The new Montlake lid on January 9, 2025. The mid-lid “Montlake Transit Center” will open later this year. Photo courtesy of WSDOT (image linked to flickr).

Transit & Streets:

Land Use & Housing:

Commentary & Miscellaneous:

This is an Open Thread. Interested in lending your voice to the Blog? Contact us.

95 Replies to “Midweek Roundup: Magic Median”

  1. I wonder if $80 million can produce a non-congested path for I Line buses to get from Kent Station to Kent East Hill, in a way that also serves Kent-Des-Moines to Covington RapidRide and other buses trying to get past that bottleneck.

    Also, would the bus charging stations in Renton and at Auburn Station be available to other routes?

    Are these funds protected from executive impoundment?

    1. Do you mean Canyon Drive (aka the diagonal part of KDM Road/KK Road)? Is it congested? If it’s fixed for the I then the 156/restructure 164 would also be able to use the lane and stations. (That route is in the list for a RapidRide upgrade, but I’m seeing conflicting information on whether it’s corridor 1056 or 1052. One of those may be a mistake.)

      1. @Mike

        It’s discussed in the alignment section https://seattletransitblog.com/2024/08/22/rapidride-corridor-1056-route-165/

        > From Kent to Green River College, there are two paths possible using SE 240th Street and 132nd Ave SE; or using the more direct Canyon Drive and SE Kent Kangley Rd. The latter was chosen for the faster speed, which will add connections to the apartments and shopping plaza near SE 256th / 104th Ave SE, albeit at the expense of skipping the East Hill community.

        Originally kcm chose the SE 240th street (also why it’s shown in the metro connects map) however more recently in the rapidride priortization they changed their mind to use se 256th st (the diagonal portion)

      2. Canyon Drive is not “skipping the East Hill community”. John Bailo the earlier STB commentator lived near where KK Road crosses 104th and pointed out how dense that area is, moreso than the rest of East Hill or non-downtown South King County. Because of that, I went to look at the area and rode the buses a few times over the years to monitor it. The intersection is at 256th. The East Hill commercial district is 240th to 256th. So the furthest point from that intersection is 12 blocks away. It’s an easy walk halfway, and the full way is in the secondary walking tier. In any case, when both the I and the 165(164) are RapidRide, you can take the 165(164) from Covington and transfer to the I north to Renton or south to Auburn, with a full-time frequent transfer. Or continue on either route to downtown Kent and KDM Station.

      3. The fact that the people who claim to be for tree preservation don’t care when trees are cut down to replace a house with a bigger house, or to build a backyard swimming pool shows what hypocrites they are. They only care when the land use change increases the number of people who live in the neighborhood. (And, yes, this sort of thing goes on in single family-zoned neighborhoods all the time).

  2. Here’s the reason it’s near impossible to build density into residential neighborhoods, regardless of zoning…. and also why less affluent areas are always going to be the target for growth over more affluent places.

    https://komonews.com/news/local/lake-city-homeowners-residents-neighborhood-king-county-seattle-douglas-fir-trees-branches-councilmember-cathy-moore-city-ordinance-neighbors-chainsaws-woodchippers

    In Texas, it’s likely the neighbors blocking this development would have ticketed or even arrested . If you really believe in density as a solution, the all the “tree canopy” studies and laws need to go by the wayside. Does the city need more trees or apartments? (and please don’t say both… that’s not how it works)

    1. tacommee, are you just waiting every day to post something anti-density. I’m not sure who are you trying to convince. It’s like going to a freeway forum and posting about anti single family houses everyday

      1. Like if one feels this strongly against density, one probably should post in some “friends of tacoma” or some other blog/group against density. I understand maybe a weekly cadence but a daily cadence of this just seems a bit odd at this point.

      2. Glenn in Portland,

        You’re joking right? Name one community on the Left Coast that hasn’t had NIMBY homeowners block development with bullshit environmental ideas?

        Shitty environmentalism is what put the entire Left Coast exactly where it is now…. Leading the housing shortage crisis for the nation. Here’s a second helping of this NIMBY crap…. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/05/california-woodside-mountain-lions-development

        WL,

        I think you have me totally pegged wrong. I’m very pro-growth. The differences I have with other posters on this blog is I’m honest about the cost of things.

        So yeah, it’s bullshit that neighbors are physically stopping development for 3 new units of housing that have been approved. Council person Moore’s silence on this speaks volumes. Every single elected official in Seattle is, in theory, pro-development. Privately they’re all dragging their feet, starting with Mayor Bruce. The whole “tree canopy, heat sink” thing is just a ruse to thwart redevelopment in the richer (Whiter) neighborhoods. I’ve been fallowing City and State politics for over 30 years…. we’ve seen this before.

        I’m also aware that bulldozing houses that cost a million dollars plus for more units can never create affordable housing, zoning be damned. Those fires in California will make the housing crisis in the PNW, much, much worse.

      3. “NIMBY” is not a “ Left Coast” concept. It’s universal in the US. There are plenty of NIMBY restrictions and attitudes in heavily red states and communities.

