Massive gridlock and transit reroutes today as the Seahawks celebrate their second Super Bowl win; here’s how to take transit to the victory parade. If you’re local and want to go, strongly consider riding a bike instead.

Sound Transit’s monthly maintenance program ended 1 Line service between Mount Baker and TIBS early last night (Feb. 10), and will do so again tomorrow night (Feb. 12, starting around 9:30pm). Maintenance planned for tonight (Feb. 11) was cancelled to accommodate the Seahawks parade and expectations of late-night revelry.

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This is an Open Thread. Comments should focus on topics clearly related to transit and land use issues and be mindful of our Comment Policy.

114 Replies to “Midweek Roundup: Seahawks Victory Parade”

  1. It looks like a lot of drivers are planning to attend the Seahawks parade as Metro is cancelling more trips this morning than usual.

    And ST has suspended Line 1 service between Angle Lake and Star Lake because of a power issue and replacing it with shuttle buses.

    Not a good start for transit on a day when thousands will be using it to get to downtown.

      2. NO NOT ANOTHER COPPER WIRE THEFT!!! I just hate when that happens. Wow people must be that crazy about the parade that they decided to cause a power issue.

      3. ST’s alerts said service was alternately suspended and single-tracked starting at 4am. At 6:47am normal operations was restored.

        ST is also sending alerts about full P&Rs. Lynnwood and TIB (Link), and Sumner (Sounder) were full as of 6:56am.

      4. My route 10 lost hourly runs, so instead of running 20-20-20, it’s 20-40. The 11 and 49 also lost runs but not as many. Route 12 seems to be intact, although it’s also truncated at 7th.

        I’m going down around 11 to see how the shuttles and other transit are doing.

  2. Just go a photo from my intrepid Granddaughter from the Lynnwood Station showing about 75 or more people in line to get into the station and the platform above it pretty full. A second picture inside the train shows some limited standing room only remains. She also feels the train might be running a bit slower maybe because of the crowd. This was all between 8 AM and 8:15.

    1. Are they still trying to get people off the arriving trains, or have they given up on that?

      Is the situation similar at Federal Way? If not, is there time to start turning some trains back at Stadium?

      3. Has anyone been able to board a 1 Line train toward downtown this morning? Where?

        Same question for those trying to get on a bus toward downtown.

      6. Brent, you asked “If not, is there time to start turning some trains back at Stadium?” after asking about Federal Way. I assumed you meant turning NB trains back at Stadium, but on re-read I can see you meant turning SB trains back to Lynnwood to boost service in North Seattle.

    2. Grandaughter timed her trip this morning from Lynnwood to Pioneer Square at 43 minutes while the on line schedule shows around 29 minutes is planned for. I guess station dwell time is a part of that. Almost a 50% increase at least on that run.

    3. Granddaughter #2 took Link from Shoreline North to Pioneer Square station. Left around 8:39 and off about 9:07 or so, so about a run time of 28 minutes. Per on line schedule that’s carded normally as about 20 minutes that looks to be running a bit slower than normal.

      1. The 28 minutes nearly matches the normal online schedule. I don’t know where you are getting these really fast travel time projections that are much faster than the schedule.

      2. So if it took 28 minutes from Pioneer Square to Shoreline North/185th, add 7 minutes to Lynnwood… 35 MINUTES!? Last time I saw Lynnwood to IDC took 33 minutes.

      3. I could be mis-reading the pdf schedule. I’ll go back and recheck with paper and pencil, thanks for the input.

  3. Here’s a proposal I made for the Fall 2026 ST Express Service Change:

    510:
    – Delete the route, speaking of the extra capacity the 2 Line will provide.

    512:
    – Move schedule to align with the 201/202, providing 7.5 minute frequency between Everett and Lynnwood.
    – Decrease weekend frequencies to 20 minutes (to match with the 201/202). Every 10 minutes combined.
    – Add overnight service 7 days a week, overnight service would continue south of Lynnwood, stopping at Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline South/148th, Northgate, NE 45th to Downtown Seattle. Rather than adding a new route, we would just extend it to Seattle overnight.

