July 2018 – Page 2 – Seattle Transit Blog

Financial engineering to accelerate Link

July 24, 2018July 21, 2019 by Dan Ryan

Downtown Everett (Image: Emersb/Wikimedia)

Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff has suggested the agency is exploring creative financing options for Everett Link that shift some costs outside of agency debt limits. If successful, this would mitigate the risk of project delays as Sound Transit bumps up against statutory limits on debt in the 2030s, and may even accelerate the timetable.

The remarks came in a meeting of the Everett City Council. In response to questions about earlier service to Everett, Rogoff replied:

“Our goal in terms of being able to serve Everett sooner is two-fold. One, to work with the communities as cooperative partners to see if we can’t focus on results and minimize bureaucracy to get a plan to get up here as soon as we can. That’s A. B, if there is a way that we can work out a financial arrangement where we could start incurring costs for this that would be exempt from the debt cap imposed on us, that might provide some opportunities to get up here sooner. We’re trying to be as creative as possible.

We’ve made that commitment to not only Paul Roberts, to Dave Somers, to Dave Earling, who’ve been on this for a long time. I don’t want to say it’s impossible. I’d like to continue with each passing year to see if we can’t drive that schedule closer and closer.”

Sound Transit, like any local government in Washington State, faces a constitutional limitation that non-voted debt not exceed 1.5% of the assessed value of property within its jurisdiction. This constrains the size and timing of capital investments as revenues must accumulate to cover most of the program. At its peak, the financial plan envisions $17.6 billion in debt by 2035, just as Everett Link is scheduled to open in 2036. The debt limit in 2035 is projected at $20.1 billion. There are many risks to that forecast, starting with the inescapable vagaries of a financial forecast two decades into the future. MVET reform alone could erode almost all of Sound Transit’s cushion unless accompanied by offsets. Several billions of anticipated federal grants are uncertain. Community pressures may drive some project costs higher.

We asked Sound Transit to elaborate on the options to spend beyond the debt cap, and Sound Transit spokesperson Kimberly Reason explained: Continue reading “Financial engineering to accelerate Link”

Near-term Options for Montlake Transit Mobility

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018 by Frank Chiachiere

When the new 520 bridge opened last year, it created a glorious, continuous HOV-3 lane from Bellevue all the way to Montlake. Unfortunately, it also created a new bottleneck for buses: the Eastbound offramp from SR-520 to Montlake Blvd has become a notorious parking lot for cars and buses exiting the freeway, as any passenger on the 255 or 54x buses an attest.

When WSDOT finishes the Montlake lid in 4-5 years, things will get better: buses will have a dedicated exit from the left-hand HOV lane onto the surface, potentially all the way to and from UW Station.

Future transit-only Montlake offramp (WSDOT rendering)

Alas 2023 is still a ways away, so STB reader Glen Buhlmann invited STB and some fellow transit advocates to meet with WSDOT staff at the Montlake offramp to see if there were any opportunities for near-term improvements. As bad as the situation is now, even more buses may need to be truncated at UW in the near term.

Continue reading “Near-term Options for Montlake Transit Mobility”

Sunday Open Thread: Pittsburgh Bus Bunching

July 22, 2018July 22, 2018 by Oran Viriyincy

Nice interactive chart and map that shows bus bunching on Pittsburgh’s busiest bus corridors. I’d love to see something like this for Seattle.

Long-Awaited Bellevue Tunnel is Fully Excavated

July 21, 2018July 20, 2018 by Bruce Englehardt

The final pieces of rubble are cleared at the north portal

After 15 months of relatively easy digging, Sound Transit celebrated the completion of East Link tunnel excavation in Downtown Bellevue. The tunnel will carry East Link trains from East Main Station (at 112th Avenue and Main Street) to Bellevue Downtown Station (at Bellevue Transit Center and the city hall), traveling for 1,984 feet under 110th Avenue, at a depth of about 12 to 30 feet below street level.