        Our high housing costs are because people want to live here — for economic reasons as well as lifestyle reasons. Plus, the high housing costs are also due to our limited supply of developable land as we don’t have large land parcels that can cheaply accommodate new streets and homes in a 360 circle around the urban area like you find in San Antonio. There is sea water to the west, tall mountains to the east and notable undevelopable lakes and terrain within the urban area. And much of this land is not in private ownership so it can’t be developed even if we wanted to blow up mountains and fill in lakes to add developable land.

        So this whole implied blaming the Left for high housing costs and NIMBY attitudes is complete bogus.

      4. Al S.

        I never said NIMBY is entirely a Left Coast or Liberal thing. But honestly, the Left Coast has had the biggest problems with them.

        Please read this and comment. As a guy with experience with builders and developers, stuff like this just says “please move to Texas” to the very people who might help the situation.

        https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-claims-to-protect-hundreds-of-trees-that-were-never-threatened

        Here’s maybe Seattle’s biggest NIMBY poking his nose into places it doesn’t belong. From the article posted above….
        ================================
        “Retired Boeing engineer and Tree Action Seattle volunteer Dave Gloger heard last spring that a new online city map was tracking what happens to trees during the development process.

        Gloger was curious to see 15 trees listed as “protected” at a house just down the street, where he had witnessed no construction activity. Gloger’s wife, Meegan McKiernan, had a passing acquaintance with the couple living there. That couple turned out to be Dan and Kathy Robinson. Gloger stopped by to inquire. He found Dan Robinson out in his garden.

        “They said it was a hassle for them, but they didn’t even know the city was claiming they were protected,” Gloger said.

        His curiosity piqued, Gloger looked again at the city’s online map. He saw six other properties in his general area listed as sites of “protected” trees. So he hopped into his Honda Fit and set out for the nearest one. It took only a few hours to drive by all of them.

        At a commercial site where buildings had been demolished, 10 trees remained. They were virtually certain to be leveled when the new development began, yet they were classified as “protected,” Gloger noted.

        Gloger also discovered a home on a large property in northwest Seattle atop a tree-covered bluff that slopes down to Puget Sound. The small addition going onto the house did not threaten any trees on the property, as the contractor confirmed when Gloger returned to the construction site in November with an InvestigateWest reporter.

        Still, the city’s database listed 55 trees on the property as “protected.”

        Later Gloger found a house where a wheelchair ramp had been added in front of a house. Five trees near the back property line were still listed as “protected.” “They’re protected because the owners didn’t want to cut their trees down,” Gloger said. “They never asked to have the trees removed.”

        He consulted with Shettler, who suggested checking into what was happening citywide. They recruited a handful of other Tree Action Seattle volunteers.

        The volunteers reviewed 68 properties, poring over city documents, often focusing on a required arborist’s report. They ascertained what kind of work had been authorized and where that work was located in relation to the “protected” trees. In a few cases where they found ambiguities, they checked with a Department of Construction and Inspections help desk for clarification on what the department had permitted.

        The bottom line: “It’s a fallacy that they are protecting trees on properties with construction,” Gloger said. “When SDCI has issued a permit for a property, no matter what (the work permitted) was, if there was a tree on that property, they contended they protected it.”

        Of the 341 “protected” trees that the group reviewed in late spring and early summer:”
        ================================

        Just what Seattle needs… a retired dude wandering around private property “protecting” trees.

      5. I find it hard to believe

        > I think you have me totally pegged wrong. I’m very pro-growth.

        when you also write

        > If I wouldn’t have moved to Tacoma and into the little house with the Mrs…… I’m sure I would have lived in a crappy little apartment somewhere and destroyed myself with booze and dope.

      6. “Name one community on the Left Coast that hasn’t had NIMBY homeowners block development with bullshit environmental ideas?”

        Yes, Democrats and liberals are hypocrates on housing, we know that. Density is good, but not in my back yard.

        Conservatives are at least consistent: density is an un-American communist woke United Nations one-world-government plot: we don’t support it AND we don’t want it in our back yard.

      7. @Mike Orr, et el,

        “….Democrats….liberals….hypocrates……un-American communist woke United Nations one-world-government plot…….”. Etc, etc, etc..

        Could we all please get back to talking about real transit and land use issues? There are things happening regionally that are actually worthy of discussion.

        Dead tow tests should start on Full ELE soon, live wire and dead tow testing are occurring on FWLE right now, and there should be an announcement on an opening date for DRLE soon. And there will be some minor bus restructures too.

        These are all topics worthy of discussion. But how a “communist” feels about land use planning is not.

      8. WL,

        No, I’m very pro-growth. Your standard Left Coast Liberalism of the past 30 years has been pretty consistent anti-growth, but I do believe that may be changing. Not a minute too soon IMHO either. I never liked NIMBYs whatsoever. Selfish unAmericans most of them are.

        Some of the problem has been a shifting idea of identity or belonging, and that needs to still change. I posted a KUOW link to some NIMBY group called “Tree Action Seattle” who seem preoccupied with slowing development by stopping people from cutting down trees…. in their own property. Where they think they get to have a say in these matters comes from is beyond me. If someone owns property and fallows the zoning code…. “Tree Action Seattle” needs to respect that. It’s really none of their business. Seattle has so many “self proclaimed gatekeepers”. Enough of the butt-in-skis I say!