    513:
    – Delete the route, instead I would expect riders to use the 201/202 and then the Swift Green Line (which lacks ridership) to Seaway TC and vice versa.

    515:
    – Delete the route as ST already plans.

    522:
    – No changes from ST’s proposal.

    532:
    – Delete the route, instead I expect riders to use the 512 and 535 from Everett to Bellevue and vice versa.

    535:
    – Delete the Alderwood Mall routing (use the Swift Orange).
    – Delete the Bellevue routing (starts/ends at Bellevue TC).
    – Increase frequencies to 15 minutes all-day on weekdays, and 30 minutes on weekends.

    542:
    – Increase frequencies to every 10-15 minutes all-day 7 days a week.
    – Extend to Marymoor Village Station.

    545:
    – Delete the route for better 542 service, I would have considered the restoration of the 544, but I just don’t see it happening as I imagine it would be a failure.

    550:
    – Only run the route overnight.
    – Extend to Marymoor Village Station.
    – Decrease frequencies to 30 minutes.

    554:
    – Delete the route for better 556 service.

    556:
    – No changes from ST’s proposal.

    560:
    – Increase weekday service to 15 minutes, and weekend service to every 30 minutes.
    – Truncate west at Burien TC.
    – Remove the SeaTac/Airport stop, and instead have the route stop at Tukwila International Blvd.

    566:
    – Delete the route, better alternatives on the 2 Line, 560, and the new 576.

    574:
    – Delete the route for better 594 service.

    576:
    – New route between Downtown Seattle and Puyallup, every 20 minutes 7 days a week.
    – Runs all-day, and acts like a temporary capacity increaser for the S Line.
    – The route takes advantage of the I-5, and I-405 HOV lanes. It also takes advantage of the SR 167 express toll lanes, which traffic shouldn’t be too much of a problem with these.
    – Stops at Tukwila Station, Renton TC, Kent Station, Auburn P&R, Auburn Station, Sumner Station, and Puyallup Station.
    – Replaces the 566, and 578.

    577/578:
    – Delete these routes for better 576, and 594 service.
    – Service between Auburn and Federal Way would be provided by the KCM 181 which is proposed to double in frequency.

    580:
    – Delete the route as planned.

    586:
    – Delete the route as planned.

    590:
    – Delete the route, and move service hours into the 592 and 595.

    592:
    – Add more trips during peak, running every 20 minutes in the peak direction.
    – Add a loop through Downtown Tacoma (like the 590).
    – Truncate the route north at Federal Way Downtown.

    594:
    – Add a Federal Way Downtown stop.
    – Increase frequencies to 15 minutes, running outside of peak (where it only runs in reverse peak).
    – Add overnight service every 30 minutes, stopping at Star Lake, Kent Des Moines, Angle Lake, SeaTac/Airport, and Tukwila International Blvd.

    595:
    – Truncate north at Federal Way Downtown.
    – Increase headways to 20 minutes peak only in the peak direction.
    – Add a loop through Downtown Tacoma (like the 590).
    – Combines a 10 minute headway with the 592 from Tacoma to Federal Way.

    596:
    – Add more trips, running every 20 minutes peak only to match Sounder demand.

    With all that money saved, I can suggest some additional changes that could be considered “optional”:
    – We could run a route between Downtown Seattle and SeaTac/Airport via Georgetown, SR 509, Olson-Meyers P&R, and Burien TC every 30 minutes.
    – A possible new Sounder connector from Orting to Sumner could be piloted, running every 20 minutes peak only.

  4. When will the federal Department of Transportation threaten funding for freeways that don’t charge tolls?

    1. Idk, but I feel like express toll lanes are more successful than HOV lanes, as you can avoid HOV violators, and you can actually make revenue.

    2. When it stops prohibiting tolls on said freeways, unless they were already tolled historically.

    3. Someday.

      The first step would be allowing tolls on all of them. I-90 and I-5 really need tolls.

