Seattle Transit Blog

Rainier Freeway Station, at I-90 and Rainier will close for 5 years beginning Monday, September 22, for East Link Construction. You can read Sound Transit’s explainer for more details. Most routes (111, 114, 212, 214, 216, 218, and 219) will bypass the station and head into downtown, while the 554, 217, and some 212 trips will be detoured via Rainier Ave and S Dearborn St to provide service coverage to the North Rainier area.

Needless to say the routes that remain on I-90 will be faster for riders going to and from the Eastside. Seattle DOT is, however, mitigating some of the impact for some routes by making a stretch of 4th Avenue S into an all-day bus lane.

Contributor Jason Shindler wrote a guest piece for us in 2016 previewing some of these changes and suggesting some “radical changes” that could speed up buses traveling on I-90.

In 2023, the station will re-open to serve East Link light rail exclusively.  At that time, all I-90 buses coming in to Seattle will terminate at either Mercer Island (with limitations) or South Bellevue.

This is the third and final post in our series about the latest designs for the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions. This post covers West Seattle.

On September 5th, Sound Transit released its latest concept work on the West Seattle and Ballard light rail extensions. We’re examining each segment in-depth, from north to south, station by station.

More detailed information, including Sound Transit’s score of each station site and track segment, can be found here. Sound Transit’s new outreach website has visualizations and other information. Here’s where you can read Part One (Ballard) and Part Two (Downtown & SLU).

Since the Level 1 analysis, ST eliminated the Delridge station options that were well off of Delridge Way, leaving only alignments that continue west on Genesee Street. Nearly all alignments that point west at Alaska Junction are also gone, as they mesh poorly with vague future plans to continue to White Center (the west-pointing ST3 representative project remains). The majority of surviving options tunnel under the Junction.  All have a potential ridership of between 10,000 and 12,500 within the station walksheds.

Staff continue to make it clear that a tunnel will add costs.  The three tunnel options here increase the overall project costs by anywhere from $500M to $1.2B, in addition to creating increased schedule risk. If a tunnel were to be selected, supplemental funding from the City would be required.

Duwamish Crossing

ST presented three alignments of the water crossing: a bridge north of the West Seattle Bridge, a bridge adjacent to the south edge of the West Seattle Bridge, and a bridge south of Harbor Island with a tunnel through Pigeon Hill.

The Pigeon Hill alignment seems likely to be eliminated. It would be the most complicated feat of engineering, and therefore the most expensive option at $1.2B more than the representative project; the river crossing would be the widest, and the tunnel would have to be a deep bore through the hill. ST staff seemed lukewarm about the alignment.  

[Read more…]

This is the second of three posts in our series about the latest designs for the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions. This post covers Uptown and South Lake Union.

Last Wednesday, September 5th, Sound Transit released its latest concept work on the West Seattle and Ballard light rail extensions. We’re examining each segment in-depth, from north to south, station by station.

More detailed information, including Sound Transit’s score of each station site and track segment, can be found here. Sound Transit’s new outreach website has visualizations and other information. Read Part One here.

Since the Level 1 alternatives, there have been a few changes. The all-Mercer St. alignment, the 8th Avenue First Hill Stop, and the idea of having only one stop in South Lake Union have disappeared.

Uptown (Seattle Center)

The underground Uptown station will sit in a neighborhood dense with jobs, residents, and events ridership. The station will lie on an east-west, tunneled track segment roughly on the axis of 1st Avenue N. The question is whether the station will be built on Harrison, Republican, Mercer, or Roy.

Sound Transit identified four factors in the ultimate decision: tunnel and portal alignment, service for Key Arena & Seattle Center, bus integration, and TOD potential.

Roy scores the lowest by those metrics. Bus integration and Seattle Center service would be poor, though there is more upzoning potential near the station site. [Read more…]

Dublin is reimagining its bus network.

Over the last three years, we’ve gotten used to a continuous stream of service improvements from Metro.  The pattern continues with this fall’s service change, which starts next Saturday, September 22.  There are almost no substantive changes to Metro service this time around.  The big picture is a peanut-butter-style scattering of new trips throughout the Metro system, some funded by Metro itself and some by the Seattle TBD.

