Comments on: A Sneak Peak at Seatac Station

By: Airport Link Opening Tomorrow: T Minus 17 hours - Seattle Transit Blog

Airport Link Opening Tomorrow: T Minus 17 hours - Seattle Transit Blog — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:01:40 +0000

[...] working on polishing up the station for Saturday’s big event. You can read Martin’s detailed coverage last month of SeaTac Station and the opening day announcement, where Senator Murray was there to [...]

By: Mike Orr

Mike Orr — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:46:34 +0000

It’s hard for us to understand, but people in the 1940s-1960s saw the old architecture as backward; it reminded them of a past they wanted to get away from. So Art Deco in the 20s and 30s gave way to Brutalism and modernism (monorail, SCCC/NSCC/SSCC, kingdome, Kane/Schmitz/Sieg/McMahon/Hagget halls, 60s downtown library and Ballard library, etc). In the 90s came a new respect for classical styles, but materials and construction had become too expensive to mimic the ornate detail, so modernism was modified to accommodate the spirit of older styles (Benaroya, Washington Mutual/Chase tower, 90s UW library).

Car travel also played a role in simplifying the styles. When you walk right next to a building, you can see every detail. When you’re viewing it from an arterial or highway, you can’t see the details, so developers can get away with much cheaper/simpler styling.

By: Mike Orr

Mike Orr — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:30:10 +0000

I was surprised at the open-wall stations in Vancouver and Chicago.

By: Sally

Sally — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:10:24 +0000

Thanks, John. Very interesting & informative.

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:13:35 +0000

Bernie and Eric, the tracks have been done and in place for quite some time, and testing of the impedence bonds and signal system has been ongoing. Both are critical for rail safety. Our signal system ensures proper separation of trains.
Lines to power the trains have been energized for the same amount of time. I’m not familiar with the certification process by the Feds, but everything has to be inspected and signed off… government agencies obviously move at their own pace, SLOW! : )
What we’ve been waiting for is for the completion of the SeaTac Station itself. I haven’t seen the actual cost figures, but I imagine completion will come on or under budget, and opening date as announced is almost two weeks earlier than the planned Dec 31st opening.
Initial training of light rail operators is a 6-8 week process. Once that training is complete, each operator had to qualify on the different track segments (Downtown Transit Tunnel, Beacon Hill Tunnel, Martin Luther King Jr Way where we are at grade level with traffic and pedestrians, and the elevated section between Rainier Beach and Tukwila), as each one is a unique operating environment. The airport extension is no different. The ratio of training staff to the 61 or so light rail operators we now have is what determines the time factor. Our previous qualifications occured during pre-revenue service, so training the 53 operators at that time took less time. Now we have to rotate operators from their duties during regular service, to go qualify on the airport segment, a process that will obviously take more time. We can’t shut down the railroad to qualify people faster.
I’m as anxious to get the airport extension opened as everyone else! I’m also anxious to have the University Link segment in operation, but that’s almost 7 years away.
I hope I’ve helped everyone in understanding some of the behind-the-scenes processes going on, so perhaps the appreciation of the finished project will be greater.

By: ericn

ericn — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:30:04 +0000

I’d assume that the tracks are ready for trains now, but the station/pedestrian bridges won’t be ready until December.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:51:30 +0000

Does it really take a month before trains can be operated safely on a new extention? It seems like revenue service could be provided Thanksgiving weekend. I admit I have no clue as to all that’s involved so your insight would be appreciated. I’m sure a lot of the general public is going to wonder why they have to catch a shuttle bus to the airport when the train they were just on is going there empty.

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:29:43 +0000

As a King County Metro Bus driver (and now a KC/ST light rail operator), I never understood the rationale behind the decision by a bus patron to wait at a bus stop for up to 30 min to ride a bus to a bus stop 2-6 blocks away, when they could have easily walked that distance in far less time. Not only is it good exercise, but gives one the opportunity to discover things about your city that you may not previously have known.
I may be biased, but I think the SeaTac Light Rail Station turned out to be the best looking one of the bunch, even despite the scaled back architecture.
What I’m looking forward to most is eliminating the confusion by light rail passengers as to which platform to they need to be on to catch THE NEXT train to Seattle (as is the case with Tukwila Int’l Blvd Station with its platforms on either side, serving as a temporary terminal)… the platform at SeaTac is in the center.
We start qualifications training on the airport segment of the track today (Mon 11-16-09), and quite soon passengers will deboard at Tukwila (as they do now) while the train continues on to the SeaTac Station empty. This gives operators the opportunity to become completely familiar with the airport link segment of the track, so things run smoothly come opening day.

By: Squints

Squints — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:54:14 +0000

McGinn didn’t change his opinion – he simply admitted that it was no longer his role to try and block it.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:17:21 +0000

That building happens to be a Qwest telephone exchange. Now there is a chance Qwest might be willing to put something a little more pedestrian friendly at street level but I wouldn’t bet on it. Phone companies like to keep their core infrastructure secure and they don’t like other non-telecom tenants in their buildings.

There is some hope though, modern exchanges take up far less space than the old crossbar switches or first-generation electronic switching systems. However there still is the problem of needing to terminate the wire plant somewhere. Moving that is a bit of a challenge. It can be done though. The old Qwest building which is now the Bellevue City Hall also housed a phone exchange. As far as I know this was moved elsewhere when Qwest vacated the building. So it is conceivable Qwest might at some point consolidate it’s downtown Seattle facilities further. Unfortunately I suspect the building would likely become a co-lo facility rather than being converted to conventional office space or torn down. At least this is what has happened to many other former large downtown telephone exchange buildings across the US.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:03:22 +0000

If the APM is built there is a chance it might stop at the Link station as well.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:02:53 +0000

Here is a slide show of the new Gold Line stations opening in LA this weekend:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-architecture13-2009nov13-pictures,0,1506331.photogallery?index=?index=la-et-goldline00_kt0bmpnc

By: Tim Whittome

Tim Whittome — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:30:53 +0000

Yes, that too – it is just an invite to taggers etc. It is all part of the same hideous block as the Post Office – I hadn’t heard that was to be closed though – they have just done a sort of upgrade to it but not as extensively as one would have liked.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:14:37 +0000

Ooh near the Rental Car Center there’s a thing that says “Possible Rental Car APM.” Does that stand for Automated People Mover? If so, sweet.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:14:27 +0000

I for one like brutalist architecture. DC Metro – yeah!!

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:10:02 +0000

I think that’s TSA, not FAA, but I might be wrong.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:56:57 +0000

I hear the Downtown Post Office is on the proposed closure list, so we might get that knocked down. And I would add that creepy, imposing, almost windowless building at 3rd & Seneca to that list.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:47:24 +0000

Also, if you’ve seen, the Rainier Valley stations have green walls along the platforms with ivy starting to grow in

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:58:12 +0000

Just took Link home from SeaTac today. It was a nice trip! I can’t wait for the airport station to be complete so that I don’t have to wait for the shuttle bus.

By: Oran Viriyincy

Oran Viriyincy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:48:48 +0000

The triangle transit center concept is a major part of the SR 520 HCT Plan because the Montlake flyer stop won’t be rebuilt.