      Of course “freeways that don’t charge tolls” is redundant; I think you meant “highways that don’t charge tolls”. We’ve become so used to highways being free by default that we use “freeway” as a synonym for “highway”.

      1. The ‘free’ in freeway originally referred to free-flowing traffic, not the lack of tolls, when Edward M. Bassett coined the term in 1930.

      2. I did not know that! Where I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, we used “freeway” for highways without tolls, and “tollway” for the ones with tolls.

      1. Not sure. OneBusAway, the app I’ve used in the past, depends on Google Maps and Google Play Services. Google is known to collect your information.

      2. The new app posted is OneBusAway’s next generation interface. It uses OpenStreetMap as its base map instead of Google or Bing. Strange that ST would have yet another app when they are also testing Sound RideGuide unless they plan on replacing the current OneBusAway for Puget Sound with this cloud one.

  7. I saw someone using terrestrial laser scanners (looked like this one https://mytopcon-v1.topconpositioning.com/support/products/gls-2000) for the WSLE at the Whole foods next to the Alaska Junction station site. I asked the worker and he said it’s for the light rail.
    To be clear he was scanning the Whole foods lot specifically, not the planned station locations, which I thought was interesting.
    Seems design is still progressing.

    1. Curious – do you mean the Bank of America parking lot, or the lot across from the Shell station at Alaska & Fauntleroy?

      I believe ST and SDOT are planning station area improvements in the Bank of America parking lot, so it’d make sense if they were surveying there. If they were surveying at Alaska and Fauntleroy, that’d indicate preliminary engineering progressing for the aerial station option which would require tearing down new(ish) apartment building southeast of Alaska and Fauntleroy.

      1. Nathan – I mean specifically the Whole foods. One scanner was at the intersection of Fauntleroy and Alaska while another was at 40th ave SW Alaska, both on the Whole foods side.
        I thought this was interesting because it’s not either of the station locations (Jiffy lube lot across the street and Jefferson square 2 blocks west are the actual station locations).
        I don’t think the workers were SDOT official employees FWIW. Seemed like contractors. Just told me “it’s for the light rail”

      2. Ah, I misread and thought you were saying they were Whole Foods’ parking lot, which is underground there.

        There are a lot of reasons SDOT/ST might order a survey of surrounding properties. It is interesting, though!

  8. Watching the live traffic feed at Othello Station. Completely packed platform. Train shows up and maybe 20% of passengers were able to board. Some people leaving the station to wait at the 106. Second train comes shortly after (a few minutes?). Same issue, tons of people waiting after it leaves still but a good portion of the crowd is gone. The two trains together cleared about half the platform. Super long dwell times.

    Seems like most trains are absolutely full, but maybe buses are doing a bit better. At Othello specifically, seems like ST should have considered directing people to the 36 and 106. Heard it’s even worse in North Seattle

  9. What’s the deal with Portland cutting transit spending so drastically? They have a Democratic governor and legislature, so I would think they could figure something out. Why does the funding go through the state anyway? Usually transit is paid for with local taxes. (Of course I understand that most state taxes come from the city and suburbs in the first place…)

    I don’t pay attention to Oregon politics so this looks very confusing to me.

    1. TriMet is primarily funded locally via a payroll tax (0.89% or so), but it also gets funds from a statewide payroll tax (0.1%). Payroll taxes in Oregon (and Portland specifically) haven’t kept up with the cost to provide service since 2020. The transportation funding package that died in the state legislature would have raised the state payroll tax over a handful of years to 0.4%, which would have stabilized and improved TriMet’s budget position. The 11th hour shotgun keep the lights on bill had a 0.2% payroll tax sunsetting in 2028 (iirc, might have been different), but that is dead now after a ballot measure to challenge it and subsequent reneging by the OR Dems.

      TriMet also has the statutory authority to levy other types of taxes (with voter approval), but hasn’t really been willing to for a variety of reasons that are unclear to me. Like they can levy up to a 1% income tax (ORS 267.300), but I’ve yet to hear new revenue sources floated at any point during the budget shortfall process.

