This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Bellevue and Redmond are dukeing it out over the proposed East Link light rail. If Bellevue gets the tunnel it wants through downtown, then there’s no money left to run the train all the way to downtown Redmond. Above are the current proposed route options (PDF) through downtown Bellevue. Black = tunnel, red = at grade, blue = elevated.
As you can see, the closer you get to Bellevue Way — arguably the main drag — the more attractive the tunnel becomes. Positioning it closer to 405 would seem to make more sense, though, since you’d be able to hook up with people transferring from, say, a Kirkland or Renton bus line. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more cost/benefits as time goes on, but for now it seems perfectly reasonable to me for an at-grade or elevated option through Bellevue, especially if you move it away from the downtown “core.” Of course, as we all know, moving it from the core could hurt ridership, since people will be less excited to walk from 405 to Bellevue Way. But it’s not a far walk, and unlike downtown Seattle, it’s a relatively flat one.
It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses.