This may sound simple, but the evaluation is fantastically complex, involving hundreds of computations and hazy predictions as to how many people all over the region will drive where on which routes. Though the concurrency test has become the main gatekeeper for county growth since its adoption in 1995, it's remained completely inscrutable and unaccountable to all but a few traffic programmers. In his appeal, Hamilton requested a copy of the traffic program. The county had rebuffed all such requests before, but the hearing examiner affirmed Hamilton's motion, and the county eventually complied. Hamilton then enlisted Bellevue traffic consultant Joseph Savage to scrutinize the program.
Savage is no populist tree hugger.
We have to take snapshots. Mark says that traffic scores are automatically lowered because as roads become congested, people start commuting at other times. But officials clearly view this as a high-stakes case. Developers have a pretty soft standard to meet, even without help from a computer program. For example, new housing projects can pass concurrency even if the computer forecast shows them loading county roads to 10 percent over capacity.