      My thoughts are that TriMet has a conservative corporate culture that views additional taxes for service a non-starter. And this may be the case in the district as a whole, it’s not really clear to me. But at least in Portland proper, there is definitely some appetite for new taxes for improved services (despite what the news says).

      1. Well it just sounds like Oregon or at least part of it should have some kind of basic sale tax. Zero sales tax causes all sorts of problem.
        The homeless crisis in Missoula, MT is due to the same reason. When short-term vacation business was booming in town during pandemic, the local government just didn’t see comparable tax revenue increase to support the increasing need for more public service. That’s like more traffic in town, more utility demand, and more need for affordable housing but it just couldn’t be passed to tourists because there is no sales tax. Increasing whatever other revenue stream means real locals ended up paying for tourists’ visit.

      2. I wouldn’t say it’s a sales tax issue. TriMet has the authority to levy income, payroll, and property taxes (as a part of bond repayment). Sales taxes are also not keeping pace with the cost to provide services, so it’s not really clear to me that shifting the tax there would be much help.

        I don’t think the issue is tourism causing a mismatch in demand for services and the ability to provide them for Portland. The issue is that the sole reliance on the payroll tax makes TriMet sensitive to payrolls. Doing things like issuing bonds for certain capital improvements that currently use payroll tax dollars could help their operating budget. Using other already legal sources is easier and more likely to stick.

    2. I think the root cause is that the cost per service hour increases faster than inflation, so it is necessary to continually raise taxes to provide the same level of service. That can’t continue indefinitely.

      1. Yes, that’s generally true but it’s particularly acute in Portland right now because payroll is down a bit (while the rate is up a bit) so they have flat/slightly declining revenues in absolute terms.

        It’d be much better to link transit revenues to property taxes if OR didn’t have the 3% cap on assessed value growth (and WA didn’t have the 1% levy increase limit). That’s a more stable and reliable source of revenues, and one that has been more likely to track with costs.

      2. Property tax in Oregon is extremely limited. Ballot measures 5, 47 and 50 wound up tying the assessed value to 1996 levels plus 3%, except for new construction or additions.

      3. @mike

        > Stride 1 won’t open until 2028. Why are you talking about the 560 and 566 now? ST hasn’t made any decisions on bus restructures around Stride yet. It’s assumed the 560 will go away

        It’s assured route 560 will go away after stride 1. they talk about discontinuing it and using those service hours for stride 1 brt

        route 566 will continue

  11. Leaving now to check on downtown transit. Planned itinerary: eastern shuttle to 7th & Jackson, walk to 550 terminus (busway & Royal Brougham), Link to Pioneer Square, western shuttle to Uptown, 8 to where it meets the G, G to 8th & Madison (where it’s truncated). Then may check on Link again.

    1. The eastern shuttle seems to be running every 1-6 minutes. Some are ready and say “To Terminal” but a cardboard sign in the windshield says “Seahawks Shuttle”. I’m the only one on the bus after the 6-minute wait, but it also depends on when transferring buses arrive.

    3. Dodgy people at 12th & Jackson. The 40 turned west on Jackson. The shuttle turned west at King and dropped me off at 8th. Seneral people walking all directions but the big crowd appears to be few blocks west. Another shuttle is going further west. My shuttle’s driver says it has been pretty empty all morning; we both think nobody knows about the shuttle. I also don’t see much point in the eastern shuttle; though it’s probably good to get to First Hill medical appointments.

    9. A line of people at Stadium station is trying to go south ound. Stretching out to the street. They must be rally-goers who aren’t interested in the parade. Northbound had a crowd tree people thick on front of the train but I got on.

    10. Another full train going south at CID, and full platforms both directions. The northbound crowd can only partially get on, and three people are complaining about being squished or hard to breathe or a crying baby

    11. PSQ I couldn’t get off as other people rushed in until other people helped me by shouting “People are getting off!”, and I had to squeeze oast the woman who felt a rushed earlier: I apologized to her. Only a few people got on, and the platforms are packed both directions

    12. Audio announcement: “Trains are coming full already. The northbound line is all the way up the stairs and to the far end of the mezzanine.

