By Mike Bjork

Some of you may have recently heard about the Seattle-Puget Sound area Partners in Preservation initiative, where 25 local landmarks will vie for grant money through your votes.  It just so happens that King Street Station is one of the finalists.  The station is currently undergoing a restoration with funds from the 2006 Bridging the Gap levy.  However, those of us familiar with the restoration work know that the apportioned funds are still not enough.

From the SDOT Blog:

King Street Station is fortunate to be a part of this year’s program, seeking funding for restoration of the grand staircase leading from the Jackson Street Plaza to the lower main waiting room of the station. This funding would restore the granite and marble stairs and brass decorative features.

Voting requires registration of a new profile; anyone can cast a vote once a day until May 12, 2010.  The winner will receive $1 million in preservation grants.  King Street Station is a vital civic component to the city that will be ever more important as we bring better and faster passenger rail to America.  Start voting now.

36 Replies to “Vote For More King Street Station Money”

  1. I’m all for restoring King Street Station but I think that in this case other historic landmarks are more important seeing as how restoration of the station could conceivably be funded by some transportation money while many of these other landmarks have little or no chance of getting money otherwise.

    1. Isn’t some ‘alternate funding’ available for all of those places?

      KSS is both an important historical landmark AND key infrastructure. The way I see it those two aspects are tied together. Restoring the building to it’s former glory could help attract tenants (a restaurant/bar/newsstand etc), which will make the station more welcoming and inviting to use.

      1. I really don’t know but I would be surprise if there is a significant pot of money laying around to invest in old buildings that don’t really have any monetary payback.

        1. Where is this ‘significant pot’ of money that KSS and transit in general has laying around?

        3. How much of that is going to preservation? Obviously those selecting entrants saw a need for this money or KSS wouldn’t be a finalist. Also last I read they didn’t have all the money needed.

    1. I think there are some pretty sweet other projects on the list of 25, but none of the ones I like (like Seattle Center’s Horiuchi Mural and Tacoma’s Spanish Steps) are ahead of King Street Station.

    1. It will only partially look like that. There are no plans to close the 2nd ave extension and as far as consolidating the greyline terminal I think any move has been put on hold.

      1. The more money KSS gets the better the odds of more work being done. One step at a time, and this is one step people here can directly help to get accomplished.

        1. Yes but closing the 2nd Ave extension isn’t about money it is about maintaining street capacity. For both cars and buses. There are many other more appropriate places for street reclamation.

  4. I think this is a really exciting project because it actually links our transportation history and future. It has enormous potential to create great public space in the Pioneer Square area and will become a much better welcome to Seattle for those visiting the city. I will be voting regularly and hope many other folks will too! BTW there’s a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Seattle-WA/SDOT-King-Street-Station/113379108673473?ref=ts) with photos and videos of the station.

  5. Won’t 4 new Sounder trains on the Seattle-Tacoma line be coming on line in the next year? Also any word on a 5th Amtrak Cascades train to Portland? Didn’t hear anything on this from the legislature (and I hadn’t planned on it either with the budget shortfall).

    1. No new Sounder service for a little while. From the 2010 SIP:

      “For purposes of preliminary planning, it was assumed that Lakewood service would start in early 2013, and that the first new ST2-funded round trip would begin at the same time, followed by a second new round trip in 2015. The Sounder ridership/revenue estimates reflect these assumptions. Since the Tacoma-Lakewood segment of the South Line is largely singletrack, changes to some existing schedules may be necessary to accommodate train meets at passing sidings. As work moves forward, more details on the Lakewood schedule and added South Line service will be presented in the 2011 SIP.”

      1. Really?? A “largely single track” line is being built/refurbished to be used for higher speed trains and commuter trains by the mid-teens? What have the folk at ST and WaDOT been smoking?

  6. Well, one thing is for sure, this station is being used today more than it has in over 40 years. Record ridership on the Cascasde line is driving a lot of people through those doors, though I realize that Sounder riders don’t have to go through the station. This is one valuable building for the Seattle region.

    Also the number of trains is probably the highest it’s been in 40 years as well with 13 Sounder arrival/departures weekdays, 6 Amtrak Cascade arrival/departures daily and 2 Amtrak long distance arrival/departures a day.

        2. Not at platform level, but yes, if you go up the stairs and then back down there is access.

        3. ^As someone who has never done this, how easy is it to do this? Are we talking about just going up a flight of stairs, moving over 20 meters and then back down?

          Are there any plans to improve Sounder access to KSS once the renovations are complete?

        4. It’s a little more complex than that. The thinking is that Sounder passengers never really need to transfer to Amtrak, so that’s why there is limited access.

          In short, there are two access stairs to the Sounder platform, one from the Weller Street Pedestrian Bridge, the other off Main Street near the 2nd Ave. extension bridge. The Weller bridge entry is more accessible to the station, because all you need to do is walk west toward Qwest Field, down the stairs, and turn right to KSS. The Main St. entrance, on the other hand, requires crossing of Main, and walking down past King Street Center to curve back to the station.

        5. The north access to the platform is off of Jackson, not Main. Main is the street just above the tunnel portal.

          Remember, the longest tunnel in the world is under downtown Seattle. It stretches from Main to Virgina. Well, almost to Virginia anyway.

        6. That’s not even close to being the longest tunnel in the world (rail or otherwise). The Chunnel comes immediately to mind and the Cascade tunnel under Steven’s pass I believe is the longest RR tunnel in the US. There are numerous tunnels of ~10 miles in length through the Alps in Italy and Switzerland. And I’m pretty sure several of the worlds major subway systems have longer tunnels.

        7. The old joke was it is the longest tunnel in the world because it “stretched from Washington to Virginia!*”

          (*streets, that is…)

      2. Sounder user use either vending machines or ORCA cards to pay for their tickets so there is no need for a ticket office. If they need restrooms or a place to sit they can still use KSS.

  7. If the 1-million is too expand the station and get ready to accomodate the Cascadia Inter-City Bullet train, then I’m all for it. But I’m afraid KSS wouldn’t spend their money like that… they’ll probably turn it into a museum.

    Please, spend your money wisely… us Seattleites need a bullet train

    1. Considering this is Preservation Funds from the National Preservation Trust and American Express, I think it will go to exactly what it says it will go to, refurbishment of the Grand Staircase. Which is money we won’t have to spend on it, which can go to other improvements.

      And think about it this way, the best way to get demand for Inter-City Cascadia Bullet trains is to show demand for it, but continued increases in ridership on the Cascades. One way to do that is to improve KSS in Seattle to make it more inviting and easy to use.

  8. Yes, KSS has my vote which won’t surprise most of you who know me here. I am also supporting the Snoqualmie Chapel Car, 5th Avenue, Seattle Town Hall and the South Lake Union Armory.

    King Street is important though and hope it gets something…

  9. Voted again today. KSS is still 5th. It’s moved from 6 to 7 percent, but Town Hall Seattle has moved up as well. Get in there and vote people! And get your friends to vote too!

  10. Dammit people! Get in there and vote. KSS is still sitting there at 7% while the Schooner has moved up a point to 16%.

    You can vote once a day, make sure you do it! And get as many of your friends to vote too!

  11. there’s something you don’t see all too often, a talgo (or anything really) parked on king street 4.

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