Can Trains Save Seattle
video description
Date: 2024-12-23
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Comments and reviews: 20
realquadmoo
8: 18 Federal Way Downtown is literally supposed to have an urban village around the station. The station is not in the target parking lot, that is the tail tracks. You neglect to mention the massive transit hub. You point to lots that are under construction at Kent Des Moines Station and claim they are all for parking but you’re wrong. There is TOD planned for Kent Des Moines and a whole village planned for Federal Way Downtown. Star Lake is the only station on the extension that will only have a parking garage.
Interbay Station exists to connect people to industrial jobs, but you really put a cloth over it all and try to spin it as terrible. It’s not like every station is in an industrial area Plus it’s simply better to have a station in Interbay than to not have a station in Interbay on the way to Ballard, which, by the way, will have huge amounts of TOD, as with Lynnwood, which just opened, and EVERY SINGLE station on the Lynnwood Link Extension has TOD either already open or currently under construction, with more empty lots near 2 stations reserved for even more.
Honestly, how dare you portray Seattle this way We are absolutely pioneering Transit Oriented Development and upzoning. The generally conservative city of Shoreline (Just north of Seattle) even just abolished parking mandates.
You can walk through any suburban neighborhood in Seattle and see lots of small 2-3 story apartment buildings similar to that of Japan.
What is it that you actually want Next time you want to call out a city for lack of TOD and bad zoning, go ANYWHERE else.
Alright here we go it’s time for even more:
8: 39 No we don’t. There is one segment in the middle of an interstate and that’s crossing the floating bridge, everything else is not in the middle. For the most part, we have lines follow populated areas, and sometimes go NEXT to an interstate because of the cheaper ROW.
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8: 18 Federal Way Downtown is literally supposed to have an urban village around the station. The station is not in the target parking lot, that is the tail tracks. You neglect to mention the massive transit hub. You point to lots that are under construction at Kent Des Moines Station and claim they are all for parking but you’re wrong. There is TOD planned for Kent Des Moines and a whole village planned for Federal Way Downtown. Star Lake is the only station on the extension that will only have a parking garage.
Interbay Station exists to connect people to industrial jobs, but you really put a cloth over it all and try to spin it as terrible. It’s not like every station is in an industrial area Plus it’s simply better to have a station in Interbay than to not have a station in Interbay on the way to Ballard, which, by the way, will have huge amounts of TOD, as with Lynnwood, which just opened, and EVERY SINGLE station on the Lynnwood Link Extension has TOD either already open or currently under construction, with more empty lots near 2 stations reserved for even more.
Honestly, how dare you portray Seattle this way We are absolutely pioneering Transit Oriented Development and upzoning. The generally conservative city of Shoreline (Just north of Seattle) even just abolished parking mandates.
You can walk through any suburban neighborhood in Seattle and see lots of small 2-3 story apartment buildings similar to that of Japan.
What is it that you actually want Next time you want to call out a city for lack of TOD and bad zoning, go ANYWHERE else.
Alright here we go it’s time for even more:
8: 39 No we don’t. There is one segment in the middle of an interstate and that’s crossing the floating bridge, everything else is not in the middle. For the most part, we have lines follow populated areas, and sometimes go NEXT to an interstate because of the cheaper ROW.
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anutoshs
I don’t know if you take feedback from here - but I here goes:
I have previously enjoyed your essays and take on urban planning. But I think you are getting in to a trap with your videos. Your Dallas and Seattle videos are good examples of the shaken confidence. And I and writing here only because I care about the content you are putting out: )
As feedback for both and future content - perhaps you need to take a broader wider angle. It could have been more educational and more shareable if your take on things would have just been more interesting and researched and used context and data. Sure that would be little more difficult, but that is the standard I suggest you set.
For example - in the Seattle video, just starting with the fact that if someone drew the light rail map in 2014, it would have been a straight line from the airport to downtown would have been so powerful. You could have even compared that to the rail map of Dallas from the time! Surprising, interesting, intriguing already.
I think in the Seattle video for instance, you should have simply expanded it to cover the sound very early. Its the metro area that matters. And then cover the economics of what drives the growth of the city. The very unique terrain challenges (an engineering achievement in itself. The type of growth the metro is seeing and the funding of this development. And the ridiculous timelines.
