Wesley Lin

WSDOT HOV Overview

January 29, 2025January 28, 2025 by Wesley Lin

WSDOT Puget Sound HOV lane map https://wsdot.wa.gov/travel/roads-bridges/hov-lanes/hov-system-map

WSDOT has been working on extending and completing the HOV lane system through the Puget Sound region encompassing King, Pierce, and Snohomish County. This article will provide a short recap of the existing freeway system as well as future extensions, though predominantly focusing on the HOV improvements for transit purposes.

Many of the existing HOV direct access ramps were built as part of Sound Move in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Recent I-5 and SR-16 HOV extensions throughout Tacoma will be extended on I-5 south to Lakewood.

Improving SODO Station with Cross Platform Transfers

January 27, 2025January 26, 2025 by Wesley Lin

Cross Platform station diagram from Urban Transit book

Cross-platform interchanges allow much easier transfers between two lines heading in the same direction. Implementing a cross-platform interchange station at SODO station could help connect Line 1 and 3 much better. Though there are some complications to building a cross-platform interchange.

King County Metro’s Projects in 2025 and Beyond

January 24, 2025January 24, 2025 by Wesley Lin

The end of 2024 culminated in many King County Metro Bus projects such as new bus cameras, Lynnwood Link restructures, and RapidRide G. This article will briefly explore Metro’s 2025 and near future projects.

RapidRide

From the recent RapidRide prioritization reports, Metro plans to build the RapidRide I line (Renton via Kent to Auburn) by 2027 and the RapidRide J line (Downtown Seattle to U District) by 2027. Notably on January 15, 2025 the RapidRide I line received a $79.7 million dollar federal grant.

RapidRide	2023-2024	2025-2026	2027-2028	Beyond
G Line	Completed
H Line	Completed
I Line	Design	Construction	2027 Completion
J Line	Project Planning and Design	Construction	2027 Completion
K Line	Project Planning and Design	Design and Construction	Construction	2030 Completion
R Line	Project Planning	Project Planning and Design	Construction	2031 Completion

Denny Way Repaving and Future Route 8

January 17, 2025January 17, 2025 by Wesley Lin

Denny Way facing west from SounderBruce flickr

The Denny Way Paving project will repave 12 blocks of Denny Way as well as add curb bulbs, no-turn-on-red signs, 8 new curb ramps, and bus stop changes. The project predominantly focuses on pedestrian safety.

Exploring Better Density Maps and Link Station Areas

January 16, 2025January 16, 2025 by Wesley Lin

Let’s talk about density maps.

The concept of a population density map seems easy: take the population and divide it by the area to retrieve the density. Unfortunately a major problem stands out: what exactly is the area to divide by and how to easily count the population? Traditional density maps suffer from unevenly-sized census blocks that can inflate or deflate the density. Newer density maps created using satellite imagery can be much more accurate with evenly-sized areas calculated throughout the world. They’re much better at highlighting both the density clusters and where transit should go throughout the Seattle metro area.

Amtrak Cascades’ Potential

January 7, 2025January 6, 2025 by Wesley Lin

Incremental upgrades to Amtrak Cascades would have a lot of benefits, including for Sounder, the Coast Starlight, and the Empire Builder. It could be done faster and cheaper than ultra high-speed rail, as Reece Martin (RMTransit) argues in a Pacific Northwest video:

Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia have been looking at a new ultra high-speed rail corridor. The Biden administration just provided funding to plan it in more detail as the Urbanist reported. But it will take far more funding and time to build it.

As reported earlier (The Future of Amtrak Cascades), WSDOT published last June the latest version of the Amtrak Cascades Service Development Plan (2024) providing a detailed analysis of service options, needed capital improvements, costs, and a phased implementation plan. The possibilities for expanding Amtrak service both in frequency and speed are exciting.

January-February Link Reductions

January 4, 2025January 3, 2025 by Wesley Lin

Link 1 Line winter reductions start today through February 27 for a variety of maintenance tasks, as outlined in the December 5 Passenger Impact report and covered in the Urbanist, and the Seattle Times ($).

Overview

Reduced 1 Line Evening Service: starting at 5:30 pm trains will run every 12 minutes (instead of 8-10 minutes). Note that this includes part of the PM peak.
Jan 10 (Fri 10 pm) to Jan 12 (Sun): Shuttle buses replace train service from SODO to Westlake
Jan 17 (Fri 10 pm) to Jan 19 (Sun): Shuttle buses replace train service from SODO to Capitol Hill
Feb 1 (Sat) and Feb 2 (Sun): Shuttle buses replace train service from Capitol Hill to U-District
Feb 14 (Fri 10 pm) to Feb 16 (Sun): Shuttle buses replace train service from SODO to Capitol Hill
Feb 21 (Fri 10 pm) to Feb 23 (Sun): Shuttle buses replace train service from SODO to Capitol Hill

South Link Connections

December 16, 2024December 15, 2024 by Wesley Lin

King County Metro (KCM) prepares to update their bus routes for the upcoming Federal Way Link Extension (estimated opening 2026 Spring). View their website www.southlinkconnections.com and take the survey by February 2025.

Chinatown 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal Station

December 9, 2024December 8, 2024 by Wesley Lin

CID 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal map from Sound Transit

The Chinatown 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal (labeled CID-2a) station has returned as a potential implementation. Most notably it appears to be the only CID station alternative remaining that is both constructible at a reasonable cost and has all three Link lines at one convenient place for transfers. The other 5th Avenue shallow alternatives had community objections due to construction impacts, 4th Avenue shallow alternative faced construction challenges next to BNSF tracks, and finally the currently Sound Transit Board ‘preferred’ CID N/S alternative forces one to transfer at Pioneer Square.

There was relatively little discussion on the 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal alternative when all the 5th Avenue alternatives were sidelined by community concerns in 2022-2023. It’s been quite some time since the diagrams were released in 2022 and many of the diagrams were in a 100+ page pdf so below is a brief recap with more details from the WSBLE Appendix J Ballard drawings. Additionally how easy or hard to transfer between the two lines will be discussed as well.

RapidRide K Winter Updates

December 6, 2024December 12, 2024 by Wesley Lin

Map of Chosen RapidRide K alignment through downtown Bellevue

Bellevue City Council met late November and were shown a presentation for the locally preferred alternative by King County Metro for RapidRide K route. Previous alternatives for RapidRide K around Bellevue were discussed in July 2024, while the alignments in Kirkland were mostly already decided.