Crossposted from Inside Transportation 

King County Executive Dow Constantine is accelerating the transition to zero-emissions transportation by making one of the largest bus fleets in the US all-electric by as early as 2034. Under his leadership, and that of DOT Director Harold Taniguchi and Metro General Manager Rob Gannon, Metro is not only upgrading its fleet to battery-powered buses, we’re demonstrating that there is strong market demand for the new generation of cleaner, quieter buses that can help King County confront climate change. 

In January, Executive Constantine announced Metro’s commitment to purchase 120 battery-electric buses by 2020.  In April, he secured a deal with Puget Sound Energy, called Green Direct, which, starting in 2019, will power 98 percent of King County’s buildings and facilities in PSE’s territory, including Metro’s bus charging stations, with clean wind electricity generated by a new windfarm in Western Washington. 

Read more at Inside Transportation

Crossposted from Eye on Your Metro Commute 

Please note the information below about service advisories and alerts due to significant events and construction in Metro’s service area. Visit Metro’s Service Advisories page for a complete list.

Sign up for Transit Alerts.

Events

Seahawks at CenturyLink Field

• Saturday, 12/31 at 1:25 PM.
• Traffic in the SODO, Stadium, Pioneer Square & downtown Seattle areas may be congested on game days.
• Ride regularly scheduled transit service to & from the game.

Read more at Eye on Your Metro Commute

In 2017 King County Information and Technology’s (KCIT) three fulltime trainers delivered 2500 in-person training hours in KCIT’s dedicated training lab in Chinook. In 2018, look for a robust, wide-ranging and responsive training programs and a new, easy-to-use training site.  In Q1 of 2018 we will offer the following:

• Introduction to King County Technology
• Office 365 including SharePoint site owner, Planner, OneNote, Power BI
• Technology training reinforcement videos

Look for more and new classes throughout the year. KCIT is listening to what customers need and developing training to meet those needs.

To visit the new IT training site, click here.

Crossposted from Clean Water Stories

Water is heavy, and moving it around takes a lot of energy. King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) is responsible for 54 percent of total energy use for all King County facilities, so even small energy savings make a big difference. The pumps are vital to plant operations and vital to energy efficiency, and after 50 years of service, it was time for three pumps to be replaced.

While the pumps were reliable and easy to operate throughout their lifespan, they were also inefficient. These pumps liked to take it slow and steady, like power walkers on a level surface. Because people use the most water in the morning and evening, flows into the plant vary. Just like a power walker, the pumps have to work harder when the terrain gets steep. The pumps can throttle up and down as flows vary, but this wastes energy as heat. Since energy efficiency was a primary objective for the project team, they enlisted the WTD energy team to get involved.

Read more at Clean Water Stories