A look at ST for 2007

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

I would say they did very well in 2007 with a lot completed and accomplished. This is only adding to the State Auditors findings that ST is a well organized and set agency with the goal of bringing gridlock to as minimal as possible.

http://www.soundtransit.org/x7158.xml

2007 Accomplishments

Download the 2007 Milestones Year-end report (PDF, 2 MB) >>>

Sounder Commuter Rail Service

• Started a reverse Sounder commute between Seattle and Tacoma.
• Started a new Tacoma-to-Seattle run.
• Started a third Sounder North line trip.
• Broke ground on the Lakewood Station.
• Broke ground on the Mukilteo Station.

ST Express Regional Bus Service

• Opened the Totem Lake Freeway Station.
• Opened the Canyon Park Freeway Station.
• Broke ground on the I-90 Two Way Transit and HOV lanes Stage 1 project.
• Broke ground on the Redmond Transit Center.
• Broke ground on the Redmond Way transit improvements.
• Broke ground on the Totem Lake Transit Center.
• Broke ground on the North Everett/College Station Transit Center.
• Federal grant awarded for senior housing development at Federal Way Transit Center.

Link Light Rail Service

• Opened the Link light rail Operations & Maintenance Facility.
• Broke through the first Beacon Hill East Portal with the Link tunnel boring machine.
• Completed excavating the Beacon Hill Station.
• Completed Tukwila International Blvd Station.
• Installed Tacoma Link stations closed-circuit television system.
• Completed University Link light rail’s design and cost estimate.
• Finished resurfacing Pine Street in downtown Seattle.
• Reached agreement with University of Washington on University Link.
• Reopened the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel for bus service. (1 Week Late)
• Reached 10 miles of continuous rail laid from Tukwila through the Rainier Valley.
• Began work on the SeaTac/Airport Station.
• Began final assembly of Link light rail trains. (In Everett)
• Began testing light rail trains. (Between DSTT and Operations and Maintenance Facility)

Agency-wide

• Carried about 14 million passengers combined on trains and buses
• Reached 73 million in total lifetime ridership.
• Completed Smart Card beta test. (Orca card)
• Board adopted final Sound Transit 2 package for expansion of the regional transit system.
• Public voted on Sound Transit 2 package. (Failed)
• State Performance Audit released; ninth consecutive clean independent audit released.

Let’s hope for the same performance for 2008!

http://www.soundtransit.org/x1929.xml

Central Link Light Rail Update – 12-26-2007

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

Construction is coming nicely along with the OCS (Overhead Contact System) in place from Tukwila International Blvd Station to I-5/SR 599 and Mlk Way/Boeing Access Rd to Raymond Street. The bridge linking Tukwila Station over SR 518 to the Airport is complete and ribbon rail is along side of the new Airport Expressway that is currently being welded.

First Up, Mt. Baker Station

Looking the other way at Mlk Way

Redevelopment along Mlk Way and the Route 42

Columbia City Station @ Alaska Street

Othello Station

Henderson Street Station

The recently completed elevated section of Boeing Access Road.

Tukwila International Blvd Station

I’ll have to take some time out this weekend and explore the Airport Segment more in-depth. Not any places I would recommend stopping at near the Airport where you can get photos of the construction though it may be a thought to take the bus to the terminal and walk up to the top of the parking garage and shoot down towards the alignment. I’m sure you can get a good vantage point of the Expressway and might be able to see the Tukwila Station as well.

Senator Murray keeps light-rail moving

Posted on by Brian Bundridge

Another update on getting Link to the University of Washington this evening as State Senator Patty Murray continues her efforts to secure FY 2008 light rail funding.

http://www.soundtransit.org/x6641.xml

Sound Transit today lauded Washington Sen. Patty Murray for her efforts to secure $94 million in FY 2008 light rail funding, including $24 million for the University Link light rail extension and $70 million toward completing light rail from downtown Seattle to the airport. The funding is part of a key Congressional funding bill now headed for the White House

This is great news as it ensures that Link continues it’s progress on the 3.15 mile long extension to the University of Washington. It’s just a shame tunnel boring is so bloody slow. Construction will start next year with a completion around 2015 and testing will have the line open for service in 2016. Sound Transit is opting to only use one tunnel boring machine, the Emerald Mole, that is currently boring the second 4,000 foot long Beacon Hill tunnel which is scheduled to come out of the tunnel next month. If a second one was purchased for University Link, the system could open in 2011 but that would double the cost of the operation.

