Several open houses are scheduled for the public to learn about new service on the SR 520 corridor. The first is on Wednesday evening in Kirkland, with others to follow through the rest of the month.
A particularly interesting opportunity is the open house at UW Husky Stadium on June 19. As well as the regular open house exhibits, staff members will guide tours of the bus-rail transfer experience.
Another way to participate is through the online survey which is open until June 30.
As we reported last week, Metro and Sound Transit are seeking public input on several service options on the SR 520 corridor following the closure of the downtown bus tunnel and other service-impacting changes. The revisions being considered will end most direct service to downtown Seattle across SR 520, but increase frequency and service connections on the Eastside.
Open house details after the jump.
Kirkland: Wednesday, June 14, 6-8 PM
Kirkland City Hall
123 5th Ave, Kirkland, WA 98033
UW Husky Stadium: Monday, June 19, 3-6 PM
UW Husky Stadium
3800 Montlake Boulevard NE, Seattle 98195
Jim Houston Boardroom (entrance is next to main stadium gates)
Redmond: Wednesday June 21, 6-8 PM
Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center (Meeting room 104)
16600 NE 80th St, Redmond, WA 98052
South Lake Union: Tuesday June 22, 11 AM-1 PM
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
911 Stewart St, Seattle, WA 98101
North Kirkland: Monday, June 26, 6-8 PM
Kingsgate Library
12315 NE 143rd St, Kirkland, WA 98034
Downtown Seattle: Tuesday, June 27, 11 AM-1 PM
Union Station
401 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104
If they want to simulate the transfer experience, they should start with the congestion on the Montlake offramp off 520, have an occasional bridge opening, and wait through a traffic light or two at NE Pacific St as the start of the simulation.
What is the reason for not simply banning bridge openings at Montlake during rush hours? It makes no sense to me that these boats have the right-of-way at those times.
Also, the NE Pacific Street intersection just cries out for a direct elevated pedestrian crossing.
Yes. Since neither ST nor UW seems interested in a mezzanine-level tunnel to the Triangle Garage, an elevated walkway direct to the surgery building would br great.
Bridge openings are under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard and under their regulations boats have the priority although the city can and has come to agreements to try to limit openings during the rush hour.
As Link drops to 15 minute headways at 10pm will there be any effort to time connections? Or might there be a delightful 20-30 minute wait in order to return to the Eastside?
Not sure that’s been specified yet, but it is the obvious way to schedule the buses. Daytime headways on buses will be aligned to Link.
How do you align a 20 minute headway on the 255 to 15 minute headway on Link (after 10 pm)? Likely by dropping it to 30 minutes
Having experienced loading Link at Stadium and ID after events at Safeco and CLink, it’s unlikely that timed connections will work on heavy ridership events. Precisely when the most people are affected. To say nothing of Husky athletic events, graduations, marathons, opening day…
Metro puts on extra bus runs after events. As Link gets extended these will probably replace the special shuttles. It can’t with a straight face end the Kirkland shuttle and also leave a poor hourly bus alone to deal with stadium crowds.
When Metro splits routes it often times the connection to downtown and puts it in the bus schedule. That’s one way to get increased acceptance of the change. So hopefully it will do it in this case.