Traffic Lab is a Seattle Times project that digs into the region’s transportation issues to explore the policies and politics that determine how we get around and how billions of dollars in public money are spent. A block party planned for this Saturday that would’ve closed University Way Northeast to cars was canceled after the city of Seattle denied organizers a permit just eight days before it was to occur, citing opposition from nearly 80 local businesses.  Some of those businesses, however, say they never objected to the event, and are unsure why they’re on a petition that led to the city’s denial, or were told that in signing their names, they were objecting to a permanent closure of the road. The Ave, as the famed street running near the University of Washington is known, isn’t as iconic as Pike Place Market.…