Month: June 2010

SDOT has released four renderings and a very slick video (above via Slog) showing what Broadway could look like if the CHCC desgin was selected. Although I’m fairly certain that SDOT has not made any decision yet on which design to build, this certainly shows they are moving towards this design. On closer analysis you will see that only a few blocks actually have the cross section that CHCC advocated for. Most of the other blocks have the 3-lane design (two travel lanes, a turn lane and one parking lane) with the cycle track added on. The only turn restrictions appear to be SB to EB at Pine, NB to WB at Pike, and SB to EB at Terrace. At all other locations a left turn lane is provided.

Visualizations available:
Broadway & Denny Station Visualization (pdf)
Broadway and Pike Station Visualization (pdf)
Broadway and Boylston Station Visualization (pdf)
Broadway and Terrace Station Visualization (pdf)

Broadway Corridor Animatic:
Broadway Corridor Animated Tour (wmv)

H/T Michael Arnold

After some scattered speculation here and there and a bit of clamoring for more ad revenue anywhere and everywhere, it looks like Link will debuting its first ad wrap sometime soon.  Thanks to an unnamed tipster, we’ve learned that train #105 has been in the shop getting dressed up with a full advertisement from City University, giving Link it’s first full-body wrap.  We’ve seen plenty of bus wraps before and while not everyone is wooed by them, I would say that doing likewise for Link is a healthy part of breaking in the system.

The trains should be “rolling in a day or two,” said Bruce Gray, a Sound Transit spokesperson. The deal includes posters at Link stations and will generate about $8,000 a month for six months, according to Gray.

As for bus shelter wraps and ads, those we are still waiting on.

The Community Transit Board will meet tomorrow to discuss the property condemnations necessary to construct two new Swift stations in each direction. From the press release, not online:

The four new Swift stations were in the original route plan but were deferred due to lack of funds. Everett has secured state funding for this project; Community Transit is overseeing construction. The four stations are at Highway 99 and 112th Street (northbound and southbound), Evergreen Way and Madison Street (northbound), and Evergreen Way and Pecks Drive (southbound).

ROW acquisition has been settled for all but one of these stations.

CT expects to put bids out later this summer and open the new stops in the first half of 2011.

Pecks Drive and Evergreen Way are a little less than a half mile apart. Oran whipped up a modified Swift map showing the new stations, below the jump.

Continue reading “New Stops for Swift”

This October and next February, Metro will add service to Routes 255, 265, 271, and 311 as part of the Lake Washington Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA). Sound Transit is also adding service in October by introducing Route 542 between Redmond and the University District. The increased service will provide an alternative to paying a toll to cross the 520 bridge or driving other congested routes. Variable tolling on the SR 520 bridge will begin in Spring 2011.

According to the SR 520 and SR 522 Service Implementation Plan, tolls are expected to increase transit demand by 15-35%. A recent poll suggests that tolls will encourage transit use, with 16% of respondents choosing transit as one of many alternatives to tolls. That figure increases to 22% if both 520 and I-90 were tolled. Currently, 15,000 riders cross the 520 bridge every day. Routes 255 and 271 together provide 4,300 crosslake trips each weekday.

Funding for the 28,000 additional annual service hours will come from the property tax for transit, a part of which is dedicated to SR 520 service. On the transit capital side, the UPA grant provides $41 million, including $31 million for 41 new hybrid buses—28 for Metro and 13 for Sound Transit. Other investments include the recently completed Redmond P&R garage, a South Kirkland P&R garage (by 2014), new bus shelters, and real-time information displays.

Details of service additions and changes after the jump.

Continue reading “SR 520 Transit Service Increasing Soon”

Due to electrical problems on the elevated section between Rainier Beach and Sea-Tac, Link service has been suspended on that portion of the route until further notice.  A bus bridge is in place between Rainier Beach and Sea-Tac, and Link service remains available from Westlake to Rainier Beach.  Expect long delays.

More info on this as it becomes available.

[UPDATE: As of 10:00am service had been restored.  The new alert showing resumed service was slow to arrive.]

The legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee formed a Transit Advisory Panel in legislation this year. Its objective is to help determine the State’s future role in transit. Currently almost all transit dollars come from either local or federal sources.

They’re meeting this morning at Sound Transit Headquarters. I understand Andrew Austin is going to liveblog it on Moving Ahead. The panel is supposed to produce a draft report by November.

Last Thursday, the Sound Transit Board heard a report (PDF) on the varying options that have been studied for East Link’s B and C segments.  In April, the Board’s go-ahead with the 112th Ave/B2M segment (see image above) accelerated the alignment into preliminary engineering.  The Board also chose two downtown preferred alternatives: C9T, a tunnel, and C11A, a surface alternative in the event of inadequate funds for the tunnel.  For those unfamiliar with the storied history of East Link planning, the B2M alternative is the most direct path to the Bellevue Transit Center, but because runs so close to neighborhoods, has been targeted acutely by NIMBY residents in South Bellevue.

The report given on Thursday was heavy on how a 112th Avenue alignment could work with “community interests.”  Six options were studied which mix-and-matched various 112th Ave modifications (at-grade, side-running, center-running, etc.) with the downtown C segment options, the C9T tunnel and the C11A surface alignment.  A brief rundown of the options before I get to my scatterbrained thoughts:

More below the jump.

Continue reading “Design Options for East Link through Bellevue”

There’s a pretty lively thread over at Magnolia Voice as to whether or not the BAT (business access and transit) lanes on 15th Ave are “working.” I can’t think of a worse way to resolve that question than asking random people to comment, but here are some associated thoughts:

• If we have to have this argument in Magnolia, there is no hope regionally.
• I’d like to levy a $5 fine to the next person who argues that congestion wastes fuel, and that therefore impediments to driving are not environmentally sound. There is simply is no end to the highway projects you will support using that logic.
• There are absolutely people who genuinely support BRT and think it’s a better investment than rail. As someone who wants both BRT and rail, I hope I see those people come out in these discussions, when there is direct competition for resources between transit and cars.

[UPDATE: Metro tells me this is a prototype bus, used just for testing. The production run won’t arrive till the end of this year or early 2011].

Bus porn isn’t really my beat, but the new Hybrid Orion VII buses have arrived and are roaming around the county. Oran reported last year that Metro purchased these with federal stimulus funds. These low-floor, air-conditioned buses will replace 14-year-old, high-floor, non A/C-equipped Gilligs.

Brandon Martin-Anderson is at it again with a new project – determining the shortest bicycle paths between destinations in Seattle and San Francisco. This video shows the Seattle map being grown. It would be pretty interesting to do this for transit as well.