        It’s a big county, WL, I’m sure somewhere there’s a place for you. Years back I settled in Tacoma because it made sense financially. If I hadn’t bought the house, well, I’d of moved out of State to some other place and bought another house and built a life. Because there isn’t any way to really “belong” to a community without ownership. There’s a lot benefits to owning a house, but there’s a lot of obligations as well. I’ve paid a lot of property taxes and worked constantly to keep the place up. I try to be a good neighbor.

        Unless a person is really high income, or already own property….. does that person really “belong” in Seattle? Is it “their” town? I guess being a voter does count for something, but the USA reserves the higher standard of “belonging” only to those fortunate enough to own property. The landed gentry if you will. Home ownership is the center of this Nation, like it or not. We will never surrender that one inch. Seattle becoming a city of renters is just sad…

        So yes, I’m pro-growth, but I do wish it churned out more of “landed gentry” of home owners instead of just more and more renters. For a few years I thought pretty hard about building another house in my backyard as a rental, but the process of dealing with permits in Tacoma was just impossible for a little guy like me. (ended up owning 1/2 a tri-plex with my brother in the end… and the City hasn’t made being a landlord easy either)

        I look at young people on the Left Coast as a group who’s been totally screwed. Student loans are just a con job…. I mean for 100k or more of debt you should own real estate. I know young people who got conned at 18 into more debt than I ever had in my life, then there’s this bullshit fake housing crisis, fostered my decades of Leftwing NIMBYs. Now the powers-that-be pump renting an apartment as a substitute for owning a house…..don’t be pissed at me! Believe it or not, I’m on your side.

        You can choose not to let the bastards downgrade you! Owning a home is what young people should fight for. Not more Big Business controlled renters. You think anybody owning a REIT knows your name? (or cares about you one bit?)

      9. @tacommee

        so you’re basically “pro-growth” in the same way that people against bike lanes are “environmentalists” because it slows down cars…

        And since sarcasm/tone is hard to tell online, I’ll explicitly say that practically you are “anti-growth”

      10. @tacommee

        Again I really don’t know why are posting here everyday if you are so against density/housing being built.

      11. “I think you have me totally pegged wrong. I’m very pro-growth. The differences I have with other posters on this blog is I’m honest about the cost of things.”
        You’re less honest and more like being a cynical contrarian because you’ve let your job experience as a house builder/landlord go to your own head. As if you believe you know better than everyone here, when even the most basic and fundamental concepts about housing policy have to be explained to you daily on here with your railroading of a lot threads. Like that says to me your don’t have the knowledge and expertise you claim to have and more of just throwing whatever at the wall to see what sticks.

        Like maybe humble yourself a little instead of letting it go to your head. In paticular, needing to call everyone who rents a loser, sucker, moron, or stupid for not owning a home that sexond. Name calling people is unproductive and childish behavior, something I might expect from a kid who may not have been taught good manners, not a grown adult in their 60s. And disappointed quite frankly that someone more than twice my age needs to act like that to make their point.

        Detached homes are fine, condos are fine, townhomes are fine, they all make sense for housing. Just stop being so asinine about people wanting to live here or honestly calling all of us leftists when we really aren’t. It’s very “old man yells at cloud” vibes than a constructive criticism.

      12. Laz, I wouldn’t be crowing about “dead tow” moves. The system might conclude that you really like them and produce them abundantly after “Opening Day”.

    2. There’s plenty of places that do both, so tell that to those places already doing this.

      On the other hand, virtually no no new single family home development that I’ve seen has any tree canopy to speak of. Current development plans occupy the entire lot with the house, except for several feet on each side.

      1. This. Developers don’t build places to live any more; they build houses to live inside with little to no opportunity for outside living. I guess that’s what people want, or at least, are willing to put up with in order to get the lowest possible price for a given footage.

      2. Tom Terrific,

        All the outdoor gear and bicycles I own would barely fit into a so-called “micro-apartment”. I’m not a rich person and that’s why I own all this stuff. Digging for clams or hiking in the mountains are healthy, reasonably priced endeavors. I’ve had a garden most of my life… I raise much of our food and throw garden parties a couple times a year. All of this keeps me married, keeps me healthy, keeps me sane. I wish nothing less for the young folks reading this.

        If I wouldn’t have moved to Tacoma and into the little house with the Mrs…… I’m sure I would have lived in a crappy little apartment somewhere and destroyed myself with booze and dope. I know a guy I first hung sheetrock with who’s now 60 years old, physically beat to shit and can’t a afford a place to live in Seattle (he’s found low income housing in Spokane thank Gawd)…. I’m lucky I didn’t take that fork in the road of the never ending Seattle party.

      3. And your response is a propos of what?

        I wasn’t talking about “micro-apartments” but rather what I observe about modern development projects. As Glenn pointed out, there is typically three feet between each building, the front of the structure is ten feet from the curb, and the rear wall is fifteen feet from the tiny street behind the house that we used to call an “alley”.

        Of course there are also the “replacement” houses, which is a completely different thing, but the same is true of them. The owner tears down a cottage and puts up a McMansion with two-and-a-half times the footprint, and often a second story.

        That makes total sense, of course. When the land is pushing a million dollars you want to put a house worthy of a million dollar lot on it.

        But BOTH end up destroying whatever tree canopy formerly surrounded the cottage or covered the development.

        Yes, tree canopy is a very middle- to upper-class amenity.

