Two videos partly related to Friday’s “Pedestrianize the Ave” article.

The biggest opposition to congestion pricing and pedestrianizing streets comes before they’re implemented, then they open and often become big successes. The Hill of Hysteria. (CityNerd)

Deliveries by cargo bike. With illustrations in color. (Urban Mobility Explained)

This is an open thread.

46 Replies to “Sunday Movie: The Hill of Hysteria & Cargo Bikes”

  1. What’s the process for posting on Page Two? I have posted a few times on P2 in the past and the process seemed pretty straightforward. But I just looked at P2 and didn’t see any tab or link to start the process. Thanks.

  2. There was some recent talk on another thread about new trolley wire being strung on Madison. Just noticed the wire today. I did also note that there are poles placed further west on Madison around Boren that currently serve no purpose and presumably would be for trolley wire.

    Is this new Madison wire also taking care of filling the gap on the one-and-quarter block stretch on Pine Street between 15th and Madison?

    Saw Metro has an RFP out for trolley pole work around the University Bridge, not sure what thats exactly about.

    2. Maybe that’s for J Line. Metro also needs to install some new wires along a couple blocks of Roosevelt and 111th Ave NE because J Line will go there rather than NE Campus Way.

  3. Yesterday I had a chance to take the NB ramp from NE 85th St onto 405. First thing I noticed was they’ve started some sort of redevelopment at the old Abertsons site just east of the interchange. It’s not the whole site, just where the restaurant used to be in front. The excavation for the Stride project is impressive. Looks like it will end up being larger than the footprint of the original cloverleaf configuration. They are going to be digging for quite some time.

    Going north on 405 I got to see the demolition of the old flyover ramp to 522. This project looks like it’s progressing a lot faster than 85th.

    1. https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/search-projects/i-405-northeast-85th-street-interchange-and-inline-brt-station-project

      The project page say January 2027 is the expected completion date. The impressive aspect of the project is that transit will have dedicated lanes from Kirkland Way to 405. At the Stride station stop, Metro buses will be on the same level as the Stride buses and separated from the local traffic on 85th. There will be 3 levels of traffic: 405 on the top, Stride/Metro in the middle, and local traffic on the bottom. No escalators, elevators or stairways to navigate when transferring from Stride to Metro.

      1. Kirkland is also adding another lane to NE 85th St.

        NE 85th Street Eastbound 3rd Lane – 120th to 122nd Avenues NE

        I don’t see how this makes the station area any more “walkable” or ped/bike friendly. I searched for what the development is that’s currently underway on the old Albertsons site but couldn’t find anything. From the scale I’d have to guess more townhomes like have been going in all over North Rose Hill. Odd though that I couldn’t find any mention of it in the City’s permit updates.

      2. https://www.kirklandwa.gov/Government/Departments/Planning-and-Building/Planning-Projects/NE-85th-Street-Station-Area-Plan

        I’m not sure where the old Albertson’s was located, but Kirkland has big plans for the top of the hill. There will more than a few townhouses built up there. One option included up to 20 story buildings near the Stride station. I think the adopted plan had lower heights, but Rose Hill and 85th St. are going through a major transformation.

        Just like there is a separated pathway for transit, there also are plans for separated bike access.

      3. The walk/bike improvement is that a sidewalk will exist to cross 405 at 85th at all, which it did not, previously.

      5. Thanks Sam, That’s a link to a master plan that I think was more of an overall concept than any specific design proposal. The “Press Coverage” link on the page is from 2022 and I know several deals have fallen through since then. I went to King County and it’s Parcel 1238500140 which still says Vacant (Outback Steak House) and the tax payer is Rose Hill Development LLC who purchased the properties back in 2019. Since I can’t find any construction permits or even preliminary review I suspect they are just tearing down the old building possibly to make room for the planned additional lane on NE 85th. U-Haul still owns the lot next door on that block but can’t see it being able to remain after the street is widened by another lane. Rose Hill Development owns the other parcels that make up the Albertsons site. The master plan you linked to would first require buying out maybe U-haul and four other lots on that block to the north. And likely the block to the east which is a real hodge podge including McDonalds Corp. By far the biggest swath of land in the immediate station area is Costco.

      6. There was previously sidewalk under 405 (both sides, I only remember the south side). Go back to 2019 or earlier in Street View to see it. You had to contend with the unsignalized cloverleaf which is a lot like playing Frogger but sidewalks were there. Nobody used them unless their car broke down under the freeway. There’s much better pedestrian and bike routes north and south which are now connected by Eastrail.

