I was going to Uwajimaya on September 4th for a routine shopping trip. I got off a 14 bus at Union Station, when right in front of me was a sign for a Sound Transit board meeting. So I went inside to see it. I thought it was the full board meeting (and the signs didn’t say otherwise), but afterward I found out it was the Rider Experience and Operations Committee Meeting. The meeting was halfway through and I didn’t stay till the end, but I did see two presentations, one on Link reliability and the other on next generation of trains. Here’s the livestream, and the meeting page with documents links (but not the reports below).
Continue reading “ST Rider Experience Meeting 9/4”Midweek Roundup: historic test
Local Transit News:
- King County Council may enact its condemnation authority on 10 properties to facilitate construction of RapidRide I Line (The Urbanist).
- Efforts by Metro and Sound Transit to make transit feel more safe were on the cover of the Seattle Times ($) on Sunday.
- King County Metro wants to know how you’d improve Route 106 (Metro Matters). The 5-minute questionnaire is open until October 8.
- Sound Transit is considering double-length railcars for its Series 3 of Link light rail trains (The Urbanist).
- Between 2017 and 2023, Seattle added 35,000 households but only 3,300 cars (The Seattle Times, $). Additional coverage by The Urbanist.
Speeding Up Routes 3 and 4
By KIAN NAEEMI
The Harborview Medical Center area is a bottleneck afflicted with crushing traffic. Multiple roads funnel traffic east into James Street, where traffic then struggles onto I-5. At the same time, bus routes 3 and 4 are trying to serve the same kind of trip on those roads, getting people to the Link Light rail and the Third Avenue busway, two major transit arteries which provide an alternative to I-5. These buses should be alleviating traffic (and to some extent they do) but they are unable to fix the traffic while in it. Better bus routing and transit priority improvements can make buses in the area much more effective at maneuvering through the James Street logjam.
The Seattle DOT should work with King County Metro to reroute routes 3/4 off the chronically clogged James St. onto Cherry St. (with a reverse bus lane), put bus lanes (for ambulance use as well) on 9th at Harbourview, and make Jefferson from 9th to Broadway a local only road. Heading eastbound, the reroute would result in: buses taking Cherry from Third Ave and taking a right on 9th to join the current routing for the rest of the route. This preserves the vital 9th and Jefferson stop serving Harborview. Here’s a map.
Continue reading “Speeding Up Routes 3 and 4”Sound Transit Completes Live Wire Test on Floating Bridge
For the first time in history, a light rail vehicle has crossed a floating bridge under its own power. Just before midnight Monday evening, Link vehicle 219 traveled between Mercer Island station and Judkins Park station via the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge. Unlike the tow test in May, the vehicle in yesterday’s test was powered by the overhead wire.
Sunday Boring Movies
Was hyperloop a scam? The Cascadia high-speed rail study compared hyperloop to other modes. (CityNerd)
The Vegas Loop, which does exist, is unbelievably impractical and gets few riders. Ray rides it and compares it to Las Vegas’s other transit. (CityNerd)
Ray will be be in Seattle at Town Hall November 5th. Livestream tickets are available; in-person tickets are sold out. He’ll be talking with Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, authors of the book Life after Cars and the podcast The War on Cars .
This is an open thread.
Friday Roundtable: Waterfront Park Grand Opening
Over the past two decades, the City of Seattle, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Port of Seattle, Friends of Waterfront Park, Downtown Seattle Association, Seattle Center, King County Metro, numerous community groups, and thousand of Seattle residents have contributed to redesigning and rebuilding Seattle’s waterfront. Years of debates, discussions, proposals, votes ($), and construction have culminated in the Grand Opening of Waterfront Park tomorrow, September 6.
The Grand Opening Celebration will occur between 11am-9pm with performances, activities, and games at the Salish Steps and Overlook Walk, Pier 62, Pier 58, Park Promenade, Pioneer Square Habitat Beach, and Stadium Plaza. The Salish Steps are the stairs/seating at the bottom of the Overlook Walk. A detailed schedule of events is available on the Friends of Waterfront Park website.
How We Got Here
In 2001, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was damaged by the Nisqually earthquake. After emergency repairs were implemented, City and State leaders were concerned about future earthquake damage to the aging structure. Replacement proposals included a new tunnel, a new elevated viaduct, and a widened surface street with additional transit. In general, the State preferred the elevated option because it was cheaper. The City government preferred the tunnel as it would be less disruptive to the waterfront. The City and State were deadlocked as Seattle needed State funding and Washington state needed permits from the City. In 2007, the Seattle City Council passed two resolutions calling for a non-binding, advisory vote on the tunnel and elevated options. The vote was on each option separately and Seattle voters rejected both options. The tunnel option only received 30% approval and the elevated option received 43% approval. Following this vote, efforts to promote the surface and improved transit option started again.
Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: Waterfront Park Grand Opening”Midweek Roundup: mid-life overhaul
The next 18 months may be the most important period of Sound Transit history as it tries to close a $30-40 billion program gap (The Urbanist). Additional coverage by the Seattle Times ($). Mayor Harrell thinks a new technical advisory group and regulatory reforms will get the job done with no program cuts or new taxes (The Seattle Times, $)
Sound Transit is starting a mid-life overhaul of the Sounder railcar fleet (The Urbanist)
The King County Water Taxi will run extra service from Vashon to Downtown Seattle on Saturday to get islanders to and from the Grand Opening Celebration of the rebuilt Waterfront (Metro Matters). Earlier this year, the State Legislature approved funding to maintain the Water Taxi’s midday service through June 2027.
SDOT thinks putting bus lanes on Denny would paralyze general traffic (The Urbanist). More on the SDOT blog. Here’s what the Fix the L8 campaign proposed on STB earlier this year.
Join the “Light Rail Relay” race on September 27 (The Urbanist)
Kitsap Transit’s summer service change begins on Sunday, September 14 (KT Headways)
Last week, Amtrak began operating its new high-speed Acela train fleet along the Northeast Corridor (Citylab)
Adaptive, automated bus lane enforcement is speeding up buses across the country (Fast Company)
Parking is the invisible “dark matter” of the urban planning universe (Planetizen)
The White River Bridge in Buckley is closed for emergency repairs after a truck crashed into the bridge structure. In the meantime, King County Metro is increasing weekday service on DART Route 915 to get riders to the nearby pedestrian-only Foothill Trails Bridge (Metro Matters)
This is an Open Thread.