    3. It’s not a binary option, and I think Seattle has done fairly well in incorporating greenery into larger multi-family homes. Capitol Hill, LQA, First Hill are all good examples, and SLU has been gaining trees as new buildings have come in. Of course, newer buildings have younger trees that take some time to fill out, so they tend to look a bit sparse when they first complete.

      I don’t know the situation in this case, but in general blocking dense housing to save trees is quite literally missing the forest for the trees: https://bsky.app/profile/gordonofseattle.bsky.social/post/3lfsurgmod22l

      1. John D,

        You have a pretty good point. The way forward is always planting more trees, not making laws protecting the ones that are already there. Cities have to change or die…. the problem is some citizens don’t want the city to change until they die.

      2. We could have regulations requiring certain kinds of vegetation in the existing setbacks. Then the builders would include it if they’re not doing so now.

    4. Again, other countries can build density in residential neighborhoods, like our neighbors in Vancouver BC. The reason less affluent people can’t afford walkable areas is there aren’t enough walkable areas to go around — because of the zoning restrictions on 70% of the land. It’s affluent areas that have the most density, so even if undense areas have more growth and rising prices, they still have less density overall.

  3. > An extensive SDOT study shows the once-contentious Stay Healthy Street on Alki is popular and works well (Seattle Bike Blog)

    That’s a bit unsurprising that it was successful given the high amount of pedestrian usage, but still exciting to see.

    > The FTA awarded $79.7M to the construction of RapidRide I, the region’s 10th RapidRide line (The Urbanist); also on Metro Matters.

    Has anyone found the rapidride I final design or more detailed pdf? I’ve never been able to find it.

    > Sound Transit is hosting a series of public meetings regarding the Tacoma Dome Link Extension, starting this week (ST News Release).

    Looks like it’s generally moving forward. checking the alternatives most of them dont’ really change the station area too much. The travel time from tacoma dome to cid is around ~67 minutes which is a bit slower than the st express buses at 45 minutes (with no traffic) though comparable with traffic.

    1. “The travel time from tacoma dome to cid is around ~67 minutes which is a bit slower than the st express buses at 45 minutes (with no traffic) though comparable with traffic.”

      Except very few people live, or can live near the Dome. So it’s the 2nd leg of a longer journey, that probably also has a 3rd leg with crap transfers, because the 2nd tunnel has few popular destinations.

      1. I’ve wondered if sound transit could extend it half a mile over to pacific avenue. that way at least north/south buses wouldn’t have to detour over to tacoma dome

      2. Yeah, and the bus being 22 minutes faster (with no traffic) is huge. It means that if they ran the buses every fifteen minutes in the middle of the day the bus would *always* be faster. You could just miss the bus, see the train right there about to leave and it would still save you over five minutes to wait for the next bus. Oh, and the one time that Link is competitive with the bus is when they run Sounder (which is faster and more comfortable than Link). Throw in the fact that Link won’t serve Downtown Tacoma (and the buses do) and there is really no reason to take Tacoma Dome Link.

        That is, if you are going to Seattle. If you are going to Federal Way it would be faster — maybe. It might be a wash (taking an express bus to Federal Way versus Link). If you are trying to go from Downtown Tacoma to Federal Way the bus is faster in most cases (as it avoids a transfer). Even a trip from Downtown Tacoma to SeaTac is likely a wash. Instead of taking an express bus to Federal Way and transferring there you take a bus to the Tacoma Dome and transfer there. Hard to see much difference.

        The real value added is for trips in between. This is nothing new. The big value added in the north end of Seattle is trips like Northgate to the U-District or Roosevelt to Capitol Hill. The difference between Northgate Link and Tacoma Dome Link is that these are major destinations. Lots of people are making those trips in the north end. I really don’t see the Tacoma Dome/Portland Avenue/Fife/South Federal Way combination getting many riders. Tacoma Dome Link has to be one of the worst values in transit anywhere in the world. Its main competition is (unfortunately) other ST3 projects.

      3. Tacoma Dome Link has to be one of the worst values in transit anywhere in the world. Its main competition is (unfortunately) other ST3 projects.

        Ouch! The truth hurts, and Tiddly-Links is crying for a strong dose of it.

        I guess they’re going to get to Federal Way without further embarrassment; all that pretty trackage and the high-tech Bridge Over Troubled Hillsides are done deals now, so might as well operate it. But playing the Fife is like being the Pied Piper IIRC, and the kids are getting suspicious of the musician. Will he be Drummed out?

    2. WL, you need to add time for the new 1 Line stations at Graham St. and Boeing Access Rd. (along with dwell at Sea-Tac Airport Station). Even without adding a light rail trip on Tacoma Link and transfer, we already have a total trip time of over 70 minutes to CID. You’re pushing 80 just to arrive at the Westlake platform. It would be great to get these numbers verified by Sound Transit.

      When the interstate is very congested, I typically take Sounder for a 55-minute trip (although, to be fair, I have had many decent bus experiences in the HOV lane too). When it isn’t congested, I take ST Express and routinely run the equivalent corridor trip to Tacoma Dome in 35 minutes. I believe my record was 28 minutes or so from near SoDo Busway to arrival at the Dome.