      7. I live near 85th. and the Albertsons/Petco site. I’ve seen a lot of plans for mixed-use, retail/residential building on that lot. They’re only reworking the former Outback site for now because the only business left in the strip mall, Dollar Tree, still does brisk business.

        This is a cornerstone of Kirkland’s plan to “level-up” South Rose Hill, like they did with Totem Lake. For instance, we have plenty of teriyaki and Asian joints, and the Mercury’s Coffee does brisk business (along with Starbucks and McDonald’s, which aren’t going anywhere), but we don’t have any other restaurants besides a family-style Mexican place. They’re also building a 60-odd townhouse development on the lot where the Baskin-Robbins and the hot tub showroom that burned down were.

        I’m very much looking forward to the Stride interchange. If I want to get to Seattle or the airport, I can just walk a handful of blocks, pick up Stride, and transfer to the 2 Line at Bellevue Transit Center. I’m also glad that cloverleaf is gone, it was a pain to merge on and off the thing.

      8. Kirkland’s plan to “level-up” South Rose Hill,

        I thought 85th was considered North Rose Hill but I’ve never been clear on what the dividing line is or what the “borders” of Rose Hill are considered to be. So you think they are actually starting construction on something at the old Outback Steak House (it was a buffet originally as I recall)? Personally I’ve found the cloverleaf to be pretty good for entry/exit; at least until Costco moved in. That access screws up everything and will continue to do so.

      9. I looked more at the master plan Sam linked to. MG2 specifically says “the Rose Hill Shopping Center: a 40-year-old retail center and mall area growing more outdated by the day. The seven-acre site, …”. The site is 7 acres, if you include U-Haul with the old Albertsons(Petco) strip mall + Outback + parking. But then they get really vague about “an innovative multi-block, mixed-use community campus project”. The old strip mall is not multi-block. The master plan specs 1,049 parking stalls but South Bellevue (1,500 stalls) takes up more than 11 acres. So the existing 7 acre “mall area” would barely fit the parking they are talking about. You’re going to add that to Costco’s already massive parking capacity right next to the interchange and it’ll all be sweetness and light? Not adding up. It just can’t given the geography and the road structure/capacity. I’m just more convinced this project is buried treasure.

      11. Interesting Sam, clearly a Revit rendering and not a particularly good one. What might be happening at the old Outback site is what was ID’d as building D. Thing is, this was clearly done prior to Kirkland deciding they needed to widen NE 85th and add a lane on the north side which eats into about 1/3 of what they had conceptualized for said building and parking. The whole plan if you look at is is incomplete and just won’t work with regard to parking and traffic flow; even before the lane reconfiguration driven by the traffic cluster Kirkland already knows exists.

    2. NE 85th interchange is actually progressing faster than SR 522. The toughest part is to reconstruct the I-405 mainline overpass to make way for future center ramps-Stride stops. It has been substantially completed last year. Now the focus are on the NE 85th arterial level to build two levels of crossing streets that separate express lane access from general-purpose lane. Current stage set all the traffic running on the second level as the contractor is digging the bottom level in the middle of NE 85th. It is on track to complete in time.
      As for SR 522, it is part of the Brickyard-527 project, demolition of flyover ramps are just the beginning. They can only build the new northbound mainline overpass after they demolish the flyover ramp to Bothell. They also need to work on Brickyard and Canyon Park inline stations which are also impactful to I-405. So still a long way to go.

  4. I was looking for what’s going on on 85th by the 405 interchange and haven’t found anything yet that describes the project. But I did come across this slated for the old Houghton P&R:
    Kraken Iceplex & Community Center Project
    The City only recently converted most of the P&R to pickle ball courts and skate ramps. The courts in particular seem to be getting a lot of use. I did notice the other day that there was a large construction trailer parked in the SE corner. Construction is slated to start really soon. Since my PO Box is a Kirkland address I wonder if I’ll get in on the two free skate tickets every month? This probably spells the end for the old Sno-King Area in Kingsgate.

    1. The park is pretty busy during summers with pickleball and skateboarding, but it’s likely a placeholder until the rink is built. I don’t think that will doom the Kingsgate ice arena, though. Bellevue and Redmond AFAIK don’t have any ice rinks, and this new one will attract youth and adult rec-league players from there, leaving Kingsgate for the more northerly ‘burbs.

