With demolition to make way for light rail beginning on Capitol Hill, and the possibility to see streetcar construction start next year, the neighborhood is in for a long haul of non-stop construction for the foreseeable future.
Since streets around the area will be torn up anyway for this construction, I began to wonder if this might be a great opportunity to rethink how to make them better for not only cars but bicycles, transit, and people, rather than put everything back exactly as it is now.
I quickly found that I wasn’t the only one envisioning better streets, and now that the discussion has started about what to do with the land above the station once construction is complete, it seems like the perfect time to start the conversation.
Anyone interested is invited to an informal community discussion this Friday 7:00pm at Moe Bar (please RSVP). Learn more about the streetcar project, and share your ideas for how to make Capitol Hill an even more vibrant, walkable community.
Wish I could make this!
Does “extension of the city’s streetcar system” mean a connection to the waterfront streetcar line? And if so, could we see the waterfront streetcar back in operation by as soon as 2012? I assume part of the First Hill streetcar project will be building a maintenance and operation center for the line, which is what the Benson streetcar is missing. Assuming the existing waterfront tracks will be left in place when viaduct demo begins, Seattle could score a serious streetcar line stretching from Capitol hill to the north waterfront in the near future.
The waterfront streetcar line is dead. Definitely until at least the Alaskan Way Viaduct demolition finishes and likely after that. It will probably be replaced by a streetcar on first ave.
I don’t think we should allow the waterfront streetcar to slip away under the cover of night. There is no excuse for allowing local leaders to pull a “temporary suspension” like what happened to the A branch of the Green Line in Boston.
The waterfront streetcar was popular, helped businesses along the waterfront, and paid for itself. With the new cruise terminal at pier 91 there is an opportunity for an extension to Smith Cove to provide connections for cruise passengers to downtown. There are 200+ cruise ship dockings a year, about half at pier 66 and half at pier 91. Each docking brings about 3000 people to town. If a trolley barn was constructed somewhere along a Smith Cove extension it could continue to operate on the Northern half of the line while the viaduct was being demolished.
Since it is local campaign season I fully plan to ask all of the candidates for City and County office about the waterfront streetcar.
Sure if it comes down to having to make a choice between a streetcar on First avenue or one on the waterfront I’ll take First avenue, but I don’t we should have to make that choice.
I agree that it’s a great thing, but given the economic climate, I don’t think they’re going to want to put how ever many millions are necessary to rebuild a lot of the track and stations after the viaduct is torn down (I assume that they’ll need to remove those, correct me if I’m wrong) and to build a new maintenance facility. But when the economy recovers, it should be one of our top priorities.
The First Hill line would meet the 1st Ave. line at King St. Station. The SLUT would be extended south to connect with the 1st Ave. line.