The Dallas video too, similarly was a missed opportunity. With some factual errors to boot.
I wont sandwich with a compliment to end. But just re state that I like where you are coming from. But I feel its time to level up; )
Love the bike bell (and no sponsor content)
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I don’t know if you take feedback from here - but I here goes:
I have previously enjoyed your essays and take on urban planning. But I think you are getting in to a trap with your videos. Your Dallas and Seattle videos are good examples of the shaken confidence. And I and writing here only because I care about the content you are putting out: )
As feedback for both and future content - perhaps you need to take a broader wider angle. It could have been more educational and more shareable if your take on things would have just been more interesting and researched and used context and data. Sure that would be little more difficult, but that is the standard I suggest you set.
For example - in the Seattle video, just starting with the fact that if someone drew the light rail map in 2014, it would have been a straight line from the airport to downtown would have been so powerful. You could have even compared that to the rail map of Dallas from the time! Surprising, interesting, intriguing already.
I think in the Seattle video for instance, you should have simply expanded it to cover the sound very early. Its the metro area that matters. And then cover the economics of what drives the growth of the city. The very unique terrain challenges (an engineering achievement in itself. The type of growth the metro is seeing and the funding of this development. And the ridiculous timelines.
The Dallas video too, similarly was a missed opportunity. With some factual errors to boot.
I wont sandwich with a compliment to end. But just re state that I like where you are coming from. But I feel its time to level up; )
Love the bike bell (and no sponsor content)
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Slackware1995
I can't figure out why Seattle doesn't put in a trolly from T-Mobile Park north along Alaskan way, past the ferry terminal, Pier 55, the cruise terminals, Pier 57, the Seattle Great Wheel, Waterfront Park, Aquarium, Pier 66, then north east on Broad Street to the Space Center, allowing connections to the Monorail.
Not only would this serve much of Seattle's waterfront tourism, it links to the Monorail which is nearly impossible for a disabled person to get to because of the very steep roads.
Currently there is no viable mass transit to the Cruise ship terminals which can see thousands of people disembarking/embarking in short bursts.
The ferry terminal has no mass transit (sorry, I don't count the confusing bus routes.
Future expansions of trolley lines could include West Seattle and Boeing Field to the south. To the north Elliot Way to Discovery Park, Space Needle to Queen Anne to Woodland Zoo.
To the east, Pike Street to Kindred Hospital and Virgina Mason. Woodland Zoo to Children's Hospital (that makes perfect sense. Boeing Field to the VA Hospital.
Then from the VA Hospital north on Beacon Way to 15th Ave to 12th Ave to Boren Ave to Virginia Mason and Kindred Hospitals.
A short run from T-Mobile Field to Jackson Street heading east to 12th Ave.
This could be done for a tiny fraction of the cost of the light rail, while likely serving many more people. They could add short trolley runs to the various light rail terminals, further increasing ridership.
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I can't figure out why Seattle doesn't put in a trolly from T-Mobile Park north along Alaskan way, past the ferry terminal, Pier 55, the cruise terminals, Pier 57, the Seattle Great Wheel, Waterfront Park, Aquarium, Pier 66, then north east on Broad Street to the Space Center, allowing connections to the Monorail.
Not only would this serve much of Seattle's waterfront tourism, it links to the Monorail which is nearly impossible for a disabled person to get to because of the very steep roads.
Currently there is no viable mass transit to the Cruise ship terminals which can see thousands of people disembarking/embarking in short bursts.
The ferry terminal has no mass transit (sorry, I don't count the confusing bus routes.
Future expansions of trolley lines could include West Seattle and Boeing Field to the south. To the north Elliot Way to Discovery Park, Space Needle to Queen Anne to Woodland Zoo.
To the east, Pike Street to Kindred Hospital and Virgina Mason. Woodland Zoo to Children's Hospital (that makes perfect sense. Boeing Field to the VA Hospital.
Then from the VA Hospital north on Beacon Way to 15th Ave to 12th Ave to Boren Ave to Virginia Mason and Kindred Hospitals.
A short run from T-Mobile Field to Jackson Street heading east to 12th Ave.
This could be done for a tiny fraction of the cost of the light rail, while likely serving many more people. They could add short trolley runs to the various light rail terminals, further increasing ridership.