Unlike the neat and tidy bores left by the tunnel boring machines on University Link and Northgate Link, the Bellevue tunnel was dug using the sequential excavation method (SEM; also called the New Austrian tunnelling method), which involves removing soil with heavy machinery and spraying pressurized concrete to support the void. Additional waterproofing and steel lattice girders (479 in total) were then added to support the new tunnel, which moved at a rate of a few feet per day.

Continue reading “Long-Awaited Bellevue Tunnel is Fully Excavated”

News Roundup: So You Don’t Have To

July 20, 2018July 19, 2018 by Martin H. Duke

RapidRide H (Delridge) now at 10% design, slipping from 2020 to 2021.
Jon Talton argues for the CCC ($) in the Times.
9th Avenue gets red paint.
Seattle has so. much. parking. ($)
Ofo backing out of most U.S. cities. I hope Seattle survives the cut, but SDOT jacking up fees seems ill-timed.
A timetable for (tiny) improvements to Third Avenue.
Link weekday boardings exceed 80,000 a day for a month, for the first time.
Seattle Council backs a firm timetable for completing the downtown bike network, but the resolution is non-binding.
I greatly enjoyed this Times review ($) of the three bikeshare companies, and samples of bike reliability.
209,000 bikeshare trips in May, regulations changing.
Trump Administration doing what it can to slow down transit funding distribution.
David Gutman reads the bikeshare user agreements ($) so you don’t have to.
Kirkland wants to jump on the bikeshare bandwagon.
Mayor Durkan won’t meet with broad pro-streetcar coalition; not a good sign.
DSTT Escalators still failing massively.
Policies that lead to bus drivers leaving early.
Pierce Transit formally approves its BRT line, opening in 2022.
NTSB Hearing on the Amtrak crash ($) doesn’t cover Amtrak in glory.
After voters reject a local tax package, British Columbia and the Canadian government fund a $7 billion transit plan in Vancouver.
Spokane’s highway boondoggle.
Portland has a new plan to speed up its buses.
Dutch cities in a race to build giant underground parking garages ($) — for bikes.

This is an open thread.

2018 Primary: Keep Marko Liias in the State Senate

July 19, 2018July 23, 2018 by STB Editorial Board

Transit has no stronger advocate in the State Legislature than Sen. Marko Liias. Liias serves as Vice Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, where he has been able to speak up against non-sensical efforts to undermine transit agencies, and advocate for more investment in public transit, with huge success.

STB has covered Liias’ career championing transit in Olympia at length.

Liias sponsored the Senate bill that would have given Sound Transit authority to take ST3 to the ballot without being tied to road funding , where the transit would have required a public vote and the roads wouldn’t. He then got 19 of his colleagues to sign on.
During the fight over reducing car-tab revenue for the voter-approved Sound Transit 3 capital program, Liias proposed various amendments that would have gotten useful gains for Sound Transit to make up for revenue losses, such as permit streamlining for light rail construction.
Liias helped shepherd through additional sales tax authority for Thurston County Intercity Transit. Intercity Transit may be going to voters to ask for said increase as early as November.
Liias has been able to fend off schemes like having Sound Transit subsidize parking permits for neighbors and making the ST board elected, even when his colleagues wouldn’t raise their voices.
In what may now seem like ancient history, Liias was one of the chief advocates for tolling on SR 520.

If you live in the 21st District (north Edmonds and Lynnwood, and south Mukilteo), please vote for Marko Liias by August 7.

The STB Editorial Board currently consists of Martin H. Duke, Brent White, and Dan Ryan.

2018 Primary: Promote Jesse Salomon to State Senate

July 19, 2018July 23, 2018 by STB Editorial Board

Outside of Seattle, very few candidates are mentioning transit these days. It seems to be an ebb tide in willingness of politicians, including Democrats, to stand up for transit.

