Seattle is the opposite of every other US city. (Safety First)

Is urbanism inherently left wing? (Oh the Urbanity!) (Warning: The end contains a Canadian rant on US policies.)

The Alto high-speed rail mentioned in the video will connect Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Peterborough, and Trois-Rivières at 200 mph. It’s currently in planning. Toronto-Montreal is estimated at 3:07 hours vs 5:30 driving.

Musical interlude: Another One Rides the Bus.

This is an open thread.

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Correction, 8/12 11:30am: We retract the previous statement about a train derailing and have updated the paragraph below with a comment from Sound Transit. We regret this error.

After someone crashed their car into a barrier and pushed it onto the tracks along MLK Way on Monday evening, a southbound train attempted to use the pocket track at Rainier Beach station to switch to the northbound track. During this process, the train “experienced a split switch at low speed while entering the Henderson Pocket Track and once the switch was inspected, the train moved back out of the pocket under its own power.” Thanks to the quick response from Sound Transit crews, normal 1 Line service resumed about 2 hours after the initial car crash.

Transit & Streets:

• A 16-year-old driver hit and killed a 37-year-old man early Tuesday morning in northwest Seattle. (SPD Blotter)
• Sound Transit’s Rider Experience Committee approved the creation of a program to retrofit 14 Link stations with fare gates. (The Urbanist)
• Amtrak Cascades have a service disruption between Seattle in Portland due to a warehouse fire near the tracks in Portland. (Amtrak Cascades)
• Temporary state-funded Bremerton Fast Ferry sailings will end after August 31. (Kitsap Headways)
• Community Transit Board of Directors approve the 2026-2031 Transit Development Plan. (Community Transit)
• The Office of Planning & Community Development is asking the community for input on land uses near Graham St station via a survey.

Land Use & Housing:

• Seattle City Council passes legislation to ban rental junk fees. (Office of the Mayor)
• UW laundry site at Mount Baker station set to become affordable housing by El Centro de la Raza and Mercy Housing Northwest (Seattle Times, $)
• After years of studies, Seattle continues to study housing at Fort Lawton in Magnolia. (The Urbanist)
• CM Strauss proposes legislation to require RV residents to get permits. (Pubicola)

Site note: We’ve been getting an epidemic of spam comments for the past two days. The new ones apparently use AI to generate a plausible-sounding opinion or repeat a real concern for a few sentences, and then end with a link to an unrelated site. We are working to moderate and prevent such comments. In the meantime, please do not engage with or click on the links in these comments.

This is an open thread. That does not include spam comments.

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King County Metro has shared an updated high-level design of the RapidRide R Line and is asking the community for feedback. The R Line will travel between Rainier Beach station and downtown Seattle on Rainier Ave when it opens in 2032. First envisioned in the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle, work on this route was paused for a few years due to budget constraints. RapidRide R will replace Route 7, the second busiest bus route in Washington (behind the E Line).

The recent update outlines the expected stop locations and areas of focus for speed and reliability improvements and for transit access improvements (sidewalks, curb ramps, lighting, etc). Throughout the route, reliability improvements have been identified near many intersections. These will likely take the form of transit signal priority.

Segment 1: Downtown to Judkins Park Station

Continue reading “RapidRide R Line Project Update” | 161 comments

Why the DC Streetcar failed. (Climate and Transit)

Why small studio apartments are proliferating. Seattle is mentioned twice. (Stewart Hicks)

Musical interlude: Crazy Downtown by Allan Sherman, 1965.

This is an open thread.

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The eastern half of Bellevue Transit Center is closed for Stride S1 and S2 construction, so several bus stops are relocated to adjacent streets. The current phase will last until October. Then the western half of the transit center will close until January. Currently three temporary bus stops have been established on adjacent streets:

• Westbound 520 routes: 271, 556. On NE 6th St east of 110th Ave NE, in front of Meydenbauer Center.
• Southbound/eastbound I-90 and local routes: 271, 550, 556, 560, 566. On 110th Ave NE south of NE 6th St. Also arrivals on the 532, 535, and 908 at the end of their route.
• Nortbound 405 and local routes: 249, 532, 535, 908. On 110th Ave NE south of NE 6th Street, in front of the Link station. Also arrivals on the 550 near the end of its route (it makes one more stop at the Bellevue Library).

