The overriding priority MUST be preserving the ROW. Period. Putting trains on it sooner rather than later will assure the corridor will remain intact for transit. Forget the bazillion dollars dreams. Put trains on it now.

Also, the “all transit must go thru downtown Bellevue” theme is insane. I’ve lived on the Eastside for nearly a dozen years, and I think I’ve had a reason to go to downtown Bellevue maybe 8 times. Most 405 traffic BYPASSES the city of Bellevue. The “hub” transit model doesn’t work. Look at the airlines.

If there was a train running to Renton, I’d personally bid on the contract for a Renton-SeaTac shuttle. I’m certain there would be THAT much demand.

In our history, building roads attracts traffic until the congestion discourages use. If this history is about to be upset by rising costs of car usage, we don’t need more roads. If the history is still true, building more roads won’t even provide the congestion relief that building rail lines will.

“MD: I think we all agree that East Link should be the highest priority on the Eastside. But right after that, the I-405 corridor’s congestion is absolutely horrible. Because the ST2 map leads me to believe that I-405 light rail is going to have to wait for ST4, I say we do something for commuters along that route in their lifetimes. Let’s get this thing built.”

I’m not saying you were being intentionally dishonest, but some people, still smarting from being tricked by false promises in 1996, might think otherwise.

The point isn’t to solve the congestion, the point is to provide an alternative, whose on-time performance is completely independent of whatever’s going on on the freeway.

Not being a rail fetishist, I guess it’s left to me to ask if I see the proof that a 405 corridor rail line will significantly relieve 405′s congestion?

We DO NOT need to double track the entire corridor for superior passenger service, especially if it is only rush hour runs. The Sprinter is an all day service running every 30 minutes. This would probably be the best example of DMU service in the United States. When Portland comes on this Fall it too will be another example of what a totally refurbished rail corridor will look like.

For more information regarding the Sprinter…

Official website for Sprinter
http://www.gonctd.com/sprinter_intro.htm

And one of the best video introductions to Sprinter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH1q8mrfz3g&feature=related

Add simple stations at Northrup & Carrilon Point with passing tracks, and you can keep the rest of the line single track and still achieve good headways. Add a mile of single track looping through downtown Kirkland, and you serve a pretty dense little urban core.

Eventually, add another loop to circulate around Totem Lake, and you’re connecting a major job and transit center to the rail network.

With mostly single track and some streetcar size diesel rolling stock, the capital outlay is modest. No overhead wires to despoil anyone’s suburban dream. Eventually, the line could go beyond Overlake and fulfill Bellevue’s dream of a streetcar, providing local circulation on both ends and an express trip in between.

The rest of the line is more problematic, but I find it questionable to tell Eastsiders they need to wait for ST4 so we can build $100m a mile elevated track along 405 when this existing track comes so close to Totem Lake and DT Kirkland.

My first elementary school was Factoria, a chunky two-story building that, against all odds, eventually did become a factory. Life imitating art.

the key question is the level of service on the Woodinville subdivision: one-way peak-only or frequent two-way all-day? If the former, an elevated connection to downtown Bellevue may not be worthwhile. If the latter, the service could become a reliable transit spine for the Eastside. With tolling on I-405, I-90, and SR-520, arterials may become more congested and the freeways less congested. The Woodinville subdivision service would complement the faster service on the freeways.

the close connection to Totem Lake, Kirkland, South Kirkland, Overlake Hospital, and downtown Renton are key advantages of the ROW.

Funding?

BS is correct: it would take several hundred million to provide good service on the corridor.

ST2 awaits an affirmative vote and 12 years of planning and construction.

East Link in downtown Bellevue is seriously being considered as elevated…That’s what ST says the cost estimates for East Link include.

As for the commuter rail, I think ST mentioned that although there won’t be a direct station downtown, there’ll be one adjacent to the Bel-Red link station for easy transfers (just like King Street is next to the bus tunnel).

I grew up on the Eastside. If you’re seeing the 405 going to any ‘city centers’ other than Woodinville and Renton, those were created during the past 30 years- a process that will happen again when a new transportation corridor (aka light rail line) is developed.

As a freight line, the BNSF line has served some large industrial parcels that are still being held off the market pending ‘developments’. This is exactly where, in the built environment, you find large enough parcels to support TOD. Think Pearl District.

Frankly, the Washington DOT pulled a smash-and-grab to get rid of the rail bridge over the 405 at Wilburton without paying for a replacement. Considering the inevitable intersection (i.e., transfer station) of an east-west Link and the north-south BNSF line somewhere, it would be incredibly stupid not to keep that line intact from Renton to Snohomish.

Because the rail grades are moderate, bicycle/pedestrian paths on both sides of the rail line would be an excellent way for people to get to the stations. You would just ride towards the rail line until you reached the path and then turn to ride towards the nearest station.

Finally, comparing the capital cost of building a rail line to the operations cost of adding new buses is wrong. So very wrong.

Personally, I think the streets in Bellevue are wide enough that an elevated line wouldn’t be very disruptive or problematic.