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HikingPNW
I want to start and say I do think better mass transit is needed having seen it first hand in multiple countries both in Asia and Europe. That being said, I think how it is being rolled out has to be done in an equitable way so that taxpayers don't think it is only benefitting a single area.
The ballot measure in 2016 that passed the financing for the light rail involved 3 counties. King county where Seattle is, passed with 58%. To the north, Snohomish county, barely passed with 51%. In the south, Pierce County where Tacoma is, it failed and only got 44%. Because of the larger population in Seattle. the proposition passed with 54% in total.
I live in the south outside of Tacoma and I know a lot of people were angry that it was passed when our county voted no to it. Many felt like our county was unfairly grouped with King county and even if we voted no the bill would still pass if King county (Seattle really) passed it. The main issue was that we would be paying taxes towards it for close to 20 years before we would get a single station. It's a pretty consistent sentiment outside of Seattle that whatever Seattle wants, they get but we'll be the ones paying for it. Because of ongoing budget issues, delays, and even a derailment in the area, not many people are exactly hopeful it will be built on schedule but we will be taxed all the same.
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I want to start and say I do think better mass transit is needed having seen it first hand in multiple countries both in Asia and Europe. That being said, I think how it is being rolled out has to be done in an equitable way so that taxpayers don't think it is only benefitting a single area.
The ballot measure in 2016 that passed the financing for the light rail involved 3 counties. King county where Seattle is, passed with 58%. To the north, Snohomish county, barely passed with 51%. In the south, Pierce County where Tacoma is, it failed and only got 44%. Because of the larger population in Seattle. the proposition passed with 54% in total.
I live in the south outside of Tacoma and I know a lot of people were angry that it was passed when our county voted no to it. Many felt like our county was unfairly grouped with King county and even if we voted no the bill would still pass if King county (Seattle really) passed it. The main issue was that we would be paying taxes towards it for close to 20 years before we would get a single station. It's a pretty consistent sentiment outside of Seattle that whatever Seattle wants, they get but we'll be the ones paying for it. Because of ongoing budget issues, delays, and even a derailment in the area, not many people are exactly hopeful it will be built on schedule but we will be taxed all the same.
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thevikingwarrior11
As a long-time Seattle resident, I like ALL OF THIS. except for the spacing of buildings. Seattle is a seismically charged area, with a potential earthquake around the corner (we have big 6. 0 quakes here every 20-40 years and it's been 23 years since the last quake we had, which was a 6. 8 on the Richter scale. In a big earthquake, buildings are built to sway, and if we have something on par with the Alaska earthquake of 1964 or the Chile earthquake of 1960 (both a 9. 0 size quake and the largest quakes of the 20th century, the buildings would sway so much that they'd smack each other at the top and cause even more extensive damage. While the chances of having a 9. 0 quake in the Seattle area is basically impossible, it's not improbable, which means we are susceptible to it just as much as any other part of the west coast which lays on a large fault-line like the Cascadia Subduction Zone (300 miles off the coast of Oregon, Washington and Northern California) or the San Andreas Fault in Southern California. Both areas have produced decently large earthquakes, and recently northern California reported a 7. 0 scale quake just off the coast of Humboldt County just two and a half weeks ago. So that's my two cents.
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As a long-time Seattle resident, I like ALL OF THIS. except for the spacing of buildings. Seattle is a seismically charged area, with a potential earthquake around the corner (we have big 6. 0 quakes here every 20-40 years and it's been 23 years since the last quake we had, which was a 6. 8 on the Richter scale. In a big earthquake, buildings are built to sway, and if we have something on par with the Alaska earthquake of 1964 or the Chile earthquake of 1960 (both a 9. 0 size quake and the largest quakes of the 20th century, the buildings would sway so much that they'd smack each other at the top and cause even more extensive damage. While the chances of having a 9. 0 quake in the Seattle area is basically impossible, it's not improbable, which means we are susceptible to it just as much as any other part of the west coast which lays on a large fault-line like the Cascadia Subduction Zone (300 miles off the coast of Oregon, Washington and Northern California) or the San Andreas Fault in Southern California. Both areas have produced decently large earthquakes, and recently northern California reported a 7. 0 scale quake just off the coast of Humboldt County just two and a half weeks ago. So that's my two cents.