More Ron Sims

Posted on by Andrew Smith

From this Times piece

Sims wrote: “While containing some good projects, this plan doesn’t solve traffic congestion in the short term, nor does it provide enough long-term relief to justify the financial and environmental costs. Tragically, this plan continues the national policy of ignoring our impacts upon global warming.”

It was a remarkable statement from someone who declared four years ago, while chairman of Sound Transit, “We’re going to dig and dig and dig and dig until the light-rail project gets to Bellevue, gets to Everett, gets to Tacoma.”

Hmm… Inconsistent…

There’s more:

And he says a proposed line through Federal Way to Tacoma would duplicate express-bus service that is being added by King County Metro Transit.

From the letter he sent out last year after Transit Now passed:

Increase frequency between Northgate, the University District and Downtown Seattle in advance of Link Light Rail completion;

South King County
• Improve east-west core connections to operate more frequently and/or over longer hours of operation;

• Update local routes to connect with light rail and commuter rail;

Excuse me? His express bus service was planned around light-rail. Now he is walking backwards. This isn’t about rail or express bus services. This is about Metro losing the transit hat to Sound Transit, and Sims clearly doesn’t like that. Sims wants to show that “bus rapid transit” works, as he keeps saying over and over, and that will help get him a cabinet position in Washington. That’s all he cares about.

Bus Tunnel re-opening celebration tomorrow

Posted on by Andrew Smith

There are two celebrations marking the bus-tunnels reopening on the 24th. The first is tomorrow at 11:30, and includes a chance to walk through the tunnel. The second is a party at Westlake Park on the 24th itself. From the press release:

What a difference two years makes. After being closed for construction, the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel re-opens on-schedule for weekday bus service Monday, Sept. 24, better than ever. In a giant leap forward, the 1.3-mile tunnel has been retrofitted to incorporate Sound Transit’s Link light rail service, which will begin running through the tunnel in 2009. Link will connect downtown Seattle with Sea-Tac Airport, sharing the tunnel with buses. Which means one thing: It’s time to celebrate progress!

Sneak Peek: Press Conference & Public Tours
Tuesday, Sept. 18
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Westlake Station platform & mezzanine, Pine Street & 4th Avenue, Seattle (Enter through Westlake Mall’s Metro Level)

Street Treat: Street Fair & Celebration
Monday, Sept. 24
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Westlake Park, Pine Street & 4th Avenue, Seattle

Numbers Shine for Sound Transit

Posted on by Nick L

Sound Transit released some stats on 2nd Quarter performance and their hard work is starting to pay off! Total ridership on Sounder, Link light rail, and Express buses went up 11% compared to last year. The Sounder alone went up 20% while Express buses went up 10% and Link light rail 2%. This is awesome, especially since Central Link isn’t even completed yet. In fact they had 3.5 Million people use Sound Transit in the 2nd Quarter. When Central Link is completed and rolling on its rails, I only see Sound Transit going up. In my perfect world, when ST Link is running to Everett and Redmond, the numbers will be as high as some other larger cities perhaps? San Francisco? Chicago?

Speaking of ridership the 19 days of pain are almost here, and as you may have heard Sound Transit added a Sounder round trip run for a total of 5 runs. The new trip starts in Puyallup at 6:17am and returns leaving King Street at 4:50pm. They have tweaked the normal schedule so make sure to take a peek if you are a regular. I see this as really the only way to sanity during this stretch of time. It will show the region that we need grade separated transit badly. In fact I hope people will use Sounder and see that it is the way to go even with all I-5 available. It provides Sound Transit with a great opportunity to showcase the Commuter Rail. So tell everyone about it that can use this awesome service. Too bad they couldn’t do 9 or 10 round trip runs! However Sound Transit is the agency that is adding service on buses and trains during the I-5 maintenance project. King County Metro is not adding any additional service as they are maxed out. Is anyone trying Sounder out for the first time? What are you doing to avoid this mess? Vacation? The coffee shop idea Mayor Nickels was talking about?

