The Voice for Industry
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A New Partnership for Technical
EducationMost industrial business owners and managers express frustration that today's education system does not provide the types of workers that they need. If you feel the same, you can do something about it by participating in the October 9, 2009 Green Industrial Business and Career Expo at the Puget Sound Industrial Excellence Center in Georgetown.
New State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn is the keynote speaker. He wants to reinvigorate technical education in our state and wants advice from the private sector about how to go about that.
The expo will also include workshops about new curriculum guides for high school and middle school construction and manufacturing programs that are just now being published by U.S. construction and manufacturing trade associations. Private sector input is being sought for those efforts and future curriculum implementation efforts at the Puget Sound Skill Center, a technical high school in Burien, and the Seattle Public Schools.
Co-sponsors for the Expo include the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development, The Boeing Company, Nucor Steel Seattle, South Seattle Community College, Mr. Dorn and the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Seattle, the ML King County Labor Council, Aerospace Machinists 751, the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee and the King County and Washington State Building and Construction Trades Councils.
The Seattle Times published an excellent column today about what the partnership seeks to achieve. You can find it here.
You can learn more about the expo at http://www.greenexpo-wa.com. Advance registration is required and you can register through the web site. Questions? Call 206-762-2470.
Green River Valley Flooding Resources
Residents, businesses and farms along the Green River are at a
higher risk for flooding this fall and winter, according to the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The agency reports seeping water and suspicious
depressions at the Howard Hanson Dam could mean major flooding in Auburn,
Kent, Renton and Tukwila. That could affect SR 167 and other key Green
River Valley highways and county roads that people depend on to escape the
flooding, get to work and move freight. The Corps is making emergency
repairs on the dam and planning long-term repairs.
King County has
a flood preparedness Web site (http://www.kingcounty.gov/safety/FloodPlan.aspx)
with more information, including ways you can prepare for a flood, how to
register for alerts and where to find the latest information about what
King County is doing to address flooding. Upcoming public meetings for
businesses and residents also are posted on King County's Web site, and on
the city of Auburn and the city of Kent Web sites.
WSDOT is
coordinating efforts with King County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
and many other agencies, and will keep you updated about our highways
through an e-mail service. Sign up for updates to your email or
phone.
Source - WSDOT bulletin "I-5 Connections
Transportation News" addition 131.
Big Paving Push Coming Up On I-405 In
Renton An Amazing Number of Freight
Advisories
ORCA Card Rollout Kicks Into High Gear
The ORCA
fare card is now
expanding to more bus, train and ferry riders around the region, as
the seven transit partner agencies encourage their customers to trade up
for a new electronic card.
ORCA – One Regional Card for All – is a
smart card-based electronic fare system for public transportation agencies
serving King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. ORCA replaces about
300 various passes, tickets and transfers with a single card that works by
simply tapping the ORCA card on a reader device.
ORCA was launched
last April in a "limited rollout" phase to ensure the system could handle
its complex transactions before greatly expanding its customer base. Now,
it's ready to expand.
Riders who purchase their own monthly transit
pass online or by mail likely have already been converted to an ORCA card.
Starting this month, riders who purchase passes in person will receive an
ORCA card for their October transit pass. Riders who get their transit
passes from their employers are being converted to ORCA as their
employers' annual contracts come up for renewal.
For information
about ORCA, visit
the website, or call 1-888-988-6722 (ORCA)/ TTY Relay: 711/
888-889-6368.
Source from "News Center
Transportation Today" King County
WSDOT Asks Drivers To
Expect Delays Over Snoqualmie Pass
From now until November,
motorists traveling over I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass should prepare for
delays and traffic backups that could add up to one additional hour of
travel time to their trip. Since WSDOT waited to start heavy construction
activities on the Lake Easton to Bullfrog Road concrete replacement
project (milepost 70 to milepost 80) until after the Labor Day holiday,
WSDOT and contractor crews are racing against the clock by working both
day and night to complete improvements before the first snowfall. Crews
have been working only at night since early July, to reduce impacts to the
high volumes of summer traffic.
Traffic will be restricted to one
lane in each direction late Sunday night through Friday morning using the
existing eastbound lanes. For the safety of the travelling public,
concrete barrier is being placed to separate opposing traffic through the
work zone.
On weekends, three travel lanes will be open - with two
lanes in the peak travel direction – to accommodate higher traffic
volumes. To make these lane shifts possible, construction crews have built
lane crossovers that allow westbound traffic to cross into the eastbound
travel lanes. Drivers may encounter the crossovers prior to seeing crews
on the roadway.
The posted speed limit through the construction
zone is 50 mph. Motorists are advised to maintain this posted speed limit
through the construction zone and focus on safe driving behaviors.
For more construction information visit:
www.wsdot.wa.gov/Regions/SouthCentral/Construction
Adding lanes to I-405
means a lot of night work, when traffic is lightest and crews can move
more quickly and safely around the freeway work zones. We'll be on a big
paving push in the next month on I-405 in Renton and Tukwila to open new
lanes this fall. When we're done drivers will have a new lane in each
direction on I-405 between I-5 and SR 167.
Just across the
I-405/SR 167 interchange crews have started the process of dowel bar
retrofitting sections of the freeway. The dowel bars are inserted into
slots in the pavement and link the panels together. The dowel bar retrofit
process extends the life of existing pavement by 10 to 15 years.
Crews are planning nighttime closures of lanes and ramps in the
area to do the work, so if you travel at night check our I-405
Construction Update Web site for the latest schedule information.
FREIGHT TRAVEL
ADVISORY – CENTRAL PUGET SOUND
Highlights:
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