    13. And the up escaator to the entrance is stopped and the elevator is taking it’s time. Imat have to walk up with pain in my hip, as happens with stairs nowadays.

      Glorious! The elevator is here. Faint smell of piss.

    14. On western shuttle; ten people got on at first stop. Third Avenue has more people than usual but no big crowds. goint to Pike Place Market.

    15. No, I’ll go to Uptown. Somebody asked where this bus is going to, and said they’re going to UW. I said the 70 is supposed to come all the way down but the thinks that got shut down, so I said to take this bus to QA/Mercer where the northern buses terminate, and take a bus north or maybe you can get the 31 or 32 to UW; I forget which one goes to Uptown.

    22. In Uptown. A lot of people asking how to get to somewhere other. A guy on a Lime scooter thought the light rail was here; I said you’d have to go downtown for it

    23. 8 stop is on Mercer St eastbound between QA and 1st N. Going to Capitol Hill now. Bus has six people.

  12. For the studied alternatives you need to look here:
    Judkings Park Alternatives

    Reducing Rainier to one lane each way while dedicating the remaining lane in each direction to transit seems like a non-starter. Right now Rainier really only gets backed up southbound in the afternoons. And the backup typically starts at I-90. You reduce general purpose to one lane under I-90 and the gridlock will extend miles in both NB and SB. If they remove one or both of the SB exits from I-90 that would help some. I think the gridlock’s root cause is not enough throughput south of 90. I don’t see the roundabout ideas doing anything but creating confusion.

    1. NB Rainier is one general lane & one bus lane until the ramp to I-90 EB. SB Rainier is basically already limited to one general lane; there’s an interesting phenomenon where general traffic already generally avoids the SB curb lane due to moderately high frequency of buses (7, 9, 106) stopping every few blocks. I would like to see SB Rainier repainted to match NB, at least between Dearborn and the Mt Baker transit center.

  13. Being outside at about 1115, it seemed like metro has already ditched what seemed like a good plan. Many RR C Aand route 70 coaches rolling thru north belltown on 2nd and 3rd;serving stops they would not even without a reroute. Very few shuttle buses seen to or from the uptown “hub”, seems like a really food job of planning and preparation but lousy execution that fell apart quickly. The. RTA displays on 3rd all seemedvt9 be showing a normal workday display so rhat got missed. Seems like sub optimal performance for the first big event test for Metro under the Zahilay regime but what do I know…

    1. The 70 is supposed to go through like that but not serve all the stops. The C is supposed to be unchanged as of last night, but may have had a later reroute.

  14. Today in social studies class we watched the Seahawks parade live and I saw a vintage Metro bus. Weren’t those retired? I was really happy to see them.

    1. There’s a 1980s style bus across from me parked at the base. White with a fat yellow stripe and two narrow stripes progressively browner. It’s a short trolleybus.

    4. I saw the retro bus in the parade. I remember riding that bus type in the 1980s in a snowstorm up Highland Park Dr. The old 136 Ambaum Express it was called. Those accordion rear doors.

  15. I saw the parade and had little transit hassle on Link! Here’s how I did it…

    I left late and by then the train crowds were easing. I got off a 1 Line train headed north at Pioneer Square about 11:15. Of course the parade ran late and reached there about 11:40. I even got a seat. I watched at 4th and Cherry.

    When I could see the tail end buses coming, I walked the short distance back to the station. I figured that the upstream crowds were still watching things. Almost everyone on the southbound platform got on, and I stood all the way back to Columbia City..

  16. Since the Renton TC is under construction, is it still viable to ask them to run the Stride busses through downtown Renton, instead of staying on the freeway, or has that train left the station?

    2. They won’t go through downtown Renton. It won’t be very difficult to transfer to the F. It’s a frequent line.

      As for the 101, I propose having the 105 continue as the 101 all day, skipping S Renton P&R, then expanding 102 service to be all day to connect the new transit center to Seattle. And the I Line could see some runs extended to Rainier Beach for a better Link connection.