      2. I think Boeing Access Road (BAR) would cause a bigger delay than Graham. At Graham the train is moving slower. At BAR I would imagine the train is at full speed. So you have to count the time it takes to come to a complete stop and start back up again. It probably still isn’t huge. I would guess a little more than a minute altogether (or not much more than your estimate).

      3. It’ll make some difference, especially as it eats into what is presently a 5.5-mile section of higher speed operation between Rainier Beach and Tukwila. You’ll get some added minutes in total for acceleration, deceleration and dwell at the two new stations.

        The broader point is that this is already a lengthy railway, and run times are only getting longer. We are deleting our very fast buses in favor of it.

      4. And who will use BAR station when it opens? Just people transferring to the 124 or A to go to the Museum of Flight, Aviation High School, and the so-called village at 144th like the City of Tukwila hopes? Will any other bus routes transfer there, and will people actually transfer to them there? Is there any hope for any housing or retail within walking distance?

      5. And who will use BAR station when it opens?

        In an ideal world the BAR station is a major multi-modal transfer station serving Sounder, Link and both local and express buses (on I-5). But I doubt they will pull that off. Instead they will have a handful of local buses connecting to it, a handful of people walking to it and an overly expensive parking garage (naturally).

    3. That FTA money is not coming. Whole I expect that transit grants for POBS will continue at some level in Red States, it will completely stop in any state whose EV’s went to Harris-Walz. They’ll still pay for the Welfate states’ buses, as they have all along.

      1. Off-topic. We don’t know what the FTA or Congress will do, so it’s useless to assume which transit grants may get canceled until it happens, or to use trollish emotional imagery for it. That would just lead to a comment thread of empty speculation.

        What is relevant is, if some particular kinds of grants get cut off for any reason, what do we do?

      2. OK, then I’d like to propose that, should it occur — and the last twenty-four hours sure does say “It’s going to happen” — the proper thing to do is to re-direct Sound Transit “planning” expenditures for enhancements to Sounder South to the capital portions of the RR “I” project.

        If Trump follows through with his Impoundment threats, and the Subprime Court waves them through, you can be absolutely certain that Cobalt Blue Washington will be right next to California in the Bulls-eye.

      3. Follow-up. Don’t run RR “I” to “downtown Renton”. Renton has made it abundantly clear that they don’t want “bus riders” in their downtown. [It’s not clear who they want in downtown, because nobody’s there but “democracy”]

        Instead, run it up Martin Luther King Way to BAR station. That would give East Hill and Benson Hill a pretty reliable two-seat ride to downtown Seattle and UW.

        Yes, that makes the line pretty long, but there are bus lanes on the stretch up to Third/Sunset and Sunset is only rarely delayed because it has such little frontage development and only four stoplights between Rainier and the intersection for BAR. There is little enough encroachment to add four queue jumps in each direction at those lights for little more than the cost of the pavement and light improvements.

      4. “the last twenty-four hours sure does say “It’s going to happen””

        Has the new administration said anything about the FTA or transit? Not that I’ve heard.

      5. You are a kind optimist, Mike. That’s makes you a good person, and it’s appreciated.

        The only reason that eviscerating Federal Transit aid hasn’t made the headlines is that it’s only peripherally interesting to Trump as a tool to beat “Libs”. If he ever actually took the subway in the fifty years he lived in New York he’s never mentioned it.

        He’ll get to it inside some Omnibus bill that has been readied by the Project 2025 people. Details are super-boring to such a powerful intellect.

      6. “The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded a $790 million grant to Sound Transit for the Federal Way Link Extension (FWLE) in December 2019.” (Google)

        “Federal Transit Administration executes $1.17 billion grant and $658 million loan for Lynnwood light rail
        Publish Date
        December 20, 2018” (ST)

        Etc., etc., etc., …..

      7. “ Instead, run it up Martin Luther King Way to BAR station.”

        Yes! I don’t get why Metro doesn’t connect every future RapidRide to a Link line somehow.

        In lieu of the BAR Station, I think a redesigned Rainier Beach station with some sort of transit center for layovers, and cars separated from those walking to Link would be a better system investment.

        Unfortunately, this is where the ST subareas of North King, East King (Renton is part of) and South King meet. It makes any strategy an “edge case” for any of these three areas.

        Anyway, I agree that it could use MLK (SR 900) between Renton and Link. Even an interim terminus at Rainier Beach would be great!

      8. Federal aid pause: The White House budget office ordered a pause in grants, loans and other federal financial assistance, a sweeping move it said was necessary to bring programs in line with President Trump’s priorities. It was not immediately clear which programs would be affected, although the scope could be vast. The memo said Medicare and Social Security benefits were exempt.[New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/27/us/trump-news%5D

        Quicker than I expected.

        And “Thank you, Al.” I appreciate that you read my ramblings.

      9. Boo! Forgot to close the blockquote. Oh, well; this is an old thread and probably only you, Mike, will read it.

    1. Posting an article from 2021, before the major redesign of the longspan bridge portion due to terrible soil conditions and a landslide isn’t exactly productive conversation.

      1. @D M,

        I think “another engineer” was being sarcastic. We all know that the unexpected soil conditions have delayed the opening of FWLE.

        But I’m actually surprised that the delay is on track to be only about 18 months. Given the magnitude of the problem, and the magnitude of the solution, I’m sort of impressed.

