Comments on: SR-520 News Roundup

By: Jonathan Dubman

Jonathan Dubman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:52:43 +0000

UW to Microsoft via light rail over I-90 would include stops at:

1. Capitol Hill
2. Westlake
3. University St.
4. Pioneer Square
5. International District
6. I-90 / Rainier
7. Mercer Island
8. South Bellevue
9. SE 8th or thereabouts (options here)
10. East Main or thereabouts
11. Bellevue Transit Center (hopefully)
12. Ashwood
13. 124th
14. 130th
15. Overlake Village

and then on to Overlake Transit Center. I think I got that right… I believe the scheduled trip time is 42 minutes.

If there were a bike lane on 520 I could easily beat that. It takes 12 minutes to drive when there’s no traffic.

None of that is to say there’s something “wrong” with East Link. It’s just a very indirect route from North Seattle to the Eastside.

By: Jonathan Dubman

Jonathan Dubman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:46:05 +0000

Sure.

“ST 545 would be eliminated if light rail reaches Downtown Redmond.”

Source: (see page 16)

http://www.soundtransit.org/Documents/pdf/projects/eastlink/deis/3_Transportation_Environment_and_Consequences.pdf

By: MJ

MJ — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:21:09 +0000

He means that the bus tunnel originally had tracks put in for rail when it was built in the ’80s. When they finally got around to putting the light rail on forementioned tracks, they decided they had installed the wrong track and had to rip everything out and put in new track (which is why the bus tunnel was closed for a year last year)

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:27:55 +0000

Thomson it is. Thanks, and thanks for the link as I was not aware of the proposed Bothell Freeway!

By: Jonathan Dubman

Jonathan Dubman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:04:38 +0000

“Given the track record, why should anyone believe that people who have been wrong all these years, are right now?”

I’m not going to recap the entire history of this project in this space. I’ll save it for my book. There are many twists and turns. In the meantime, here’s a link from the better part of a decade ago in which I make a case almost identical to the one I was a part of making yesterday:

The case for HCT + 4 lanes on SR-520
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/montlakeforum/message/280

May 30, 2002

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:47:38 +0000

Yes good point but I certainly think that progressives in Washington State are becoming more and more disillusioned with the Democratic supermajority in Olympia. I for one would like to fee a further left coalition (it could even just be democrats that what to push the rest of the party) to at least call democrats out of their behavior and also to challenge the Democratic party when they are selling out.

By: Transit Guy

Transit Guy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:39:49 +0000

Please, folks, it’s “R.H. Thomson” — no P.

Reginald H. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_H._Thomson The wiki blurb is informative, especially to the newcomers who don’t know all their Seattle history yet.

By: Transit Guy

Transit Guy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:30:10 +0000

Yes, I-90/Issaquah corridor riders COULD transfer at S. Bellevue P&R but current scenarios are that they won’t be REQUIRED to do so. With bi-directional HOV lanes on I-90 all the way to the Downtown Seattele Transit Tunnel, there would be little time savings, if any, in transferring at S. Bellevue.

I expect the future bus routings will offer riders a choice: some I-90 buses stopping at S. Bellevue P&R, some continuing non-stop to the Downtown Transit Tunnel. Let riders vote with their feet (or their seats, or their fares, whatever you choose to call it.

By: alexjonlin

alexjonlin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:19:51 +0000

What do you mean? Light rail is light rail.

By: Chetan

Chetan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:03:46 +0000

It wont help with traffic. All the cars will just bottleneck in I-5

By: Marge

Marge — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:02:41 +0000

Yarrow Point and Medina aren’t being hypocritical by using transit and the environment writ large to delay things until death and cost all the rest of us millions.

If you really want better transit, more access to all the great parks and waterfront, and a better environment, you really ought to support a major up zone in your neighborhood.

But you don’t.

Yesterday your group announced that it had been wrong for the past ten years, asking the wrong question. How much did you being wrong cost the rest of us? And given the track record, why should anyone believe that people who have been wrong all these years, are right now?

Most people think the fastest way to better transit and a better environment is to clear the field to get that in 2011 in Olympia. Moving past a decades old neighborhood dispute on the 520 is one way to do that.

By: Chetan

Chetan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:02:00 +0000

Passengers coming from Issaquah would just transfer at South Bellevue.

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:27:01 +0000

The I-90 crossing is geographically far out of the way for trips from Kirkland or Redmond to the UW and even downtown Seattle.

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:25:07 +0000

Actually, if there is an efficient transfer station built, passengers could transfer from buses to light rail. Once built, light rail is much cheaper to operate than running buses to downtown. Eventually there should be a Link branch to Eastgate and Issaquah.

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:21:12 +0000

A great portion of the improved HOV reliability in the westbound direction will be delivered by the HOV changes on the eastside. It is likely possible to deliver a similar benefit in the other direction by establishing a bypass lane that merges after any onramps. The shift to transit will be greatly influenced by the toll levels and transit service delivered. So a very similar result can be delivered by either a 4-lane bridge with transit improvements at the approaches, or 4 general purpose lanes plus 2 lanes dedicated to transit.

By: David in Burien

David in Burien — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:26:09 +0000

The Gov and Clibborn’s “environmental review” comments are clearly talking points and they’re disappointing red herrings, if not utterly disingenuous. The point of the environmental review process in both NEPA and SEPA is to provide for a well-informed agency decisionmaker through analysis, publication, and addressing the fruits of publication (public and expert comment). The result of the environmental review process is almost always adjustment in the proposed action to take into account the comments of experts and others with a stake in the agency decision on the underlying proposed action. Those adjustments are expected and do not promote continuing duty for further environmental review. That’s the point of preparing final EISs and then Records of Decision.

The one thing clear in the State’s stance on this and other similar “mega” projects is that the State acts as both decisionmaker AND stakeholder when there are clearly far more accute stakeholders for each of these projects. And it bothers the crap out of me seeing State decision makers and polticians treating “Seattle” as a meta-entity with little authentic stake in these actions.

By: Adam B. Parast

Adam B. Parast — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:25:49 +0000

Yeah talk about TOD potential. If only there weren’t well to do single family neighborhoods around it.

By: ST Guy

ST Guy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:18:30 +0000

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where light rail replaces ALL transit bus service on a floating bridge. On I-90, for instance, even with full Link build-out to downtown Redmond, there will still be buses on the bridge serving the Issaquah/I-90 corridor. I expect the same principle would be at work with light rail on SR-520.

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:16:45 +0000

I’m no fan of Transportation Committee Chairwoman Clibborn, but what I like about this blog is that facts are encouraged and sniping at politicians tends to get deleted.

By: Mike Skehan

Mike Skehan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:25:31 +0000

Think bigger, Gris. How about a big LID over Lk Washington, and reconnect all the missing links of the street grid. Or maybe just a big free for all for cars traveling on the lid.
The Hydros could be put on skates, and really get some speed.