The Seattle arena meant to house NBA and NHL teams seemed to be on the road to being constructed. However, there were some complaints about whether placing an arena so near two other sporting venues (SafeCo Field for the Mariners, Qwest Field for the Seahawks) could lead to big traffic problems, particularly when there were two sporting events scheduled for the same day (which seems all but inevitable with the four major sports all involved).
The Seattle Department of Transportation moved quickly to make a statement on the matter, but also provided a study to support their statement on the issue. Emily Heffter files this report for the Seattle Times.
The new arena would add about 6,000 vehicles to the area on 52 nights a year, the study says, concluding that “these are well within the existing parking/traffic/transit capacity in the area.”
Things get more complicated on nights when there is an event at the arena and at one of the neighboring stadiums for baseball, football and soccer, the report says. That could happen as many as 15 weeknights a year if one of the teams makes the playoffs, but the study said that would bring in about 40,000 visitors, no more than in 2002 when 40 weeknights games had more than 40,000 patrons.
Additionally, Chris Daniels has this additional nugget.
@seattledot reiterates what I told you last night. Port container terminal ops from 7am to 4:30pm M-F. "conflicts...minimal." #seattlearena
— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) May 23, 2012
It looks like the SoDo site won't be held back by the port of Seattle's concerns, which might have been a bit alarmist but were worth examining before moving ahead with the project. It looks as if things on this front should be smooth running from here.