As Issaquah continues to grow, traffic has become a challenge. With I-90 running through the city and with major elevation differences between west and east, the few arteries are getting clogged. Now the city is considering another I-90 crossing. Would that address the problem? Or would it be better to increase transit options such as adding a gondola?
Continue reading “Issaquah Gondola”The Seattle Times recently reported that the Board selected 5 candidates for consideration from 60 applicants. After Julie Timm left, Goran Sparrman stepped in as Interim CEO, but he plans to retire on May 15th. A year ago, Sound Transit hired Terri Mestas to lead its construction projects. What would be expected from the next CEO?
Continue reading “Sound Transit CEO Selection”The Rainier Valley line has been plagued by pedestrian and car accidents since it opened. The Sound Transit Board asked staff to develop a safety plan not only for Rainier Valley but also for other at-grade Link segments in SODO, on the Eastside (2 Line), and along Sounder (Lakewood). While some improvements have already been made or incorporated into the new 2 Line stations and Graham station plans, staff recently published a plan for further improvements and solicited feedback.
Trevor Reed wrote an op-ed in the Urbanist about Sound Transit’s shortcomings. To address them, he encourages readers to sign a petition by Transportation Reform asking the State to take action to audit Sound Transit and improve its ability to deliver transit services.
Continue reading “State Must Reform Sound Transit”A decade ago, Sound Transit hired experts to review transit modes to select the best mode for the Spine which could accommodate at-grade, elevated, and tunneled sections. It reconfirmed the decision to proceed with building a light rail network. At the time modes such as monorail and the Vancouver, BC SkyTrain were dropped as they do not work well for at-grade alignments. However, for many of the modes they considered at the time, the experts pointed out that other options may have advantages in other circumstances.
Continue reading “Ballard Link Mode Selection”To accommodate growing passenger and cargo levels, the Port of Seattle plans to build new terminal for SeaTac Airport with their Sustainable Airport Master Plan. In addition, Concourse C will be expanded with 4 additional levels. There’s a slew of other projects but this article will focus on the transportation aspects for passengers and travelers. While earlier plans had called for a new people mover, the latest plan will only build an elevated busway.
Continue reading “Busway for SeaTac Airport”During their meeting on October 24th, the Sound Transit Board selected the preferred alignment for the West Seattle Link Extension (WSLE). They also authorized staff to have their partners develop the final design for the stations and stub line between SODO and West Seattle. It will also include the connection to the existing SODO operations and maintenance facility. They also asked staff to look for ways to reduce cost. I reviewed the recording and staff presentation and thought I would share some observations.
Continue reading “West Seattle Link Route Selection”Recent Hurricane Helene and numerous other weather events around the world have reinvigorated the discussion on how to slow down the climate change related to carbon emissions. Transportation is the largest contributor to those emissions, so many efforts focus on it, in particular to reduce individual car usage. Many transit advocates push for more transit infrastructure investments to make it more attractive to switch from individual car use to transit with its associated lower emissions. This was one of the primary goals of ST3, too. Of course, the initial construction of such infrastructure also generates emissions which need to be considered. I reviewed the recently published West Seattle Link Extension Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), as well as the prior Draft (DEIS), and contacted the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to learn about the trade-offs. Unfortunately, the current preferred alignment will not help the region.
Continue reading “West Seattle Link and Climate Change”When the ST3 measure was approved by voters in 2016, Sound Transit had only some rough ideas about how to deliver the promised transit improvements. Cost estimates were done based on comparable projects. Now that the plans are getting more specific and Sound Transit can do bottoms-up estimates, it turns out that the projects are more complicated, and cost is quite a bit higher. That’s certainly the case for the West Seattle extension, but I expect similar increases to happen for the Ballard/downtown section. While I was recently traveling to Munich, I was wondering whether the region could learn some from their transit system.
Munich has an extensive S-Bahn regional rail network operated by DB (Deutsche Bahn). All lines converge in the city’s center through a single tunnel. For the 1972 Olympics MVG (Muenchner Verkehrs Gesellschaft), the city’s transit agency, decided to build a separate U-Bahn subway network which by now covers all major parts of city, either underground or elevated. It uses third rail power to allow for smaller tunnel diameter and reduced cost.
While the U-Bahn kept expanding within the city, the S-Bahn kept reaching more suburbs. When the S-Bahn’s daily ridership passed 800,000, DB decided a second parallel tunnel was necessary. Such undertaking turned out to be quite a challenge; the cost and timeline has kept slipping. Currently the tunnel is slated to open in 2037. In the meantime, the transit agency is making further improvements to their signaling system to allow even more trains to travel through the existing tunnel.
Sound Transit had chosen light rail technology to allow for affordable at-grade tracks. While this may be important for long stretches in the suburbs, for urban applications Sound Transit has avoided at-grade tracks to avoid interference with other modes. So maybe Sound Transit should consider a more appropriate technology for its urban lines akin to U-Bahn technology — such as Ballard/SLU — and keep it separate from the existing light rail. That would also allow for an automated line with shorter more frequent trains, and therefore smaller stations such as the Skytrain in Vancouver (or Honolulu, Montreal, Copenhagen, etc).
Continue reading “Munich vs ST3”Pundits claim West Seattle had been added to the ST3 plan by politicians envious that Ballard gets a light rail connection. It seemed easy to draw another line on the map, but now that Sound Transit published the final Environmental Impact Statement for the West Seattle Link Extension (WSLE) it has become evident that it is far more complex than anticipated. While the ST3 measure promised to bring 37,000 riders for $1.5 billion ($2.4B in 2024 dollars) by 2030, now the price tag has tripled to $7.1 billion (in 2024 dollars), and completion is delayed to 2032, and the ridership forecast for 2042 (after WSLE is connected to the current downtown tunnel) is only 27,000 new riders systemwide.
The delays and cost explosions are directly related to the apparently-unexpected complexity of building the extension as drawn in 2016. The route needs to roller-coaster up over the Duwamish and Pigeon Point, down into the Delridge Valley, and then back up to the Alaska Junction. To ensure southward expansion in the distant future, the station at Alaska Junction was rotated to be north-south, requiring more property takings. To avoid disturbing the Duwamish superfund site, the new bridge needs to stay away from the river shore. The SODO soil is prone to liquefaction in an earthquake, so the elevated guideway pilings have to be extra deeper than normal. The Pigeon Point slope is unstable and requires large retaining walls. The initial setup for tunneling is expensive, even if the tunnel is relatively short.
Sound Transit staff told the Board the more expensive Preferred Alternative would require third party funding, but now they’re assuming Seattle, King County, and Sound Transit will somehow find the funding, which is implausible given the large shortfall. If the Board decides to proceed with the current plan, they may choose the same approach as they did during the pandemic finance crunch (“realignment”): delay delivery until they collect enough cash from tax payers to avoid breaking the debt ceiling.Â
Continue reading “Implications of the West Seattle Link Cost”