      1. I also suggest the F is extended to Exit 7 as another option to transfer to Stride. It can also serve Gene Coulon Park and the Seahawks HQ area which seems pretty useful.

      2. The problem is, a bus route can’t end just anywhere. There has to be a pathway for the bus to turnaround, and a bus-sized parking space for the bus to wait. There also has to be a restroom so the bus driver can pee.

        There are lots of routes that don’t terminate in the place that would be optimal, from a passenger perspective, for these reasons.

    3. Even after the project is fully completed and up and running as planned, it still has chance to ask for Stride to make stop at Landing and Renton TC as 560/566 does today.
      The Rainier-Grady improvement will still be useful between South Renton P&R and Burien. It just won’t be used between South Renton P&R and Bellevue.
      You just need to convince Renton bus volumes isn’t the reason why Downtown Renton is congested and convince ST that there is a positive outcome if S1 stops at Renton TC.

      Regarding City of Renton’s concern, you can make the argument that if majority of park and riders shift to South Renton, the traffic should be down. Bus volumes are really that significant anyway, but I think ST will be the reluctant one because a detour to serve Renton TC will definitely mean more service hours and delays.

      2. Renton is going to TOD near the new transit center. The landscape will change.

        Running it through downtown will just make things slower, when an enhanced high frequency F Line connection will be so much better.

        Stride should be a fast corridor service, not a local bus service. The 560 in fact doesn’t even need to be deleted. It could be kept as is. And the 566 could remain too, just skipping Renton.

      3. The problem is, serving any part of Renton at all comes with a huge time penalty to exit the freeway, wait at a bunch of stoplights with general purpose traffic, and re-enter it. Once that cost is paid, it’s not much more delay to just serve the rest of Renton, like the 560. There are also a couple of route tweaks that could be made. The 560 does not take the fastest route through the landing, for instance.

        The service hours to run the 560 alongside stride also do not exist.

      4. Stride is being contracted. So where are the 560/566 service hours going to? Why does Issaquah Highlands P&R get 4 different buses?

      5. Stride 1 won’t open until 2028. Why are you talking about the 560 and 566 now? ST hasn’t made any decisions on bus restructures around Stride yet. It’s assumed the 560 will go away, but we thought the 577, 578, and 594 would be truncated with Federal Way Link yet this year ST decided not to. So we don’t know what will happen with the 560 or 566 or any other routes: that’s a future decision.

        Issaquah Highlands P&R gets one ST route. The other three routes were Metro’s decision: ST has no control over it. Two of them are to provide more service to Sammamish and North Bend, which have been shortchanged forever. One is simply the peak-only 218 continuing for capacity needs. It’s all to turn Issaquah’s total transit from really bad to somewhat OK.

      6. asdf2/South King Resident,

        I am not saying STRIDE should serve Renton TC or not. I was just pointing out to Brandon that there will still be a possibility for that and what are the cases that can be made to justify running STRIDE through Renton TC.

        I prefer STRIDE’s current proposed route, but I do think there might be a potential benefit to run through Renton if that’s what City of Renton wants. Right now it doesn’t seem like it. I especially agree the part about travel time. I cannot imagine adding Renton TC stop would have the kind of marginal benefit that justify the additional cost.

      7. @mike

        > Stride 1 won’t open until 2028. Why are you talking about the 560 and 566 now? ST hasn’t made any decisions on bus restructures around Stride yet. It’s assumed the 560 will go away

        It’s assured route 560 will go away after stride 1. they talk about discontinuing it and using those service hours for stride 1 brt

        route 566 will continue

      8. Renton does not want Stride to go through downtown.

        Most riders will be transfers and park/riders.

        The 105/F/240 can continue to supplement downtown service offering connections to Stride. I’ve already mentioned its logical to replace the 105 with a 101 that continues as the 105 without going to S Renton, and expand 102 operations.

