Q: Designated disabled-parking stalls in a lot at the Northgate Transit Center, just south of Northgate Mall, are some distance from bus loading zones.

Edmonds resident Mary Zeitner, who uses the transit center, wondered why those stalls aren't more centrally located and why there aren't more of them.

A: Spaces reserved for disabled motorists are at the north and south ends of the lot because that is where wheelchair-accessible paths from the parking spaces to the bus stops are, Metro Transit spokeswoman Linda Thielke said.

The pathway in the center of the lot is not accessible because of the grade. Thielke said that when the lot is redeveloped, the configuration will change. The number of disabled stalls at the transit center meets requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, she added.

Q: After replacing three windshields in the past year, Ross Flett of Seattle has just about had it.

"Why is it I see these dump trucks all over with no cover on the loads of dirt they are hauling?" he asked. "Are these people exempt from the 'cover your load' law or what?"

A: A dump truck is exempt from that requirement if it has at least 6 inches of "free board" in its bed. That means, said John Nicholas, a commercial-vehicle enforcement officer for the State Patrol, that the truck needs to maintain at least 6 inches between the top of its sideboards and the load in its dump box. With a settling load, that's not so easy to do.

Realistically, covered loads are few, Nicholas conceded.

"For drivers, it's a nuisance, and it takes time," he said.

But, Nicholas said, his division has more than a half-dozen enforcement troopers roaming highways and back roads just to see whether dump-truck drivers are complying with the law. Enforcement officers even park near pits where dump trucks are coming and going, he said.

Damage to windshields, unfortunately, is not uncommon.

Lt. Julie Myer, also in the Patrol's Commercial Vehicle Division, said some companies will replace windshields if they are contacted and the driver of the damaged windshield can report the time and location of the incident as well as the dump truck's license-plate number.

Q: Dean Knutson of Sammamish is trying to figure out why the westbound Interstate 90 car-pool lane starts as far west as it does.

"Over time, it looks like it has been moved further west when it should be moved further east, up past the Issaquah Highlands ramp, so car-poolers can sort themselves out earlier," he said, adding that much of the morning jam on westbound I-90 near Highway 900 in Issaquah is likely due to single-occupant vehicles merging out of the left lane as it becomes the car-pool lane.

"This process also slows car-poolers in a lane that should be express," he said.

A: State Department of Transportation engineer Leslie Forbis said the car-pool lane used to begin under Highway 900. But it was moved because of congestion and a high number of collisions at that spot.

She said computer models were used to help determine whether moving the lane east or west would best improve traffic flow and safety.

"The resulting data showed that moving the lane east would move traffic congestion further east as well," she said, adding that the state decided that would be dangerous because it would create a jam that might surprise drivers farther east, who tend to drive faster and must navigate more curves.

"We chose to reduce this element of surprise by moving the car-pool lane a half-mile west instead."

However, the state Legislature has approved money for an I-90 route-development plan, and Forbis said the study should help identify where the state needs to add lanes and build or modify interchanges between North Bend and Interstate 405 in Bellevue.

That plan has to be completed before the Transportation Department can begin additional improvements along that stretch of I-90, she said.

Bumper note

King County Metro Transit says its weekday ridership has jumped about 7 percent — an estimated 20,000 daily trips — over last fall, an increase that's probably the result of higher gas prices.

For the third quarter, ridership was up about 3.5 percent over the corresponding period last year, said Kevin Desmond, Metro Transit general manager.

According to preliminary data, use of Metro's park-and-ride lots also is on the rise, Desmond said.

Van-pool ridership was up 9 percent last month over September 2004. And RideshareOnline.com logged a marked increase in customers seeking ride-matching services last month compared with a year ago.