Stations’ names won’t tie tongues

You’ve got to be kidding.

What the heck is the Mukilteo Multi-Modal Station? For that matter, what is the Edmonds Multi-Modal Station?

Is it where NASA’s going to launch a new wave of space shuttles? Or where boxcars full of Xboxes are unloaded?

No. Neither of the above.

The unwieldy names have been placed on two yet-to-be-built transit stations, little hubs of so much potential activity that they have been branded with the multi-modal moniker.

“It’s industry jargon,” explains Lee Somerstein, a spokesman for Sound Transit, which will one day have its Sounder commuter trains stop at both stations.

He said multi-modal is useful because it shows that several kinds of “transits” will all meet up at the stations – commuter trains, ferries and buses.

Thankfully, though, the multi-modal moniker will only be used while the stations are being built.

“I can almost guarantee that multi-modal will not be in the name of either station,” Somerstein said, joking that the station in Mukilteo could be called “Mukil-Modal Station.”

Eventually officials from Sound Transit and the Washington State Ferries will have to get together on what to name the stations. Somerstein said it’s Sound Transit’s pattern to name the station after the city it’s located in. A state ferries spokeswoman said she also doubts multi-modal will be used in the name.

Let’s hope that’s the case.

Mukilteo Station doesn’t sound bad. Neither does Edmonds Station.

Up the tracks, the name Everett Station rolled off the tongue and stuck when it opened in 2002.

Sound Transit and the state have been squirreling away money to complete the transit centers toward the end of this decade, saying that spending hundreds of millions to put all three forms of transit under one roof will be an immense help to commuters.

Sounds great. So let’s help all of our tongues and sensibilities too by not slapping silly names on them.

School zones

Now that school’s in session almost everywhere, kids will generally continue to be kids and not pay close attention during the same hours that roads are at their most crowded.

The Everett Police Department will be doing a special traffic emphasis in school zones this week. Other departments such as Lynnwood’s also will conduct additional enforcement.

“We have found it most important to do this enforcement especially at the very beginning of school, as so many motorists have forgotten about the school zones over the summer,” the Lynnwood Police Department explains on its Web site.

So, remember those little guys.

Illegal parking

Question: I have noticed a rusty van parked on Ash Way near Alderwood Mall on the east side of the road. It’s no more than 3 feet from a fire hydrant. It has been parked there for more than a year now. Is this legal on Washington’s roads?

John Ries, Everett

Answer: The short answer is that parking is prohibited within 15 feet of a fire hydrant. We will alert the sheriff’s office about this situation.

Jim Bloodgood, traffic engineer, Snohomish County Public Works Department

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