New 10-Minute Service

The most headline-worthy addition is that routes 41, 70, and RapidRide E Line go to 10-minute frequency during the day on weekdays.  This is a minor adjustment for the E Line, which already has 10-minute frequency most of the time, and just needed a few gaps filled. It’s a bigger change for the 41 and 70, both of which have 15-minute midday service today.  Weekend and evening service will remain at current 12- to 15-minute frequencies on all three routes.

SR 99 Reroutes

Metro has finally disclosed what will happen to West Seattle Bridge and SR 509 service once the Alaskan Way Viaduct closes.  The changes will happen in two phases.

Phase 1 covers the time when both the viaduct and the new SR 99 tunnel are closed.  Plans for this phase remain subject to change.  Routes that currently use the Alaskan Way Viaduct to reach the West Seattle Bridge, including RapidRide C Line, 21 Express, 37, 55, 56, 57, 120, and 125, will use surface streets: 4th Ave northbound, and the current route 21 routing (but without local stops) southbound.  Service on these routes will be slower, but stop locations shouldn’t change.  Routes that proceed south on Highway 99, including 113, 121, 122, and 123, will use 1st Ave S south of S Lander St, missing stops along E Marginal Way S and resulting in a long walk for passengers in that area.

Metro will shift to Phase 2 after the SR 99 tunnel opens and the new ramps connecting SR 99 to S Dearborn St are operational.  All ex-Viaduct service will use 1st Ave S to reach those ramps and then resume normal route along SR 99, serving all normal stops.  The Phase 2 routing will likely be in place for several years, until the City of Seattle has completed construction of the new Alaskan Way as far as Columbia St.  1st Ave S service has in the past been prone to delays, and it is still not clear if buses will receive any priority along 1st Ave S between Columbia St and S Dearborn St.

Other changes, all minor, below the jump.

[Read more…]

The Sound Transit Board’s capital committee on Thursday made the early construction of the North 130th St. more likely. The agency’s staff and elected leadership also continued to express concerns about the Trump administration’s hostility to transit projects.

The committee also voted to elevate Downtown Redmond’s new Link station, change the Federal Way Link federal grant proposal, study improvements to Seattle RapidRide, and install new diagnostic units on light rail vehicles.

N 130th Street Station preliminary engineering

As we predicted Wednesday, the North 130th St. Link station got one step closer to opening at the same time as the Lynnwood Link Extension in 2024, instead of 2031. The Sound Transit Board’s Capital Committee encouraged (but did not formally vote to recommend) a plan for ST staff to begin preliminary engineering on the station.

Until today, the board’s Snohomish County officials opposed building the station before Everett got Link service. Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling, the only Snohomish County official on the committee, supported the move to begin engineering work. Earling’s cautious endorsement of the move was a victory for Seattle officials, especially City Councilmember Debora Juarez, who campaigned on the issue.

[Read more…]

• Mike Lindblom writes a fair deep dive on the 85th St BRT Station ($).
• ST to talk with Lower Queen Anne about station locations Sep. 20.
• The pro-CCC coalition ($) is impressively broad.
• The bus stop improvement plan was scuttled by privacy concerns.
• “Adaptive signals” are not great.
• Nuisance lawsuit against ST3 car tabs thrown out.
• Swift Blue Line going back to 10 minute headways this month.
• SDOT Director is a good gig, if not with great job security.
• Meetings on 145th/SR522 BRT this month.
• Some riders not happy with Access.
• WSDOT trying several things ($) to reduce I-405 congestion.
• Puget Sound is still driving more, but less per person.
• Cascade coalesces a campaign around a limited set of projects, which is wise.
• SDOT pitting Eastlake bike lanes against on-street parking.
• It’s the single family zones where Seattle is losing tree cover.
• Seattle may tax Uber and Lyft, at least in downtown.
• Lime may bring its scooters and bikes to Tacoma.
• We endorsed Joe Nguyen in the 34th District, but Shannon Braddock’s position on car tabs is totally reasonable.
• 360 more units for Redmond.
• Rents in Seattle stabilize.
• ST hiring a communications intern.

This is an open thread.

Possible good news for North Seattle: the Sound Transit board’s capital committee will vote Thursday on a resolution to move forward with preliminary engineering for 130th St station, meaning it could open years earlier than originally planned.

