Photo by Oran

They’re saying it could snow during the morning commute. If it materializes, consider this your snow thread for the day.

26 Replies to “Snow Today?”

    1. I went to college not too far from Columbus, IN — how strange to see its newspaper pop up in a link at STB.

      On-topic: Mixed precip this morning in downtown Bellevue, but nothing’s sticking.

  7. 10:45am, snow falling in Shoreline. Quite a lot for a few minutes, now just lightly. Nothing sticking, though.

  8. I had sleet falling on me while I waited for the bus in West Seattle (around 8:30am). Otherwise it was dry by the time I got downtown.

    1. Unbelievably, this is not me.

      Although everything from the station names to the alignment suggestions (e.g. cut-and-cover under 56th rather than Market) to the arguments for fast-tracking the proposal (only 3 miles long, serves more sources of demand, and introduces higher-quality inter-neighborhood connections than any proposal built around spokes to downtown) do seem awfully familiar!

      A couple of reactions to the adaptations in his proposal:

      He’s chosen to directly emphasize Fremont over the other route options (for clarity? to avoid squabbling before the movement gets off the ground?). Make no mistake, though: serving Lower Fremont turns a 3-mile line into a 4-mile line, and makes the bore-to-cut/cover transition much more complicated. This compromises the “very short line” argument.

      Proposing a single-track bored segment to save money is very tempting. But single-tracking an urban service has backfired in pretty much every situation where it’s been tried (even for rail with comparatively low demand). It’s a pretty dangerous idea to throw out there, because if it stuck, it would be near-impossible to fix later.

      I won’t go any further, in case this sub-thread disappears for being off-topic. I’m sure this will arise again.

      1. I tend to think an entirely bored route would make more sense than a half bored, half cut-and-cover. Once the TBM’s get launched there’s not much cost difference between a 2 mile tunnel and a 4 mile tunnel. We’re seeing that with the North Link project. Maybe they could just relaunch the North Link TBMs at Brooklyn Station and head west. :-)

      2. The arguments for cut-and-cover within Ballard are three:

        1. Allows for much shallower and therefore much cheaper stations. At deep levels, I guarantee you’d see West Ballard overbuilt (land takings) and East Ballard skipped (bad for cross-connections and serving the corridor unbroken).

        2. At this point, you’re nearing sea level. It’s never a bad idea to keep your digging above the water table if you can.

        3. Simultaneous construction.

      3. Good points, but cut-and-cover brings out the NIMBY’s like you wouldn’t believe. There are still people who blame the mess that is 3rd Avenue on the cut-and-cover construction of the bus tunnel stations twenty plus years ago.

      4. Thus the case for construction under 56th rather than under Market.

        Ballard is vast. One station is not going to cover all its bases. Two stations, with the entrances meticulously placed, puts the vast majority of the neighborhood in its walkshed.

        I’m not willing to sacrifice the effectiveness of the line for something more expensive* and worse.

        *(Ventilation. It’s much more expensive for modern deep bore. Whereas the decision to move the North Link portal added a few hundred feet and saved a separate underpass project, you’re talking about adding an entire mile to the Spur. There’s no way you’re saving money when the revised ventilation “needs” get factored in.)

      5. “I’m not willing to sacrifice the effectiveness of the line for something more expensive* and harder to access.”

      7. Don’t be silly! You made a totally valid point, and I explained why my thought experiment had led me to the opposite conclusion.

        These things are good to discuss in the open, so that the rationales are out there for the next time they need airing!

      8. And the North Link tunnel portal has been moved over a mile, from NE 75th to NE 85th and now to NE 94th.

      10. Actually, you made two totally valid points — cost savings of extended boring under some circumstances, and NIMBYs. Both were worth addressing.

        I really never want for my rhetorical style to lead anyone to say “sorry I brought it up.”

      11. Interesting. I knew about the 75th to 85th extension, but not about the 94th.

        Knowing how obsessed the fed is with ventilation over-building, is ST adding a ventilation structure in the highway ROW? Or just adding power to the Roosevelt one?

      12. Canada Line used cut and cover for a large part to save costs and bored the part that goes under the water and into downtown so there may be a case here for using both methods.

      13. This would be wonderful but it’s totally unrealistic. In six months they’re going to plan and cost out a subway without the expertise of ST or any equivalent engineering? (The measure will pretty much have to be written by August in order to be ready for the November ballot.) That sounds like a monorail fiasco in the making. But at least if it passes it would show that the people who said the $60 fee failed because it had too much streetcar rather than too little were wrong. Although I fear that they were probably right.

  10. from today’s ST CEO Report …

    TIGGER grant
    We were pleased to learn this week that we’d received a $1.5 million TIGGER (Transit Investment for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction) grant for an energy storage project.

    The grant allows us to capture and re-use energy from the braking system on five of our Link light rail vehicles. The project will save energy and operating costs and is estimated to reduce the electricity consumed by all of Sound Transit’s light rail vehicles by 4 to 5 percent. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an important part of Sound Transit’s sustainability program.

    Sound Transit, along with TriMet of Portland, are the only two transit agencies in the nation to conduct this pilot project.

    has anyone seen any details on this project?

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