        ST is currently doing live wire testing on the northern part of FWLE, and supposedly will be towing an LRV over the long bridge so they can start fit and function testing on the southern portion soon. And catenary installation on the long bridge is underway.

        Progress, progress. Finally.

        I can’t wait to see these extensions open and in use.

      2. The point it is quite common for ST to say they are opening “on time” or even “early” even though things are delayed from their original estimate.

    2. I put it on the list to consider. We have a backlog of movies so it will be a few weeks before we have a slot for a new one. The video’s title and first few seconds are national: is this the video you meant with content somewhere on Seattle’s comprehensive plan and Roosevelt apartments? The author is CityNerd so anything he says is credible with me.

      1. About 15 minutes in he mentions Seattle (and Roosevelt). So there is definitely a local angle.

  6. Was up at North Shoreline/185th Station today. The large apartment adjacent to the station, called Kinect@Shoreline, is now showing available units.

    Kinect@Shoreline is probably the best example of housing oriented TOD anywhere in the region. It is literally immediately adjacent to the station. You don’t need to cross a single road, street, or even driveway to go from the apartment to the station. Impressive.

    But the other thing that makes Kinect@Shoreline excellent housing oriented TOD is its mix of units. The building actually contains a fair number of 2 and 3 bedroom “multi-family” units. This is excellent for families and extended families, particularly those families that may be recent arrivals and may be more transit dependent than the typical Seattleite.

    This is much better than the studios and efficiency apartments that typically get built in Seattle for young professional types. And it bodes well both for the families living there, and for ridership on LLE.

    Now if we can just get Full ELE open so we get more capacity.

    1. > Kinect@Shoreline is probably the best example of housing oriented TOD anywhere in the region

      I was impressed with shoreline’s upzoning along the corridor and the apartments that were almost (and now) ready along the light rail.

    2. How’s the walk to a supermarket or other everyday needs? Does this building have anything like that?

      1. I don’t think there is anything nearby. This is all a brand new development. To a certain extent this makes sense because it is next to the freeway. You really have two (conflicting) dynamics here:

        1) No one wants to live next to the freeway.
        2) Often times they will only allow development next to the freeway.

        The latter happens because of the former. It is unlikely that someone who has a house next to the freeway cares if someone builds an apartment next to them. In contrast a few blocks over they might fight tooth and nail to allow any apartments.

        More often you have the same situation but along major arterials. That is the case in this area as well. The main development in the area is in the “North City” neighborhood of Shoreline. It is roughly centered around 15th and 175th. There are shops, at least one grocery store and plenty of other amenities. But that is a ways from the station. The area by the station will largely be new development.

      2. @Mike Orr,

        “How’s the walk to a supermarket”?

        That is the best part. According to my in-laws, who don’t drive, the access to the supermarket is excellent.

        My in-laws moved here from Queens, and one of the denser parts of Queens at that. I thought they would object to the supermarket access, but they love it. There is a Safeway at 175th, and a little Indian store at the top of the hill on 10th that you can use in a pinch. So, according to them, it isn’t good.

        The biggest problem is restaurants. There just aren’t many around. But most of the buildings going in have space for some ground level retail. Kinect@Shoreline has 2000 ft**2 of retail space at ground level, but I don’t what is going in there.

        And it is only going to get better as more TOD is built. There is currently another big apartment building going in across the street from Kinect@Shoreline, and a massive building on 15th that approaching completion.

        So things are good and getting better. It’s great to see.

    3. There are plenty of similar developments right next to stations. Not everywhere of course — some stations had development to begin other. Other stations make it very difficult to develop anything right next to the station. But Roosevelt and Othello have similar developments right next door when there wasn’t much to begin with. Northgate is adding one right now (to replace the park and ride lot). Of course most of the “D” in the region has nothing to do with the “T” — it is simply where they allow them to build. Magnolia has terrible transit but if they allowed more apartments to be built there it would look like Greenwood very quickly.

      I don’t think the fact that they added 2 and 3 bedroom units is that special either. In general there aren’t that many three bedroom apartments but they are still out there (you can find them on Apartments.com). In general the ones in Bitter Lake and Lake City are cheaper while the ones in Northgate are more expensive (go figure). That may just be the nature of the building (various amenities). There are quite a bit more 2 bedroom apartments. Of course it is common with a housing shortage to see 2 and 3 bedroom apartments being rented out to a group of people (New York style) while those with a family squeeze themselves into a one-bedroom. The main thing to do is just build more places to live, period. This helps families more than anything. Squeezing your family into a one-bedroom for a while is fine if the rent is cheap as it gives you a chance to save money to buy a larger place. Unfortunately most rental places (and condos and town houses) are expensive because we simply aren’t building enough places. This does help though. Every little bit helps.

    4. Developers overly went to 1 BRs and studios in Seattle at least, to maximimze profit and to respond to shrinking household sizes. Each distinct unit yields a large base rent, and a small add-on price for each additional room. So if you can fit six studios or two 2 BRs in the same space, it’s more profitable to have the studios. But a few years ago the city started pushing for more 2+BR units and the developers started including a few of them again, so the number of larger units is increasing even if the price is above the $2500 or $3000 mark.