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markmitchezee2728
The Seattle Progressives have been systematically trying to Force us out if our cars for well over ( 10yrs ) now. They have been dishonestly selling / Pushing these INSANELY Expensive & completely ineffective trains on us. The current Lightrail SCAM will take ( 30yrs ) to finish ( their own numbers btw ) & it's Maxi. um capacity will be LESS than ( 10% ) of ( 2015 ) Traffic volume. Essentially it will make ZERO difference to the traffic solution.
All while the Totalitarian Progressives have been systematically shutting down traffic Lanes all over the city. Converting ALL of the ( 4 ) arterial into ( 2 ) lane Traffic Nightmares.
This is all being done on purpose.
Roughly ( 10 yrs ) ago a Seattle City Council person during an interview admitted that. since Seattlites refuse to give up their cars. We need to begin to make driving SO expensive & Such a Hassle that the people of Seattle will have little choice but to use public alternatives paraphrased but you get the point.
The Progressive Ideology destroys everything it touches.
We will very soon look like the now Devastated Laughing Stock known as San Fran-Sicko.
Progressive-ism is a Sickness
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The Seattle Progressives have been systematically trying to Force us out if our cars for well over ( 10yrs ) now. They have been dishonestly selling / Pushing these INSANELY Expensive & completely ineffective trains on us. The current Lightrail SCAM will take ( 30yrs ) to finish ( their own numbers btw ) & it's Maxi. um capacity will be LESS than ( 10% ) of ( 2015 ) Traffic volume. Essentially it will make ZERO difference to the traffic solution.
All while the Totalitarian Progressives have been systematically shutting down traffic Lanes all over the city. Converting ALL of the ( 4 ) arterial into ( 2 ) lane Traffic Nightmares.
This is all being done on purpose.
Roughly ( 10 yrs ) ago a Seattle City Council person during an interview admitted that. since Seattlites refuse to give up their cars. We need to begin to make driving SO expensive & Such a Hassle that the people of Seattle will have little choice but to use public alternatives paraphrased but you get the point.
The Progressive Ideology destroys everything it touches.
We will very soon look like the now Devastated Laughing Stock known as San Fran-Sicko.
Progressive-ism is a Sickness
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tlxyxl8524
I am not sure if this pattern is also popular elsewhere in U. S, but the large parking garage near transit is a common pattern in Puget Sound area, and I think it’s quite clever and effective. We call them park-and-ride.
Unless the population density is too high (such as in the downtown area, people don’t actually want to live near the transit station. There are just too much people and traffic for an enjoyable living environment. Those large parking garages near the Link provide riders a comfortable options to drive there from nearby (say 2-5 miles radius) on local roads where traffic isn’t a problem. This way, you get the best of both worlds in terms of driving and taking transit, expanding the area whose people can utilize the transit system while making it efficient and cost-effective by not having to build too much branches.
Personally, I took this approach pretty much every workday, spend 10-15 minutes to drive to the transit garage, park there, and take the transit to my work place downtown Seattle. It’s much better than having to drive there directly due to the heavy traffic on I-5
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I am not sure if this pattern is also popular elsewhere in U. S, but the large parking garage near transit is a common pattern in Puget Sound area, and I think it’s quite clever and effective. We call them park-and-ride.
Unless the population density is too high (such as in the downtown area, people don’t actually want to live near the transit station. There are just too much people and traffic for an enjoyable living environment. Those large parking garages near the Link provide riders a comfortable options to drive there from nearby (say 2-5 miles radius) on local roads where traffic isn’t a problem. This way, you get the best of both worlds in terms of driving and taking transit, expanding the area whose people can utilize the transit system while making it efficient and cost-effective by not having to build too much branches.