We started writing about 130th back in 2013, touting its potential for east-west connectivity and transit-oriented development.  130th also has only a partial I-5 interchange, making it friendlier to non-motorized and bus access from the Lake City and Bitter Lake neighborhoods. However, the ST studies and the political machinations between Seattle, Shoreline, and Snohomish cities conspired to give us stations at Northgate and 145th, with a 2-mile gap in between.

As ST3 got closer, more advocates began asking for the station to be added to the plans.  When the draft ST3 plan was released in April of 2016, the 130th station was listed as “provisional.”  Then, after a public process that included some vigorous advocacy from folks including Seattle City Councilmember Debra Juarez, who represents North Seattle’s District 5, the station was added in but deferred to 2031.

The 2031 date didn’t really make anyone happy.  Adding the station after Lynnwood Link was up and running would have been expensive and disruptive.  But it was seen as too risky, both in terms of Lynnwood’s timeline and federal funding, to add the station concurrently with the rest of the Lynnwood extension. With Lynnwood Link pushed out to 2024, staff appear more confident that they can squeeze it in.

It’s not time to pop the Champagne corks up in Pinehurst just yet. The resolution calls the preliminary engineering proposal a “due diligence effort” to “help determine the viability of accelerating final design and construction of the station to be sufficiently complete by 2024 concurrent with [Lynnwood Link] to avoid or minimize service disruptions.” But this is still optimistic news for a project that has had its share of setbacks.

Sound Transit’s new schedule books are out. The September 22 service changes include some bad news and little bits of good news. Seven ST Express bus routes, including the two with the highest ridership (routes 550 and 545), are losing trips. Routes 511 and 580 are the only routes gaining trips. Some routes are losing a little span of service, and some are gaining.

Route 510 is losing two trips, both in the afternoon peak, with trips from 3:55 to 5:35 becoming more spread out.

Route 511, however, is gaining a trip, improving frequency and altering schedule times from 4:06 pm to 6:18 pm.

Route 513 is losing one northbound afternoon trip, impacting the timing of all northbound 513 runs. On the bright side, the last trip will start five minutes later, extending span of service.

[Read more…]

When you have no room to turn a bus around…

A twitter thread, since deleted, questioned which dollars the new Center City Connector cost estimates were expressed in. If the study counts year of expenditure (YOE) dollars, then simply deferring the project balloons the cost.

Absolutely obsessed with questions about YOE vs. constant dollars during the ST3 campaign, I was embarrassed not to think of this question myself. The Mayor’s Office responded like this:

Capital costs are estimated in current (2018) dollars with escalation included through mid-point of construction at 5% per year.  The mid-point of construction was estimated to be in September 2020.  KPMG used a 4% annual growth rate (real + nominal) to get to Opex figures, which are reflected in the increases.

Although the wording is unclear, it describes YOE dollars. The CCC is a relatively short project, so YOE doesn’t transform the numbers. The study summary is actually quite specific that delaying completion to 2022 accounts for $8m of the $54.8m capital cost increase. This is roughly in line with construction costs delayed for two years at 5% inflation ending up at $83m.

In the ST3 debate, these questions mattered a lot. Thanks to the long timeline, different units resulted in huge differences in headline figures in the context of a campaign. For the CCC, I’m not sure it matters. Apportioning blame is a fun parlor game. But most of the funding streams are fixed, so regardless of the cause, supporters will have to find the money somewhere.

• If you missed the Friday night news dump, it was a doozy.
• Lizz Giordano says they’re Upzoning downtown Everett ($).
• Bus lane coming to Columbia Street.
• Open Houses for the Link extension to Tacoma begin next week.
• RFP for Northgate TOD reissued; delay turns out to have been mostly a waste of time.
• Another for Puyallup Station parking on Tuesday.
• UW experimenting with a bike valet at the Link station.
• Getting to the Washington State Fair via transit.
• Mercer Island looking to actually develop something ($) next to its station.
• Portland is testing pre-fab bus islands.
• Sound Transit is beta-testing a new website.
• Vancouver’s Broadway Subway approved.
• Security theater ($) may be coming to American transit systems.

This is an open thread.

Sound Transit will brief the public and stakeholders on the latest West Seattle-Ballard concepts tonight, and what it shows could make a ruckus. So far, ST has tipped a preference for siting the Chinatown station and segment on 5th Avenue South. But a coalition of neighborhood groups and transit advocates is rooting for a 4th Avenue station and alignment.