Swimming against this tide is Shoreline Deputy Mayor Jesse Salomon, whom we endorsed when he got elected to the Shoreline City Council in 2015. Salomon proved our instincts right when he voted with a majority of the Shoreline City Council for upzones around the future Shoreline Station, over shouting by neighbors opposed to new housing in their neighborhood.

Salomon is challenging Sen. Maralyn Chase (D – Edmonds), who campaigned against the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure.

The 32nd District, which Salomon is vying to represent as state senator, includes Shoreline, Woodway, most of Lynnwood, and parts of Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, and far northwest Seattle.

While most other politicians don’t mention transit, Salomon’s transportation page is all about light rail.

Cars and buses get stuck in gridlock. Most major cities have light rail, subway, or other transportation systems that run on their own dedicated route and have traffic signal priority. We need to complete our light rail system as soon as possible and add bus rapid transit service to high commuter locations not served by light rail.

Replacing Sen. Chase with Jesse Salomon would tell the Democratic caucuses in Olympia that transit is an important priority.

The deadline to return ballots for the primary election is August 7.

The STB Editorial Board currently consists of Martin H. Duke, Brent White, and Dan Ryan.

Link Advisory Group Reviews Chinatown, Sodo, Water Crossing Issues

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018 by Peter Johnson

The railroad stations and 4th Avenue viaduct from above. Credit: Bruce Englehardt

On Monday, the Sound Transit West Seattle and Ballard Link stakeholder advisory group, which includes transit advocates, prominent community members, and business and labor leaders, moved further along the process of selecting alignments and station locations for the West Seattle and Ballard light rail lines.

In Monday’s meeting in Union Station’s Sound Transit boardroom, agency staff briefed the group on siting and alignments in Sodo and Chinatown. They also briefed the group on water crossings at Salmon Bay and the mouth of the Duwamish river.

The advisory group will eventually pass recommendations to a subcommittee of the Sound Transit board, which in turn will recommend the ultimate preferred alternative to the board as a whole.

A breakout group at work. Credit: Peter Johnson

In breakout sessions conducted over pad thai, the advisory group discussed the alignment and station locations of the new West Seattle line’s Sodo station. The advisory group also discussed the location of the new Chinatown/ID station, which will have far-reaching impacts on the future of the light rail system.

The Chinatown station, and the segment of the new line closest to it, was the subject of intense discussion, with good reason. It’s the centerpiece of the project, and it could have the most disruptive construction impacts of any Link project so far.

Tough choices for Chinatown/ID station and alignment

Concept map of the alignments. Credit: Sound Transit

The future Chinatown station is one of the most critical elements of the new Link line. It will be the southern terminus of the new downtown tunnel, the site of hundreds of thousands of intra-Link transfers every day, and the light rail network’s busiest multimodal hub, with connections to Sounder, Amtrak, public and private buses, and the Seattle streetcar.

The station and alignment’s siting and design will have permanent impact on Link’s capacity, headways, and expansion potential. Sound Transit is committed to making the Chinatown station a central transfer hub, so it has to be built adjacent to the existing Chinatown/International District Link stop next to Union Station.

Construction in Chinatown and Pioneer Square is complicated. Much of the area is infilled tideland, which would liquefy during an earthquake. Liquefaction aside, the loose soil requires deep foundations for newer construction, and would force Sound Transit to make a deep bore tunnel even deeper than in most areas of the city.

Plus, many of the buildings in the area are built on pilings, since the neighborhoods are the city’s oldest. Those pilings could be obstacles for any alignment, and might not be replaceable with a new foundation. Demolition isn’t a way out of that problem: a large slice of the area—and King Street and Union Station themselves—are historic landmarks, or in historic districts.