Personally, I took this approach pretty much every workday, spend 10-15 minutes to drive to the transit garage, park there, and take the transit to my work place downtown Seattle. It’s much better than having to drive there directly due to the heavy traffic on I-5
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smar5812
Seattle passed on mass transit funding in 70’s that funding went to Portland Seattle lack real forward thinking planning and execution. They want to put the horses ass before the head and cart and wonder why seattle is a mess. They should be looking to increase road width to create bus routes, instead they try to cram stacked/dense living into neighborhoods that won’t support zoning changes because they want big taxes first Seattle built a convention center and said it would attract the big political conventions but built it over the freeway and is a huge security risk. Built the transit tunnel in DT and planned for rail, but saved $1M by installing a specific rail type instead of the recommended universal rail. When we went to light rail the specific rail was not compatible as predicted and they shut the tunnel down for 3 years and spent $100M to retrofit & disrupted surface traffic. Seattle has a long list of disasters. Now they want to create new dense/stacked living in old established neighborhoods without upgrading sewer, power and transit infrastructure -cluster waiting to explode as usual
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Seattle passed on mass transit funding in 70’s that funding went to Portland Seattle lack real forward thinking planning and execution. They want to put the horses ass before the head and cart and wonder why seattle is a mess. They should be looking to increase road width to create bus routes, instead they try to cram stacked/dense living into neighborhoods that won’t support zoning changes because they want big taxes first Seattle built a convention center and said it would attract the big political conventions but built it over the freeway and is a huge security risk. Built the transit tunnel in DT and planned for rail, but saved $1M by installing a specific rail type instead of the recommended universal rail. When we went to light rail the specific rail was not compatible as predicted and they shut the tunnel down for 3 years and spent $100M to retrofit & disrupted surface traffic. Seattle has a long list of disasters. Now they want to create new dense/stacked living in old established neighborhoods without upgrading sewer, power and transit infrastructure -cluster waiting to explode as usual
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dwfidler
One great thing about European civic planning that the US should emulate is inverting the locations of businesses and residential areas. In most European cities, the city centre is residential while the outer edge is where the offices are located. This makes it easy to place sprawling industrial areas in less land constrained areas while keeping residential, commercial, and service locations close to each other and near transit stops. This also has the added beenfit of making city centres resilient to changes in office capacity needs and changes in industries, while many US city centres are ghost towns after 6pm at the best of times. I think it's great that Seattle is working to rezone some of if its industrial areas between residential communities towards transit oriented development. It doesn't make sense to keep valuable land just 10km from the city centre industrial, especially when it's dividing residential areas. New industrial and office areas should be built out further along the transit corridor so all the residential feeders in the city core can reach it by transit.
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One great thing about European civic planning that the US should emulate is inverting the locations of businesses and residential areas. In most European cities, the city centre is residential while the outer edge is where the offices are located. This makes it easy to place sprawling industrial areas in less land constrained areas while keeping residential, commercial, and service locations close to each other and near transit stops. This also has the added beenfit of making city centres resilient to changes in office capacity needs and changes in industries, while many US city centres are ghost towns after 6pm at the best of times. I think it's great that Seattle is working to rezone some of if its industrial areas between residential communities towards transit oriented development. It doesn't make sense to keep valuable land just 10km from the city centre industrial, especially when it's dividing residential areas. New industrial and office areas should be built out further along the transit corridor so all the residential feeders in the city core can reach it by transit.
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mysoneffa2417
I'm shocked you didn't mention Seattle prohibitive development fees. In stead of $10k they want $170-$180k fee for added a backyard ADU, Basement or Attic Granny Suite. Blue collar neighbourhood's people can't afford it. These fees need to be lowered or waived in Working Class areas & for not for profit housing with that caveat that burdens on Water & Sewage are reduced.
Existing & new units should install misser water systems, irrigate with rainwater keeping rain water out of combined sewers, not wasting irrigation on sewers, & rain & grey water should be used for toilet flushing. Grey water should be taken off line as passive irrigation under front & back yards further reducing black sewage output. Curbside there should be passive rain gardens. All these actions will reduce drinking water consumption & sewage output to 25% basicly eliminating any cost to City of new developments, on the Contrary it should actually create a negative cost with surplus.
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I'm shocked you didn't mention Seattle prohibitive development fees. In stead of $10k they want $170-$180k fee for added a backyard ADU, Basement or Attic Granny Suite. Blue collar neighbourhood's people can't afford it. These fees need to be lowered or waived in Working Class areas & for not for profit housing with that caveat that burdens on Water & Sewage are reduced.
Existing & new units should install misser water systems, irrigate with rainwater keeping rain water out of combined sewers, not wasting irrigation on sewers, & rain & grey water should be used for toilet flushing. Grey water should be taken off line as passive irrigation under front & back yards further reducing black sewage output. Curbside there should be passive rain gardens. All these actions will reduce drinking water consumption & sewage output to 25% basicly eliminating any cost to City of new developments, on the Contrary it should actually create a negative cost with surplus.