        If the 566 is staying it’d be preferred to skip Renton but it could also add that extra capacity through downtown if needed.

        I still think my idea of extending the F to connect at Exit 7 via Lk Washington Blvd is a smart move.

  17. If we had smart leaders, they’d lock the I-5 HOV/express lanes to transit only. And also close certain streets for transit only. But we got to stuff them with cars instead. 🤡

    1. When Link was extended to Northgate and then to Lynnwood most if not all Metro and Community routes that went to downtown were changed to end at different Light Rail stations so there is no need for your suggestion to lock down the I-5 express lanes to transit only.

  19. What is the wireless access like on Link? I found this Wireless access page on the ST website. They don’t date anything so I don’t know if it’s accurate. I thought ST Express buses got internet access years ago but maybe I’m misremembering. If there’s not a WiFi network how is the cell coverage on the eastside? I would think the only place it might drop is through the DT tunnel and maybe the tunnels on MI and Mt Baker.

    1. All of the tunnels have 5G coverage, although lately data has been sluggish between Capitol Hill and Westlake, and sometimes between Beacon Hill and Mt Baker.

    2. I had no internet service at Westlake Station this afternoon. I considered it was due to the crush of people at the station and downtown.

  20. I hung out at the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station before the parade. All the trains SB were crush-loaded from 9-10:30 AM (the whole time I was there). Few people were able to get on each train. Many potential passengers gave up and exited the station. Trains were running about every 3-6 minutes. One train was labeled as SODO so likely it was short-turned. Other “out of service” trains went NB, likely to provide extra service SB.
    I additionally hung out at the Westlake Station after the parade from 1:20 to 3:40 PM. All the trains NB were crush-loaded. It was not until about 3:40 that there were some open sections in the trains that could have allowed additional people. ST had staff that limited the amount of folks on the platform–queuing them on the Mezzianine. The trains were running on average about 4-5 minutes apart. Several trains came within 2 minutes of each other. There was also about 6 Sheriff Officers and maybe 10 or more ST safety people working at the NB platform. The SB platform was noticeably less busy and had a shorter time period of crush-loaded trains (however this was the first downtown station for those going south). It must have been really bad further south (CID, etc.).

  21. This is just a tiny little aside on the linked Urbanist article about the spiralling cost overruns on that bridge replacement between Oregon and Washington, but the name drop on who forced the public records release – Joe Cortwright – GO JOE!!! I lived in Oregon too once upon a time and he was by far the best local urbanist writer there, fearlessly calling out stupid highway widenings and various other fiscal disasters. With any luck he has single-handedly deep-sixed that wretched mega-project. Talk about power in advocacy!!

    Obviously Oregon and Washington will still need a damn bridge across the Columbia, but all I wanted when I was a resident there was a simple replacement. Light rail would have been great, but Vancouver didn’t want it, and I didn’t want unhinged sprawl of the very worst suburban sort in Vancouver (that would have clogged up the streets of Portland). Keeping the same amount of lanes keeps Vancouver in check. I wonder how many years we will need to go before a simple replacement will finally, finally be on the table…?

    1. I’ve wondered, does a light rail extension even make sense instead of an ETL/HOV lane? It seems to me it would be very slow in addition to being much more expensive, similar to Tacoma-Seattle STX vs Link.

      2. Light rail could be a nice solution, but not the way it’s proposed. What is proposed is far from any actual destinations and surrounded by freeway interchanges. To work, it needs to be about 1/2 mile further west than the freeway.

  22. The ST website now shows the 2 Line trains running from Lynnwood to Downtown Seattle in addition to South Bellevue to Redmond! Yay!

    It looks like the “gap” travel time is 10 minutes.

    1. I heard on KOMO radio tonight that all 2 Line trains will be 2 car trains and all one 1 Line trains will be 4 car trains. ST advise to riders; if you’re taking a short trip take the short train, long trip take the long train. That’s obviously just for people north of DT as there is no additional service south and the eastside is still in toy train mode until March 28th.

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