4th Avenue vs. 5th Avenue

Sound Transit’s “representative alignment” is under 5th Avenue, with a station perpendicular to King and Jackson streets and parallel to the current Chinatown/ID station. During the first round of outreach with the Chinatown and Pioneer Square neighborhoods, there was strong demand for siting the line and station on 4th Avenue, or under Union Station. Continue reading “Link Advisory Group Reviews Chinatown, Sodo, Water Crossing Issues”

PSRC assigns federal funds to Link and four BRT projects

July 17, 2018July 17, 2018 by Peter Johnson

Boarding Swift and RapidRide buses. Credit: Atomic Taco

On Thursday, the Puget Sound Regional Council’s (PSRC) Transportation Policy Board (TPB) recommended that five transit projects receive additional Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) funding in 2021-22.

The projects were part of a larger disbursement of federal transportation funds, including highway funding, which must be approved in a meeting of the PSRC’s Executive Board on July 26. Area agencies submitted proposals for a competitive bid process earlier this year.

PSRC staff selected the five projects from that group of proposals, and created an additional list of projects, including Rainier RapidRide and Colman Dock, that could receive funding should additional federal funds become available.

Three of the five projects did not get as much funding as they initially requested. Four of the five projects are for BRT, and East Link also got a boost. According to PSRC spokesperson Rick Olson, that’s because the funding competition was remarkably popular. Bidding agencies worked together to make sure that funding dollars could be used to the furthest possible extent.

“The projects that got less funding than requested this round voluntarily took cuts in order to get more projects funded,” Olson says. “We had far more funding requested than was available.”

Link in Redmond

The segment of East Link between Microsoft and downtown Redmond gets $7 million towards the Microsoft and Redmond stations and the guideway between them. According to Sound Transit’s presentation to the PSRC on the project, the Redmond funds will also be applied towards a cycle track near the downtown Redmond station, a bike and pedestrian bridge over Bear Creek, and several trail connections.

Community Transit’s Swift Orange line

Continue reading “PSRC assigns federal funds to Link and four BRT projects”

Fate of Center City Connector depends on Mayor’s delayed consultant report

July 16, 2018July 16, 2018 by Peter Johnson

The First Hill Streetcar under construction in 2013. Credit: Gordon Werner

The Center City Connector, a streetcar on First Avenue with dedicated right of way, has an uncertain fate. Mayor Jenny Durkan halted construction of the streetcar at the end of March and ordered a project review by consulting and auditing firm KPMG. When Durkan first halted construction on the streetcar, transit advocates speculated that the pause and assessment might be a pretext for canceling the project. The delay in the report has deepened that impression.

Durkan’s office promised to make the report “available no later than June 19,” but, though a version of the report has been delivered, it has not been made public. According to Durkan’s staff, and a June 29 project update on an SDOT website, Durkan was “verbally briefed” on the project on June 19.

However, the mayor “asked for a further analysis on technical assumptions, ridership projections, operations and capital costs, and funding options, as well as more detailed information regarding additional alternatives for providing transit connections moving forward.” The review of KPMG’s findings will be conducted by city agencies including the City Budget Office, SDOT, Seattle City Light, and Seattle Public Utilities.

While the contents of the report remains unknown to the public, members of the transit policy community, who did not wish to be identified, believe that the report contains ridership projections higher than the estimates that accompanied the design stage of the CCC.

The review of the KPMG report will “verify updated ridership projections, material costs and labor, utility relocations and project timelines for a series of options to ensure the final report is accurate for taxpayers.” Sources believe the motivation behind the second round of auditing is to find policy reasons to cancel the project. When asked for an update on Durkan’s decision, the mayor’s staff directed STB to the June 29 statement.

If the project is cancelled, more than the 1st Avenue streetcar might be in jeopardy. Members of the transit community and the city’s D.C. lobbyist worry that turning down federal money for the streetcar could endanger federal funding for other regional transit projects.

Even if the streetcar is not built, the city will still have spent a substantial amount of money. The city has already paid for some utility work and is already on the hook for a total of $90 million of contracts, including an SDOT contract to purchase vehicles. Ironically, if the mayor chooses to cancel the project because of cost, a large amount money will have been spent for nothing.