But nope, lets just keep widening I-405.

No sane person is going to use I-405 to try to get to that P&R location. On the other hand Bellevue Way actually moves at a reasonable speed all the way into Kirkland. Why do you think South Bellevue P&R is already fairly heavily used? It isn’t just people who live South of Downtown and West of I-405.

There is the further problem of bus access to the Wilburton location. The 405/90 interchange AFAIK has no direct HOV ramps from WB 90 to NB 405 or from SB 405 to EB 90. Sure you could re-route the routes currently using LHC into a Wilburton P&R but that still is far from optimal.

At the library they do have the hard copy DEIS including B size drawings. Unfortunately there was a note that the whole thing has to be return on February 25th. Likely some legal requirement that in not be in circulation after the comment period is over. And while I understand this is a draft copy it still seems like it should be on the shelf until it’s been replaced by something else.

FWIW, the expansion of the South Bellevue P&R is in the DEIS. They don’t state how (multi story) but they do give the number of stalls.

I have seen the Buzzsaw of Criticism that happens when putting the P&R near the Wilburton Trestle is proposed. That doesn’t convince me. The Wilburton Trestle is literally a few minutes away by freeway from the South Bellevue P&R site. The Wilburton site is closer to the NE and SW quadrants. Everything north of the 405-520 interchange can be gathered on 405 and fed south.

That leaves only west Bellevue. If anyone is serious about harvesting this high-hanging fruit, the B1 alignment up 104th is the best way to do it.

What appears to be about a 112th alignment follows a pattern familiar to any student of transit- “Well, we’ll just take little land from this park here- and we’ll just take a little land from this park here- and it will be cheaper to build through this residential neighborhood than deal with the lawyers from this shopping mall…”

So this B3 alignment tucks the LRT “out of sight, out of mind”, on the far side of the ridge from the shoppers at the Bellevue Square. Which, incidentally, should serve as a park-n-ride reservoir for parking, as mall parking lots are usually only full on weekends and evenings, when people aren’t going to work.

So my gut feeling is that a Bellevue Way-104th alignment has the table tilted a little against it.

Under the circumstances, I’m not going to blame people in Surrey Downs if they get organized and show up at meetings. I’m sure the East LINK will get built so from my point of view it might be improved by choosing a B1 alignment. And, frankly, the technocrat approach has stripped the matter of much sentiment or interest for me. To me it seems obvious that you serve existing development and places like hospitals. When the number-crunchers start coming up with routes that don’t serve these places, and require circulators or shuttles, I’m like, whatever. The future will come and they can fix it then.

I *can* see using some of the ESR corridor to bring Link to Renton and Kirkland, but that’s a really long time off.

Still looking at the per-precinct maps, support for ST2 looks stronger on the Eastside than in South King or Pierce county.

If B2 is selected they will get a station at SE 8th and 112th and a 1 seat ride to the Microsoft campus. I imagine that has to be an easier commute than trying to fight traffic all the way there.

What has really surprised me about the whole East Link discussion is the relative lack of opposition from other quarters. I would have thought either Kemper Freeman or people on Mercer Island would be raising more of a stink. But the opposition so far has mostly been South Bellevue, and mostly Surrey Downs at that.

Prop. 1 election results have already been discussed on this blog:

precinct maps

King Co. District Maps

There is a good chance any Link spur serving Kirkland would use at least some of the BNSF ROW in that direction.

As for how East Link connects to an Issaquah spur, I suspect no matter what alignment is chosen for South Bellevue a wye will probably be built at roughly the point segment B leaves the I-90 alignment. If I-90 bridge or downtown Seattle tunnel capacity is an issue I suspect the transfer will be either at Mercer Island or South Bellevue/118th. With South Bellevue you can probably serve both East/West riders and those heading into Bellevue or Redmond. With B7 you will probably have to run some trains to Mercer Island and others to 118th.

I know Main isn’t a major E/W connector. I was just pointing out that for the multifamily developments North of the Wilburton Trestle, East Main is easier to access particularly by walking or bike than the location of the 118th P&R.

For a P&R I don’t think the freeway traffic going by really makes a difference. You’ve already lost those who’ve decided to get on the highway and fight traffic. At least with people on their way to their freeway entrance there is a chance they might decide to see how that train thingy works.

I don’t think there is any plan to provide access similar to Kingsgate for the 118th P&R. I don’t see it in the budget and I don’t think the topography in that location would permit it.

There is a lot of detail glossed over in the DEIS executive summary. You really need to read at least parts of the full document. In particular Ch. 2 and Ch. 6.

ESR if built may or may not be privetly funded, if we look into the ST3 timeframe, it may make more sence to be publicly funded, irregardless, do you think it makes sence to NOT provide transfer points between ESR and Link where they meet ?

Lor Scara

Building something like what Kingsgate, Ash Way, or Lynnwood Transit Center would cost additional money that isn’t in the current plan.

The real issue with a station in the SE 8th area along 405 for transit access would be the 90/405 interchange. This is why if the B7 alignment gets chosen most buses will go to the Mercer Island P&R rather than the 118th P&R.

Modern LRV’s using continuous welded rail are nowhere near as loud as the El in Chicago or the elevated lines on the NYC subway. For one thing the wheels almost never squeal.

People in Surrey Downs are already living along a major transportation corridor near an urban downtown. For them to expect they can continue to enjoy the “country life” forever into the future is quite unrealistic.

Frankly that train left the station years ago.