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Operator8282
Trains are not what is going to save Seattle. SEATTLE needs to save Seattle from itself. Sure, some U-Bahn and S-Bahn would make the city more livable, but the cost would be prohibitive for EVERYONE ELSE IN THE STATE, seeing as that is who is gonna be paying for these trains. Brass Tacks, Everyone else in the state will pay for a majority of it, the counties will pay some, an additional statewide tax (I'm almost positive) would be levied to pay long term, and the federal government will pay for a bit of it.
The only people who would ever use it, besides once or twice on a weekend trip, would be residents of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties; Let's have THOSE counties pay for ALL of it, and see if it gets approved after seeing just how large their tax burden would grow.
I'm tired of paying an enormous fuel tax, to NOT see any road maintenance/improvement/widening projects happening in my area
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Trains are not what is going to save Seattle. SEATTLE needs to save Seattle from itself. Sure, some U-Bahn and S-Bahn would make the city more livable, but the cost would be prohibitive for EVERYONE ELSE IN THE STATE, seeing as that is who is gonna be paying for these trains. Brass Tacks, Everyone else in the state will pay for a majority of it, the counties will pay some, an additional statewide tax (I'm almost positive) would be levied to pay long term, and the federal government will pay for a bit of it.
The only people who would ever use it, besides once or twice on a weekend trip, would be residents of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties; Let's have THOSE counties pay for ALL of it, and see if it gets approved after seeing just how large their tax burden would grow.
I'm tired of paying an enormous fuel tax, to NOT see any road maintenance/improvement/widening projects happening in my area
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spencesanders7879
Actually all suburban stations need parking structures. True public transit does not exist in the Seattle region except for the current operating light rail. If using busses to get to the rail stations triples your time, 30 minutes becomes 90 minutes, people just drive. A - Drive to Lynnwood or Northgate Station and hop the rail. Or B - Spend two hours just to get to the rail station, they will just drive to Seattle and pay parking. I see those two scenarios play out all the time. As for housing and such. If there is a market and the city regulations do not prohibit it, they will build them. If they actually want housing/urban village make building a structure that has at a minimum the ground level dedicated to retail/restaurants, at least 6 floors of apartments and enough dedicated parking structure to support them all.
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Actually all suburban stations need parking structures. True public transit does not exist in the Seattle region except for the current operating light rail. If using busses to get to the rail stations triples your time, 30 minutes becomes 90 minutes, people just drive. A - Drive to Lynnwood or Northgate Station and hop the rail. Or B - Spend two hours just to get to the rail station, they will just drive to Seattle and pay parking. I see those two scenarios play out all the time. As for housing and such. If there is a market and the city regulations do not prohibit it, they will build them. If they actually want housing/urban village make building a structure that has at a minimum the ground level dedicated to retail/restaurants, at least 6 floors of apartments and enough dedicated parking structure to support them all.
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EnlistedBombin
You missed all the new housing. I live in Federal way. If you go accross from the bus station there is a giant open lot above that by the perfoming art centers. Its going to be a Huge complex. The majority of the population lives on that side of I5. The side that does not have light rail has Sounder Commuter trains stops that connect to light rail in downtown.
Now the issue of Kent/Des Moines let me tell you a little about that area, I use the dispensery right there. That area is ONE OF THE HIGHEST shooting and stabbing areas Pac Hwy. The had to pull physical bus shelters out it got so bad.
Angle lake just built new housing behind the 7/11 and the storage unit center right next to the line is going to be turned into more housing, Tukwilla just had 4 HUGE apt building open in the last 2 years more then 500 units easy.
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You missed all the new housing. I live in Federal way. If you go accross from the bus station there is a giant open lot above that by the perfoming art centers. Its going to be a Huge complex. The majority of the population lives on that side of I5. The side that does not have light rail has Sounder Commuter trains stops that connect to light rail in downtown.
Now the issue of Kent/Des Moines let me tell you a little about that area, I use the dispensery right there. That area is ONE OF THE HIGHEST shooting and stabbing areas Pac Hwy. The had to pull physical bus shelters out it got so bad.