Maiko Winkler-Chin, the executive director of the Chinatown/International District Public Development authority (SCIDPDA), is one of the community leaders arguing for the 4th Avenue alignment. The First Hill streetcar project made the neighborhood’s businesses and residents wary of rosy government agency claims about construction impacts.

“For me, my responsibility in the neighborhood is to make sure that we don’t suffer big impacts, or we don’t suffer impacts at all,” Winkler-Chin says. “This neighborhood has dealt with a lot of transportation impacts. I don’t know if people know how bad it was to have the First Hill streetcar built in this neighborhood. I was told that was going to be like a paving project. That as a paving project that never seemed to end.”

“We had an electrical cutoff in the neighborhood, for 15 or 16 hours. We had multiple water cutoff notices—attempts at water cutoffs, and actual water cutoffs. The timing and coordination of doing that sort of work is really difficult because of the unique nature of the businesses down here.”

Winkler-Chin says that some restaurants in the neighborhood were surprised when their water and electricity went out, and says that retailers suffered major drop offs in business due to sidewalk and street closures.

Winkler-Chin says that Little Saigon’s retailers were hit particularly hard. Construction crews closed the 12th and Jackson intersection during the lunar New Year. That’s one of the Vietnamese diaspora’s most cherished holidays, and the neighborhood’s busiest shopping season. According to Winkler-Chin, Little Saigon merchants didn’t know that the closure was coming, and the closure depressed customer traffic and disrupted deliveries.

No street level retailers or apartment buildings occupy the superblock between Jackson and Seattle Boulevard South on 4th. The parallel stretch of 5th features several large apartment buildings, street-level retailers and restaurants, and the west side of the Uwajimaya complex. As a result, Winkler-Chin says, the 5th Avenue project would be much more disruptive.

Winkler-Chin also points out that the 4th Avenue alignment could reactivate Union Station as a public space and multimodal hub. Transit advocates, neighborhood groups and downtown leaders have long wanted to better integrate Union and King Street stations into the surrounding neighborhoods.

“I’m trying to minimize impacts to this neighborhood,” Winkler-Chin says. “Other people want a vibrant and functioning Union Station. If we could do both, that’s great.”

Frank and I will tape another mailbag for our podcast as early as Wednesday night. Please fill this comment thread with your questions in the next day or so.

In the 2018 primary election, STB endorsed three state senate candidates, including one devoutly-pro-transit incumbent (Sen. Marko Liias), one open-seat candidate (Joe Nguyen), and one challenging an entrenched incumbent (Jesse Salomon, challenging light rail opponent Sen. Maralyn Chase). All three of our endorsees came in first in the primary election.

We’re hungry for more. Or rather, the electorate seems hungry for more. Let us know who the transit, urbanist land use, and climate action champions are on the November ballot. Help us make transit’s support at all levels of government great again.

You can register to vote, update your address or name online through October 8. You can also check your registration status, cancel your registration there, or get your personalized voters pamphlet there. Local voters’ pamphlets and TVW presentations are also available online.

In 2017, Metro began a pilot where it allowed employee shuttles from Microsoft and Seattle Children’s Hospital to use nine public bus stops scattered around Seattle, in exchange for a fee. Aside from money, sharing stops might improve inter-system transfers and foot traffic. But beyond global concerns about how the shuttles impact public transit ridership, the local concern is that shuttles might cause delays at these stops. A UW/UC Davis study used Metro’s real-time data to measure the impact of the pilot on reliability data six weeks before and after the pilot began.

You can see that none of these stops are particularly saturated to begin with:

The quickest summary is that shuttles didn’t make much of a difference at all. The raw on-time data suggest things got a bit worse, but that data did not control for other reliability issues. When the study applies those controls, the effect disappears. When the study applied advanced statistical techniques to individual stops, they found a small negative impact on Stop B. Notably, this stop has only one bus length of space.

The study recommends expanding the program at other “low volume” stops. It’s good news that sharing stops provides a few benefits without causing significant problems. But it’s intuitive that quiet stops could stand to take a few more buses. It would be far more interesting, if riskier, to try this out and some of the really busy stops in the system and understand what the limits of this program are.