  7. This just in: Testing at the Marymoor Link Station, filmed and uploaded today by YouTuber Eastside Transit: https://youtu.be/F06424gn5Ms?si=teIqbp6EhAAmh0sc

    Just remembered that Cirque du Soleil performs annually at Marymoor; once the station opens, East Link becomes a great way for Bellevue and Seattle people to attend those shows.

    1. I’ve been to Cirque du Soleil at Marymoor once or twice. Where is the tent location in relation to the football fields or another landmark? When/if I manage to do a station-area visit before opening, I can include it my walking-time measurements.

      Also, there seem to be two ways to Marymoor Park from the station, one on an eastern trail and one on a western north-south street. I can’t find either of them on Google Maps now. I read that the eastern trail was closed for a while; is it open yet? Not the Sammamish River Trail on West Lake Sammamish Parkway: that’s too far west.

      1. Oh, it says Marymoor Village Station is on the south side of 520? So you don’t have to cross 520 to get to the park? I must have mistaken something else for the station. The Cirque du Soileil site is marked on the map. If I’m interpreting the map correctly, the station is a half-block from the edge of the park, with what may eventually be a sidewalk in between. It looks like a two-block distance to Cirque du Soleil, and twice that to the nearest soccer fields. If you want to go north to Redmond Way or across 520 to the north side, the distance is about the same as to Cirque du Soleil. If Google Maps is right about where “Marymoor Village Station” is located.

      2. I’ve been t ok several Cirque du Soleil shows at Marymoor. The tent has been in the open field just west of the outdoor velodrome track. There is a dot on Google maps if you zoom in closely showing the tent location.

        It’s less than 1000 feet from the new station — but they’ll probably make the entries walk a long way around using temporary fencing. Let’s see what happens if they returned next year and a full East Link is operating.

        Cirque charges for parking so the nearby free Link garage may be an issue.

      3. @Mike Orr,

        “ So you don’t have to cross 520 to get to the park”?

        Yes, Marymoor Village Station is on the south side of 520, as is the entire DRLE up to that point. It only crosses 520 after that point on the way to DT Redmond. It’s always been that way.

        So there should be easy access Marymoor park, major league cricket, and places like Postdoc Brewing. It will be an interesting place to explore.

        And hopefully an opening date for DRLE is announced soon.

      5. @Sam,

        Thanks for the map Sam. I didn’t realize how many TOD’able lots were adjacent to the Marymoor Village Station. And it is nice to see the trail plan laid out. It it one of the things I wish to explore when DRLE finally opens.

        As per an opening date, I looked at the publicly available meeting agendas that I know of, and still no mention of any committee being scheduled to address the topic. However, apparently ST will announce a date “soon”, which isn’t much of a revelation because that approximates the original schedule that ST gave for an announcement.

        And apparently the openings of DRLE and Full ELE won’t be bundled, which is good news. But Full ELE is still the elephant in the room, and it is still the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about.

        Think about that a bit and I think you will be able to understand why we aren’t hearing much official news from ST on DRLE.

      6. That sounds like a contradiction. ST is not bundling the Redmond extension and cross-lake service together, yet somehow the non-announcement of a Redmond date implies something about cross-lake service.

      7. @Mike Orr,

        I know of no outstanding technical issues with either DRLE or Full ELE, at least not issues of any magnitude.

        But not everything in this world is technical.

      9. Then what do you mean? Redmond is holding up the announcement for some reason? Cities from Lynnwood to Bellevue are holding the Redmond extension up for political reasons? ST doesn’t have enough staff to execute the opening ceremonies?

    2. @Michael Ligot,

      Thanks for posting. It seems that Eastside Transit is on top of all the progress that is happening on DRLE. I don’t subscribe, but for them.

      Supposedly ST is getting closer to announcing a date for the opening of DRLE. That is very good news indeed.

      1. An opening date for the Spring 2025 opening of the Downtown Redmond Link Extension will be announced by the end of the month, so within the next week.

      2. @poncho,

        Excellent. Finally something worth talking about.

        Did you see something on-line? Or did a little bird tell you?

  8. Here’s a fun question: where will the opening ceremonies for the Redmond extension be? Marymoor Village station next to the park would be a lovely place, and it could even be in the park. But I suspect it will be Redmond Downtown station because downtown, and it’s the terminus, and Redmond could show off the trail and artwork along the abandoned railroad trail and depot the Link extension is using.

    1. My guess is the opening speeches will be at Downtown Redmond, but Marymoor will have the most fun events/booths.

    2. The last two openings had events at every station.

      I suspect that the opening ceremony will be at Downtown Redmond. Just like Northgate Link ceremony was at Northgate.

  9. What happens to the Redmond Transit Center parking garage once Redmond Link opens? I guess it will get some use from people riding the 542, or walking a few blocks to downtown Redmond Link Station. But, overall, it’s going to be pretty empty.

    That said, if you think outside the box, there are some options that don’t involve an expensive tear-down. Perhaps some of the spaces could be leased to someone looking to redevelop an adjacent property, or converted to an EV charging hub. But, overall, this is way too much parking for a city center, and is about to become mostly a white elephant.

    1. Put it on the list of King County Metro parking facilities likely to be mostly or completely vacant by summer of 2026. I’m thinking that a strategy is in the works on how to use it.

      1. Yeah also put Eastgate park and ride, Issaquah Transit Center, and Issaquah Highlands park and ride on the list. Rather than driving to a bus that goes to the train, many will figure, if they’re in their car, may as well just drive to the train.