Angle lake just built new housing behind the 7/11 and the storage unit center right next to the line is going to be turned into more housing, Tukwilla just had 4 HUGE apt building open in the last 2 years more then 500 units easy.
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Rollermonkey1
Just one observation:
You say that Sound Transit likes to run their tracks in the middle of freeways, but that's not really true.
None of the currently operating alignments run in the middle of a freeway. Yes, much of it runs ALONG freeways, but not in the middle. Middle of MLK Boulevard Yes. Middle of the airport approach road Yes. But not in the middle of any numbered freeways.
Now, the soon (hopefully) to open segment between ID/Chinatown and South Bellevue will indeed run in the middle of the I-90 freeway, but that is solely to take advantage of the existing, floating bridges across Lake Washington.
The cost to build separate bridges would have been ENORMOUS. Evergreen Point was $4. 65 Billion and opened in 2016. I think it's wrong to call this a bad choice of alignment, in this instance.
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Just one observation:
You say that Sound Transit likes to run their tracks in the middle of freeways, but that's not really true.
None of the currently operating alignments run in the middle of a freeway. Yes, much of it runs ALONG freeways, but not in the middle. Middle of MLK Boulevard Yes. Middle of the airport approach road Yes. But not in the middle of any numbered freeways.
Now, the soon (hopefully) to open segment between ID/Chinatown and South Bellevue will indeed run in the middle of the I-90 freeway, but that is solely to take advantage of the existing, floating bridges across Lake Washington.
The cost to build separate bridges would have been ENORMOUS. Evergreen Point was $4. 65 Billion and opened in 2016. I think it's wrong to call this a bad choice of alignment, in this instance.
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ccooperev
The station at the site of the old King County administration building is controversial because it will require thousands of people who will be transferring from the Ballard/West Seattle line (to go to the airport on the 1 line) to exit the station and walk up or down a steep hill in an area that presents legitimate safety concerns. Transit activists have timed this walk at in excess of 8 minutes. This is unacceptable and shows a callous lack of regard for the needs of transit riders. This transfer should happen at an existing station and the overwhelming consensus of the transit and Urbanist community is that should take place at International District/China Town station. There are some engineering challenges to this location but still very doable.
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The station at the site of the old King County administration building is controversial because it will require thousands of people who will be transferring from the Ballard/West Seattle line (to go to the airport on the 1 line) to exit the station and walk up or down a steep hill in an area that presents legitimate safety concerns. Transit activists have timed this walk at in excess of 8 minutes. This is unacceptable and shows a callous lack of regard for the needs of transit riders. This transfer should happen at an existing station and the overwhelming consensus of the transit and Urbanist community is that should take place at International District/China Town station. There are some engineering challenges to this location but still very doable.
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SirHeinzbond
6: 08 Imagine that Road, one Line each Direction, in the Middle European Style LRT (or netter European Style Tram with Light Priority, Separated Bike Lanes, a both Sided Sidewalk, and small businesses as Bakeries, Bookshops, Corner Stores ect. this would earn the city more in Taxes, Jobs and opportunity than mindless Traffic Jams and slow moving drive thru but never stop commuters.
13: 08 and Higher Towers will make the Streets darker, especially with less space between. but a chance there is given by designing this as a whole section, with a green, pedestrian bridge level over the streets, but this will also attract maybe more people that have deeper pockets or use it as investment which is in my opinion clearly the death of any community.
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6: 08 Imagine that Road, one Line each Direction, in the Middle European Style LRT (or netter European Style Tram with Light Priority, Separated Bike Lanes, a both Sided Sidewalk, and small businesses as Bakeries, Bookshops, Corner Stores ect. this would earn the city more in Taxes, Jobs and opportunity than mindless Traffic Jams and slow moving drive thru but never stop commuters.
13: 08 and Higher Towers will make the Streets darker, especially with less space between. but a chance there is given by designing this as a whole section, with a green, pedestrian bridge level over the streets, but this will also attract maybe more people that have deeper pockets or use it as investment which is in my opinion clearly the death of any community.
