National award honors Metro response to interstate closure

King County Metro Transit was recently awarded an "Outstanding Service Award" by the Association for Commuter Transportation, a national professional organization that supports efforts to reduce traffic congestion, conserve energy, and improve air quality.

The national recognition went to Metro’s Rideshare Operations for successfully meeting increased demand for vanpools during the August 2007 closure of Interstate 5 in Seattle.

Leading up to that construction project, Rideshare Operations formed and delivered 39 new vanpools – 20 of which were for mitigating congestion during the I-5 project. During that time, Rideshare Operations streamlined the process to rapidly get more commuters into vanpools. Approximately half of the special I-5 groups continued commuting by vanpool after the construction ended.