Students solve traffic woes
November 20, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
New: Nov. 20, 1:14 p.m.
Some visionary engineers took the podium at Sammamish City Hall Nov. 17. But before they could address the City Council, they needed a stool to reach the microphone.
Seven students from Samantha Smith and Rachel Carson elementary schools spoke to the council about a transportation problem in Sammamish, and how to fix it.
Seven Sammamish elementary school students devised a way to solve a citywide transportation problem — too many cars on the road. Those engineers-in-training were Erik Moulton, 9 (back), Jason Morris, 9, Prateek Bhaumik, 9, Justin Tsang, 9, Nicolas Fish, 10, Devin Patel, 9, Andrew Leinweber, 10, (middle) Graham Hanson, 11 (front). Photo by J.b. Wogan
“We decided to take on the problem of having too many cars on the road,” Graham Hanson, 11, said.
Their solution was a light rail car that would run from the Sammamish Park and Ride down 228th Avenue to Northeast 8th Street.
The students had pieced together a miniature model of a light rail car using LEGO parts, and showed it to the council.
“What a brilliant suggestion. Is anyone interested in being a city transportation engineer?” City Manager Ben Yazici said.
The presentation was part of First LEGO league, a national nonprofit that sets children on a hybrid assignment that is part research project, part robotics club competition. (The boys are scheduled to roll out a nimble, obstacle-avoiding robot at a regional meet at Highland Middle School in Bellevue Dec. 5.)
The students said their inspiration came from the ULTra Personal Rapid Transit system being built at Heathrow Airport in London. In that case, the cost to build the light rail line was between $7 million and $12 million per mile, the students said.
Prateek Bhaumik, 9, said he and his friends were first examining a transportation policy issue that has reared it’s head repeatedly at council meetings, and still goes unresolved.
“We looked at barricades and how we could help that,” Bhaumik said.
But City Engineer Laura Philpot advised them to consider the problem of too many cars on the road instead.
Jason Morris, 9, said he hasn’t had a chance to see a light rail car in person yet. He added that the presentation was his first time attending a council meeting.
In a later interview, Philpot observed that light rail costs would be complicated by property acquisitions and offsetting negative environmental impacts; she added that even conducting a transportation study for light rail would be expensive for city, though she was reluctant to hazard a guess at how much such a study would cost.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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