Sound Transit has a map of the bus stops and routes.

I’m surprised such a major closure at the Eastside’s biggest transit hub hasn’t gotten more publicity and hasn’t been mentioned in the STB comments. People may have encountered it and assumed everyone else knew about it.

I discovered the closure last week when I went to Bellevue Square for the first time since Crosslake Link opened. I intended to transfer from Link to the 550 or 271 if they were coming in a few minutes. But the eastern half of the transit center was fenced off and those stops were relocated. Rather than looking for them and possibly finding they weren’t coming anyway, I walked to the Square. That wouldn’t have been an option if I’d been going several more miles or had only a couple minutes to transfer, so anyone who will be in that situation should determine their temporary stop beforehand or leave several minutes to find it.

The NE 6th Street walkway looks more pleasant than the last time I used it between 108th and 106th, so it seems to have been renovated. After my shopping trip I decided not to walk to the transit center or take the 550 eastbound. Instead I went to the 550 westbound stop at NE 4th & Bellevue Way, which has a shelter to wait at. I took the 550 to South Bellevue station and transferred to Link. In the restructure later this month, the 556 will replace the 550 in that role.

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Preliminary first-count results released yesterday. Coverage by KUOW, by The Urbanist, by The Stranger, by The Seattle Times ($), and by the Northwest Progressive Institute.

King County’s results are here (PDF); statewide results are accessible here. First-drop preliminary results represent about half of ballots cast; later counts typically trend very progressive in the Puget Sound region.

Seattle Transit Blog has not yet issued endorsements for this year’s elections.

Selected Primary Elections (top two proceed to the November General Election):

• Seattle City Council D5: Nilu Jenks (49.69%); Julie Kang (36.67%)
• King County Council D2: Rebecca Saldaña (51.94%); Toshiko Grace Hasegawa (38.66%)
  • Mriam Mboya (8.70%)
• King County Council D8: Teresa Mosqueda (62.78%); Nick Duda (27.49%)
  • Mia Jacobson (9.27%)
• State Leg. D43 Senator: Jamie Pedersen (71.06%); Hannah Sabio-Howell (17.86%)
• State Leg. D46 Pos. 1: Gerry Pollet (54.34%); Will Dreher (30.69%)
  • Ron Davis (13.69%)
• US Congress D9: Adam Smith (50.94%); Doug Basler (23.79%)
  • Kshama Sawant (12.56%); Melissa Chaudhry (11.42%); Jacob Perasso (1.13%)

Selected levies and other elections:

• Seattle Prop. 1 (Library Levy): Yes (71.71%)
• Tacoma Prop 1 (Connect Tacoma: Safe Streets and Sidewalks Levy): Yes (57.51%)
• Spokane Public Transportation Benefit Area Prop 1: Yes (50.38%)

We are tracking a few elections of interest and will share relevant updates as ballots are counted. Results are from August 4, 2026.

Comments may discuss any election result relevant to transit or land use improvement. Uncivil comments will be moderated.

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First-drop election results after the headlines.

Service changes are coming at the end of August! Summary articles are in the works.

Headlines:

• Op-Ed: Federal Transportation Policy Is Growing Unhinged Under Trump (The Urbanist)
• Full Ballard Link Line Could Take Until 2060 To Build, Sound Transit Says (The Urbanist); Seattle Subway’s response.
• The Builder’s Remedy Looks To Be Coming to Bainbridge Island (The Urbanist)
• Seattle Council Reins In Growth Plan Appeals in Narrow Vote (The Urbanist)
• Impending Metro Service Changes See Last-Minute Pushback in Lake Forest Park (The Urbanist).
• PubliCola introduces new comparison commentary column “Greater Seattle” (PubliCola)
• In California, Some Cities Are Done With Drive-Throughs (The New York Times, gift link)
• Seattle office building turns into apartments. Here’s how it looks (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• Bellevue adds “Bellevue Light Rail Shuttle” on top of its existing BellHop app-taxi shuttle (Visit Bellevue). Coverage by The Seattle Times ($)
• “August Adventures” accessible via Community Transit (CT News)
• Pierce Transit to run a special express service to the Washington State Fair, Sept. 4-27 (What’s New)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: August Adventures” | 73 comments