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henrylant7049
Great video. In the first part of the video, I can see where you came to the conclusion that the interbay area has some work to do in order to make the 3 line viable. I think that the biggest reason the 3 line needs to happen is because north Seattle, west of I-5 is entirely dependent on a handful of avenues and sr99 to for traffic flow in and out of the area. Being able to go into the city without a car would alleviate so much pressure on those arterial roads. People in magnolia and queen anne would use the interbay station religiously to avoid driving into work downtown. Commuting from Ballard to downtown would be an extremely easy commute with rail, so all the stops along the way would encourage growth all along the line.
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Great video. In the first part of the video, I can see where you came to the conclusion that the interbay area has some work to do in order to make the 3 line viable. I think that the biggest reason the 3 line needs to happen is because north Seattle, west of I-5 is entirely dependent on a handful of avenues and sr99 to for traffic flow in and out of the area. Being able to go into the city without a car would alleviate so much pressure on those arterial roads. People in magnolia and queen anne would use the interbay station religiously to avoid driving into work downtown. Commuting from Ballard to downtown would be an extremely easy commute with rail, so all the stops along the way would encourage growth all along the line.
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Nouvellecosse
It's true that industrial areas contain employment, but they often don't contain a particularly high density of employment meaning that they're not great land uses for inner urban areas. Kind of like how suburban culs-de-sac contain housing, but often not a high enough density of housing to make for good land use in an urban area. It depends on the industry and the specific style of industrial development, but often offices, hospitals, universities, retail and institutional zones are denser employment areas. Generally it's fine for industrial areas to be peripheral, as long as they have decent transit connections but it'll be interesting higher density urban industrial will be different.
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It's true that industrial areas contain employment, but they often don't contain a particularly high density of employment meaning that they're not great land uses for inner urban areas. Kind of like how suburban culs-de-sac contain housing, but often not a high enough density of housing to make for good land use in an urban area. It depends on the industry and the specific style of industrial development, but often offices, hospitals, universities, retail and institutional zones are denser employment areas. Generally it's fine for industrial areas to be peripheral, as long as they have decent transit connections but it'll be interesting higher density urban industrial will be different.
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ScottyDoesStuff
As a Kirkland resident, I've been paying for literally everyone else to get light rail. We've had thousands of apartments forced on us and no improvements to roads or bus service. Our parks are a crowded mess because of all the density now. And we'll never have light rail. What we got is lots of property taxes, lots of RTA taxes on vehicles we can't give up, tolls on every freeway around us, and all to subsidize everyone else. Screw Sound Transit. We're not NIMBYs. We're the ones being forced to pay for everyone else's car-free lifestyle. And btw, more apartments don't bring down rents. Every city on the Eastside has added 10, 000 units since 2021 and rents are higher than ever.
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As a Kirkland resident, I've been paying for literally everyone else to get light rail. We've had thousands of apartments forced on us and no improvements to roads or bus service. Our parks are a crowded mess because of all the density now. And we'll never have light rail. What we got is lots of property taxes, lots of RTA taxes on vehicles we can't give up, tolls on every freeway around us, and all to subsidize everyone else. Screw Sound Transit. We're not NIMBYs. We're the ones being forced to pay for everyone else's car-free lifestyle. And btw, more apartments don't bring down rents. Every city on the Eastside has added 10, 000 units since 2021 and rents are higher than ever.
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RsSooke
I live in greater Victoria in Canada, there are ferries from here to Seattle and Port Angeles WA.
A lot of home owners here are mega nimbys, but I almost understand why. They build those apartments everywhere now, but DONT add the transit improvements, so nobody believes it works. Downtown Victoria like many downtowns is easy to live car free, but as you get further out it’s not such a simple thing. Where I live, there’s basically one bus out and it is frequently cancelled. Good transit is so crucial.
Bike infrastructure is ok but not great and has some dicey spots.
At least the Galloping Goose trail is a decent bike path that goes through most of the area.
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I live in greater Victoria in Canada, there are ferries from here to Seattle and Port Angeles WA.
A lot of home owners here are mega nimbys, but I almost understand why. They build those apartments everywhere now, but DONT add the transit improvements, so nobody believes it works. Downtown Victoria like many downtowns is easy to live car free, but as you get further out it’s not such a simple thing. Where I live, there’s basically one bus out and it is frequently cancelled. Good transit is so crucial.
Bike infrastructure is ok but not great and has some dicey spots.
At least the Galloping Goose trail is a decent bike path that goes through most of the area.
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