        Of course, this won’t be everybody, but I do expect these garages to be severely under-utilized.

      2. they should approve large retail and apartments next to it and allow using the existing parking garage.

        > I’m thinking that a strategy is in the works on how to use it.

        There isn’t really a strategy or at least I haven’t heard of one? In 2010s bellevue did have a tod for eastgate idea and implemented rezoning but nothing happened yet. There were also some small “mobility hub ideas” aka just adding escooters and some real time bus screens.

        https://bellevuewa.gov/sites/default/files/media/pdf_document/xExecSummaryHandout_web_2012-04-16.pdf
        https://bellevuewa.gov/sites/default/files/media/pdf_document/2020/Eastgate-Mobility-Hub-Brochure-2019-web.pdf

      3. Eastgate, Issaquah TC, and Issaquah Highlands P&Rs were all regularly at capacity pre-COVID. I personally have tried to park at Eastgate & Issaquah TC when heading into work late morning and was unable to find a parking spot (I think both times I ended up driving into the office)

        With frequent & fast bus connections to East Link, I expect all 3 P&Rs to eventually fill back up. Note that all 3 are rather difficult to from the freeway (Eastgate & Issaquah in particular are a total slog during rush hour if can’t use HOV ramps), so they are all about providing parking for SOVs arriving via the local street gride. For a vehicle already on I90, the S Bellevue P&R will be the best option … unless that fills up first.

        And yes, all 3 of those P&R’s walkshed will are currently zoned for midrise development, so over time share of bus ridership from P&Rers will decline.
        Examples:
        https://www.djc.com/news/re/12167349.html – 656 apartments in 3 buildings at 3380 146th Place S.E. (planned)
        https://www.djc.com/news/re/12164147.html – 391 units, 8 stories at 3002 139th Ave. N.E. (permitted)
        https://www.djc.com/news/re/12163103.html – 353 units + 100 bed men’s shelter at 13300 S.E. Eastgate Way (open)

      4. > And yes, all 3 of those P&R’s walkshed will are currently zoned for midrise development, so over time share of bus ridership from P&Rers will decline.

        That’s exciting development, but I meant that the new apartment/retail shouldn’t build a separate garage but just use the Park and Ride garage directly. Like how uvillage uses the garage or some apartments connect to a garage with a bridge. It’s like 1600 spaces, it could allow building for a lot of apartments without them having to build an underground or additional parking structure

    2. “way too much parking for a city center” – not really? It’s pretty common for most cities to have a few parking garages. As Redmond builds out and all those retail surface lots are replaced with midrise boxes, street parking will be at a premium (and all street parking should become either paid, loading zones, or handicap only) and a single public garage for people who need or want to drive into the city is fine.

      The best outcome would be for the county to either sell the land or gift it to an affordable housing developer; tearing down a 3 level garage for an 8+ story apartment building isn’t expensive. But if KCM simply transferred the garage to City of Redmond, who turned it into a paid parking garage, that would be a reasonable outcome. Maybe some of the parking gets set aside for Redmond city workers (or fleet vehicles, or school employees), allowing city owned surface lot elsewhere to be redeveloped. Maybe the top floor could become a P-patch like the Mercer street garage at the Seattle Center. It’s not going to be empty in the middle of a 100K person city.

  11. There was a long article in the Seattle Times on Thursday on the multiple problems that the Link Line 1 has had over the past months that has at times severely interrupted service and the plans by ST to address them.

    I had to take Line 1 on Thursday morning from Northgate leaving at 6:51. Earlier that morning there was another power problem between the UW and Northgate stations but that was cleared up before I took the train. The trains had to share one track.

    But after that there was a mechanical problem in the tunnel forcing trains to use one track between Stadium and Westlake. When my train got to Roosevelt we sat for 20 minutes and the only information we got were 2 recorded announcements telling us that there was a delay. Nothing from the operator.

    We finally began to move but at a much slower speed then normal to UW station where we sat for another 20 minutes and again with the 2 recorded announcements telling us that was a delay. No kidding and nothing from the operator. It would have helped if he could tell us what was going and if there was an estimate. People on the train were getting frustrated and especially those going to the airport to catch flights.

    Finally we began to move at normal speed and it seemed that everything was fine until we got to ID station and again we sat but no announcement. At his point I gave up and got off and called Lyft as I was completely frustrated with the situation and the lack of communication.

    When there are no problems Line 1 is fine but there have been too many problems where you wonder about its dependability. ST says that they are going to fix the problems but I have no faith in ST and their management to do so as it seems we keep hearing that over and over.

  12. Another video of DRLE extension testing, courtesy of Eastside Transit:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M7DlE4BjOfc

    This video might be the best so far. It shows a 2 LRV Link train leaving Marymoor Village Station and heading west towards Bellevue. The train appears to be at full speed, and the video tracks it the whole way until it disappears up the grade on its way to Redmond Tech Station.

    1. Model Trains for model boys. It sure looks like Skycastle Transit simply does not know “how to run a railroad”.

      Somebody needs to Muscleini to clean up “Ops”. Maybe then they’d “run on time”.

  13. Link collision now. Trains were stopped; they now seem to be on 15-minute frequency or delay, although the announcement is hard to understand.

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