      1. I hope you’re right regarding the Kingsgate area remaining viable. Already lost too much of the old memories from skating. Kingsgate took a hit when they opened the Renton complex that lured away most of the figure skate coaches. But youth hockey is growing and Kingsgate has/had a strong fund raising program. I’m looking forward to the new ice plex in Houghton, or is that South Rose Hill, or 85th Station area, or North Bridle Trails… I’m so confused ;-)

    2. Thanks. I was wondering that this morning, thinking it was real close to opening for an announcement, since ST would have to coordinate with the cities longer than this. ST just forgot to announce it, or maybe that’s coming tomorrow or so.

    3. “Shuttles from Mount Baker and South Bellevue stations will run every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. to help attendees reach the event.”

      That’s a nice thing to have considering Judkin Park is not exactly easy to get to from outside Downtown Seattle

      1. It’s great that there will be shuttles from Mt Baker! Thanks for the info!

        It’s only about a mile to go between Mt Baker and Judkins Park, so it’s not a difficult walk for a hearty person in decent weather. From Jackson St it’s only about 2/3rds of a mile so that’s also an option.

        I’m assuming Route 48 will also be running. For those coming from north of the Ship Canal and using Link, catching a Route 48 bus at UW Station may be easier.

        And if course, Route 4, 7, 8 and 106 buses will get someone pretty close.

        So while the bus shuttle from Mt Baker is nice to have, there are plenty of other transit options to get there — and some of those actually may be faster than waiting for a Mt Baker shuttle for those already within Seattle.

      2. Mt Baker is where you least need shuttles, since the 7, 8, 48, and 106 all go to Judkins Park station. But the shuttles are for those who don’t know about the routes or don’t take local buses. as well as relieving capacity. Hopefully the station escalators/elevators will be open early so you don’t have to walk uphill from the 7.

        The 7 looks like the best bet from downtown. The 4 goes there too but is less frequent and the routing is slower. I’ll probably take the 8 from Capitol Hill.

      3. “Mt Baker is where you least need shuttles, since the 7, 8, 48, and 106 all go to Judkins Park station.”

        Yeah, maybe the shuttle will just connect 1 and 2 Line before the crosslake section opens and will not stop at Judkin Park. For some reason I just assumed it would.

      4. The shuttle is marketed to get to the opening ceremony.

        ST really wants the opening to be big and successful, and for everybody who goes to it to say it was easy to get to. The number of attendees may get reported in the news. So ST will run the Mt Baker shuttle to the event.

    4. I wonder if the South Bellevue shuttle will pull out of the HOV lane to stop at Mercer Island. ST may need to clarify its operation about this.

      1. There’s no reason the shuttle would have to stop on MI since the 554 exits on Rainer anyway.

      2. The problem with Route 554 to the ceremony is that the stop at Rainier and Charles is still over a half-mile away.

      3. Hopefully it will, because Mercer Island is part of the opening and it would be silly to backtrack to South Bellevue or downtown to get to Judkins Park. The 554 is half-hourly in addition to not having an optimized stop. You can’t have one half-hourly route for everybody from Issaquah and Mercer Island that might be coming.

    5. The shuttle is for people in Seattle that want to reach South Bellevue station or people in Bellevue that want to reach Judkins park station.

      If you are in Seattle itself one can just take the 7, 106, 36, 48 etc… to reach the Judkins park station

  6. The “Hill of Hysteria” concept from the congestion pricing video is such a remarkably accurate description of the process that bogs down the planning and implementation of every major transportation project in the Puget Sound region. Mind blown!

  7. A good video about a “house factory” in Sweden…. there’s a fair amount of general information about construction and financing in it.

    1. Power issue between South Bellevue and Spring District. I wonder if these issues would be occurring without the simulated service. If simulated service is finding these issues now, then that’s good; if not, that bodes poorly for the bridge segment.

      1. I’m curious what you mean by the “if not” phrase at the end?

        I kind of assume this is wire thieves again.

      2. No, the 1st article I linked to said not due to copper theft and neither was the previous outage on the 2 Line.

      3. My bad, I clicked through but didn’t read to the end. Hopefully they can get this figured out ASAP

    2. Still down approaching the 12 hour mark. On the way home I saw a group of workers scurrying around on the tracks at the east end of MI near where I saw the work truck this morning. Don’t know if that has anything to do with where the issue is or not. Spring District Station is just east of where the turnout to the OMF-East facility is. Apparently that’s the last station working west from Redmond that still has power so I assume they will be able to get trains back into the yard with possibly the exception of at least one that was stuck near DT Bellevue. Do they have any sort of switching locomotive that can hook up and drag trains when they are dead or the tracks have no power?

    1. They are not crossing Lake Washington until the power issue between South Bellevue P&R and the Spring District is resolved. I’m guessing all of the 2 Line trains are out of OMF-East?

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