Pat Murray shows Sound Transit the Money!

Posted on by Andrew Smith


I know that’s a lame title for this post, but I’m in Sweden (that’s a Stockholm metro station on the left), where things are a little behind the times in the American pop culture department, but way ahead in terms of congestion pricing (the photo in that article is hella not from Stockholm, btw), and transit (exactly 100 metro stations in a city of 760,000 and a region of 1.9 million, who says transit can’t work in low density?).

Anyway, it seems that Patty Murray has come through for Light Rail in the region.

Sound Transit today lauded Washington Sen. Patty Murray for her efforts to include $30 million for Sound Transit’s University Link light rail project in a key Senate funding bill.

“Our Senator comes through again,” said Sound Transit Board Chairman and Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg. “When commuters jump on the quick, quiet and efficient U-Link, they should thank Patty Murray.”

The funding bill also includes a $70 million installment of Sound Transit’s $500 million full funding grant agreement for the initial Link light rail segment from downtown Seattle to Tukwila that is more than 70 percent complete. The line from downtown to Tukwila is scheduled to open for service in July, 2009, with the final leg from Tukwila into Sea-Tac International Airport to open by December, 2009.

Beacon Hill Tunnel Update

Posted on by Andrew Smith

The PI published an article on Beacon Hill Tunnel progress when Sound Transit put a tour on Sunday.

“It is probably the most challenging construction project along the whole Link light rail line,” said transit-board member Larry Phillips, a Metropolitan King County Council member from Seattle, said during a tour Sunday morning. “The methods used to mine out this station have never before been used at this depth. We are standing here in an engineering and construction marvel that will be known throughout the world.”

That’s pretty awesome if just a bit exaggerated.

Phillips said the tunnel proves Sound Transit has the know-how to deliver 50 more miles of light rail, if voters approve it this fall. But the mining is tricky enough that officials canceled a deep train platform they once promised at busy First Hill.

Hmmm… I wonder if my fantasy ballot measure could some how include the First Hill station…

Tacoma Streetcars take a Step Forward

Posted on by Andrew Smith

The Tacoma Street car system I mentioned has taken a step forward with the completion of a feasibility study.

An advisory committee that included officials from Pierce Transit and Sound Transit has identified three possible beginning routes:

• Sixth Avenue Line – Beginning where the Link light rail ends on Commerce Street, it would climb up the hill and connect to the east end of the city’s burgeoning restaurant row.

• Downtown Line – A serpentine line crisscrossing north and south through the core of downtown, possibly with one east-west connector going up and down the hill along South 11th Street.

• Portland Line – Beginning where the Link light rail ends on East 25th Street, it would run along Portland Avenue toward the new Salishan neighborhood on Tacoma’s East Side.

The News Tribune has a nice pdf of the possible alignments.

University of Washington Station One Step Closer

Posted on by Andrew Smith

Today, Sound Transit and the University of Washington have announced an agreement with regards to Light Rail. Some details are:

Elements of the proposed agreement include:

  • Establishes an interim terminus for Link light rail at the University of Washington Station located near Husky Stadium and the UW Medical Center.
  • Supports Sound Transit’s construction plans for tunneling operations running south from UW to Capitol Hill.
  • Identifies at least two public entrances to the underground University of Washington Station with at least one entrance located north of Northeast Pacific Place and the Burke Gilman Trail.
  • Sets construction timelines for work on the campus not to exceed 66 months.
  • Sets specific monitoring measures for magnetic field and vibration thresholds to protect UW research facilities during light rail operations.
  • Provides $20 million to the UW for property to be used for current and future Link light rail construction and operations easements.

    • Provides $10 million to the UW for the permanent loss of up to 100 parking spaces at

  • Husky Stadium and the temporary use of approximately 600 parking stalls for construction staging.
  • Provides $5.2 million to UW for its design review and approval, potential relocation plans, construction coordination and participation in the review and approval of light rail operating plans.

People always ask why light rail takes so long. There are a lot of reasons, some financial, others technological, but another big reason is that Sound Transit works had to make sure most people in the community are happy with the project. Good or bad, it’s all a part of building a huge system in a region where no one can agree on anything.