On July 18, the Seattle Design Commission met with Sound Transit to review its proposed design (pdf) for the West Seattle Link Extension‘s high bridge over the Duwamish and its landing at Pigeon Point. Although the cable-stayed bridge might end up being the most visually impressive component of the project, Sound Transit also expects to radically reshape Pigeon Point during construction of the light rail extension.
Continue reading “Reshaping Pigeon Point”
On July 18, the Seattle Design Commission met with Sound Transit to review its proposed design (pdf) for the West Seattle Link Extension‘s high bridge over the Duwamish and its landing at Pigeon Point. Although the cable-stayed bridge design had been spotted at a station planning open house event earlier this year, this meeting and design review provides the public its first real look into ST’s preferred design for what may end up becoming a new defining feature of Seattle’s southern skyline.
Continue reading “First Look at WSLE’s High Bridge”
Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30, 11am); RapidRide G & restructures (Sept. 14)
South Lake Union Streetcar service suspended while crews address power issues
Long-awaited Snoqualmie Valley weekend bus service to begin Saturday, Aug. 17
Coming to Seattle streets: It’s not a bike, and it’s not a scooter (Seattle Times, $)
WEST SEATTLE SCENE: ‘Recreational aircraft’ in flight off Alki
Continue reading “Midweek Roundup – Open Thread 62”And:
Is high-speed rail hitting the fast track in the near future? An audio interview by the 1A radio show.
We’ll have more podcasts in the future, as in our zeal for videos we’ve overlooked the growing number of audio-only episodes. I’m not sure yet whether they’ll be on Sunday or Wednesday or in a new column.
This is an open thread.
With the full Link 2 Line across Lake Washington expected to open in the next year or two, King County Metro is considering how to best reroute the the roughly-parallel RapidRide B Line. A potential merger of Metro Route 271 and a portion of the B Line, also known as “RapidRide Candidate Corridor 3101 + 1028” was recently set as a Tier 2 priority RapidRide line connecting the U District, Downtown Bellevue, and Bellevue’s Crossroads neighborhood. The RapidRide B‘s current route (forming a backwards L between Redmond and Downtown Bellevue) would be split at the turn at Crossroads, with the other half eventually being connected to Metro Route 226.
Continue reading “RapidRide Corridor 3101 + 1028 (RapidRide B + 271)”
With the full Link 2 Line across Lake Washington expected to open in the next year or two, King County Metro is considering how to best reroute the the roughly-parallel RapidRide B Line. With RapidRide Candidate Corridor 1999, recently set as a Tier 3 priority line, King County Metro proposes a new north-south RapidRide between Redmond, Crossroads Bellevue, and South Bellevue. The current RapidRide B running an L would be split into a east-west and this north-south variant.
Continue reading “RapidRide Corridor 1999 (RapidRide B + 226)”
Countdowns: Lynnwood Link (Aug. 30, 11am); RapidRide G & restructures (Sept. 14)
Ryan Packer via Twitter: Metro has started training runs for the RapidRide G
Metro: Coming this fall: New RapidRide G Line and more Metro bus service
Sound Transit: How to Ride and Transfer – Lynnwood Link Edition
Community Transit: Six-year plan will guide extensive bus service improvements
SDOT: Travel Tips for July 31-August 13: Construction and Major Events
Kitsap passenger-only ferry service at risk after part failure (Seattle Times, $)
New King County Metro bus operators to benefit from improved training
Sound Transit marks Sumner Station construction with groundbreaking
Continue reading “Midweek Roundup – Open Thread 61”
Here’s my experience riding the 2 Line Starter Line for my regular trip from Seattle to Lake Hills. I’ve been doing this trip once or twice a month since 2022 to visit an elderly relative in an adult family home (AFH). The endpoint is near 164th & Main, a single-family area southeast of Crossroads. I grew up a mile from here, and now my relative is spending their last years here. This trip is typical for anyone living east of Crossroads going to Seattle without a car, or for people going to any AFH or outlying business/service not on a frequent bus arterial.
In the lists below I compare my travel times before Link, with Link in June, with Link in July, and speculation about the full 2 Line. The most variable part is the bus routes in east Bellevue (221, 226, 245, B) — different routes are better in different phases and directions — so I’ve put those route numbers in boldface.
Continue reading “2 Line Trip Report”By WILLIAM CONDON
This week focuses on the Overlake/Crossroads area in eastern Bellevue/southern Redmond. Today William Condon discusses the bridges over 520. Tuesday we’ll review current conditions. Thursday and Friday will look at the proposal to split RapidRide B into two longer lines.
The Overlake neighborhood at the border of Bellevue and Redmond is divided down the middle by the 520 freeway.
Redmond has grand plans for the neighborhood, including at least 10,000 new jobs and 8,000 housing units. Currently most of what’s happening there is southeast of the freeway. The northwest side has tech offices (mostly Microsoft); and apartments and condos on the far west side of 148th across the city limits in Bellevue. The Redmond city council is planning to merge the Redmond part into one upzoned district.
To make the problems of the freeway worse, there are now pedestrian destinations right next to the freeway — East Link light rail with two stations in the Overlake neighborhood. There have long been plans to deal with this by building new pedestrian bridges – and now both of them are open. This makes a total of five bridges over the freeway in the Overlake neighborhood.
Let’s take a look at each of those five bridges. All of them have some good and points and some bad points, but there are lessons we can take from each of them.
Continue reading “The Five Bridges of Overlake”“Seattle: Picture of a Young City”, 1976, a collection of vintage video clips by the Seattle Engineering Department.
This is an open thread.