Transportation

2021 was a big year for the global shipping industry. A new report from finds that the ships that carried imports for 18 of the U.S.’s largest retail, fashion, tech, and furniture companies emitted about 3.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2021, about as much as the annual climate pollution from 750,000 passenger cars.

The largest aircraft yet to fly on hydrogen-electric power made a successful first flight in Moses Lake, Washington, on Thursday. The maiden flight of a converted turboprop airliner offered a preview of one possible pathway for how to make future flights more eco-friendly.

A controversial effort to find a solution to Washington's growing air travel demands would get a do-over under a bill making its way through the Statehouse, but some critics remain dissatisfied.

A big list of carbon polluters in Washington is now subject to a cap and trade regulation system under the state’s Climate Commitment Act. The first auction was held Tuesday for permits to emit greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

You probably no longer bat an eye when an electric car passes by on the road. More novel battery-powered vehicles are soon joining the parade to help operators achieve their sustainability goals. Now, several Pacific Northwest fire departments have ordered their first electric fire trucks.

Thousands of people said goodbye to Boeing's final 747 airplane

On Tuesday, Boeing is delivering its final 747 jumbo jet in Everett, Wash. From its first flight in 1969 to assembling some of the final 747s in 2022, photos show the revolutionary plane over its 54 year production run — which started and will now end in the Puget Sound region.

Washington state lawmakers in Olympia are debating a suite of possible new responses to surging traffic fatalities. Those include authorizing photo radar in highway work zones, prohibiting right turns at many red lights, and lowering the breathalyzer limit to convict for drunk driving. Some of these ideas have corollaries in Oregon, where the legislative machinery is getting revved up too.

King County Metro, the eighth largest bus system in the nation, is 50 years old. Terry White has been there for the whole ride — from a rider at 10 years old to head of the entire operation.

Clallam and Pierce counties in Western Washington are experimenting with what some call “microtransit”: on-demand trips for that last mile, from the transit hub to people’s neighborhoods.