Anyone else excited to see the Seattle Link project coming along? Every great US city needs a rail system.
>>925543
yes, much so. Traffic in Seattle is some of the worst in the country. The Link will be slow, but beats being stuck on I-5 for hours
>University Link nearing completion
>East Link beginning construction
It would be nice to have a Ballard/West Seattle line too.
>>925543
Yeah in fuckin 2035.
I'm pretty stoked. Too bad we voted it down in the 70's and gave a good rail system to Atlanta instead. I believe the sentiment was to keep transplants from moving here.
Here we are now, with tons of transplants and no rail system!
Damn NIMBYs.
>>925849
>Atlanta
>good rail system
>>925543
How many at grade crossing are there/will there be?
>>925854
apart from Central Link running down the middle of MLK through Beacon Hill, there aren't many at all.
>>926072
Good. Then Seattle planned better than most places.
>>925849
Around the time of the Forward Thrust vote Seattle's economy wasn't doing well. Boeing was laying off workers and people were leaving in droves. There wasn't a lot of confidence that we needed to spend all that money on mass transit when everyone was losing their job.
>>925852
We were lucky enough to get it, then did noth with it since 2000. We're on the edge of a pretty big expansion funding bill, and the state has a commuter rail funding bill floating around within it. We'll see what the next few years hold.
I thought Seattle had a monorail, the best mass transit solution invented.
>>926679
The Monorail's a tourist gimmick that is essentially useless for commuting. Maybe, MAYBE, if they bring it into the ORCA scheme it could work.
It certainly does OP however you can't necessarily do it all with a little lightrail.
A metro inside a city or commuter to suburbia needs a proper heavy rail transit infrastructure.
Lightrail are best applied as modern day streetcars on the road in and around the city centre and surrounding urban environment.
>>926679
>monorail
>good
Nope
>>926679
Massive monorail project got voted down circa 2005. Would've involved removing the current tourist one. And again a year or two ago, but I think that one was smaller in scope. Seattle voters apparently don't know how to spend money on good projects (then again, I'm in Spokane and the idiots over here kicked a light rail plan over the local excuse for a waterfall).
Now some of my Seattle friends allegedly think there's a subway actively being planned. I think they may have confused the underground portions of the North Link project, or there's been some level of DISCUSSION (nothing firm) on a "subway" of some sort.
Anyone have any enlightening info on either subject?
>>926726
There's a group advocating for Sound Transit to 'go big' on future expansions. There is a vote planned this year for "ST3" which will likely fund a line from Ballard to West Seattle via a new tunnel through downtown.
If the line is grade separated, does it really matter if it uses light rail tech instead of heavy rail? If it's below ground it's a subway, regardless.
>>926709
Rail that shares right of way with traffic is pointless.
>>926773
...and they'll use Bertha to dig the tunnel portion through downtown no doubt.
Kidding aside, that makes it a bit more clear to me. Correct me if I'm wrong though, but wouldn't light rail be slower in general than a standard heavy rail system? Or is that just a figment of my imagination?
>>926679
oh we do, friend
>>926981
Light rail is generally slower than heavy rail because the former generally isn't grade separated (includes level crossings and usually runs in mixed traffic to some degree.) Link is a quality project in that it's completely grade-separated outside of the downtown transit tunnel and MLK Way in Rainier Valley.
>>926981
The biggest advantage of heavy rail over light rail is capacity, not speed. If the train is stopping frequently, it'll probably not be reaching top speed between stations.
Seattle's trains have a top speed of 55 mph, which is the same as the MTA/CTA but slightly slower than the DC Metro and much slower than BART. They could buy faster trains but it only makes a difference during long stretches without stations (Rainier Beach to Tukwilla; Judkins Park to Mercer Island, etc).
Just 16 more days!
>>929295
just 16 more years! they were on acid in 70's seattle so they did not build anything...seattle small ball.
>>926675
they will continue to vote that shit down en masse. the light rail stuff near emory? please. the express bus lanes on i-20? stupid idea that needs to be shut down anyways. the cobb county richers won't want to have the poors ride a train up to their shiny new stadium. the proposed streetcar expansion would be the absolute tits, but probably has less than zero chance of happening. the only thing i see happening in the foreseeable future is if individual cities/parts of counties want to add a few bust stops.
Only 5 more days!
Maybe the new UW line will force Sound Transit to reevaluate how they handle bikes.
>>932383
The City and DeKalb County are still fighting hard for it. Clifton Corridor light rail, I-20 East heavy rail, and first phase of the streetcar can all be funded with the addition of Arterial Rapid Transit routes and circulator service.
The Atlanta local bill to fund it is set to be voted on in the house tomorrow! Hype!
>>933164
>America spends ridiculous amounts of money making sure the stations are work of art
>other countries just make it look nice and clean without much ostentatious architecture
>Americans wonder why their public transit is so goddamn expensive to build and operate (due to crippling construction debt)
>>933388
>using Japan as an example
>a country with precisely zero aptitude for industrial design
>>933390
This is the newest station in Munich U-Bahn.
Very simple, boxy design compared to typical American metro rail stations of late.
>>933388
I don't know, I think it's something like 1% of the budget that goes to art. I definitely think it's worth it. A lot of cities around do this.
Anyway it's not art that makes American infrastructure so needlessly expensive...
>>933388
Too bad you're factually fucking wrong. Making a station look artsy is a miniscule cost compared to actually building the system.
>>933413
Mafia, abuse of judicial review to beat down government agencies into accepting higher bids by contractors, union kickbacks to politicians, over-designing safety and allowance for future capacity expansion because contractors have no incentive to slim down the scale of the project, etc., etc., but selecting a FUCKING SANTIAGO CALATRAVA DESIGN doesn't help cutting down the cost.
>>933388
>small steel panels that were probably produced by outside artists
>installed over some bare concrete and lit by cheap LEDs
>OMG SO EXPENSIVE
Fuckwit of the year, all years.
>>933392
>non-standard tiling patterns
>those stupid lamps
Look at these stupid krauts wasting billions on 'art' instead of using fluorassent lights and bathroom tiles.
4 more days!
>>925543
The Kirkland-Issaquah line is almost guaranteed to fail.
And really, that's one of the greatest shames, because Kirkland desperately needs something like a Link line. It's becoming traffic hell in that area, and it's only gonna gets worse from there.
>b-but muh small town feel!
Fuck off, Kirklandian Stereotype, your "small town" is gonna clog up 405 completely and itll all be because you didn't allow Eastside link.
>>933588
East Link is coming, but it won't directly serve Kirkland. I think Kirkland is actually pushing hard for light rail, but they'd rather have it go over 520. Seattle Transit Blog came up with this alternative the other day that uses the Eastside Rail Corridor:
http://seattletransitblog.com/2016/03/14/a-grand-bargain-for-kirkland-in-st3/
>>933591
The problem Kirkland's had I've seen is specifically the use of the CKC for transit. It's all "muh pedestrian access! Muh nature!"
They want another Burke-Gilman trail. I agree that the wetlands shouldn't be harmed but the CKC isn't of much use to the city and they have no room to expand to outside of it. Light rail is the best thing that could happen to it.
>>925849
Marta works inside the perimeter but is worthless for Atlanta suburbs.
>>933642
It would work just fine. Standard MARTA Heavy Rail would work just fine in the most dense corridors along the interstates, and commuter rail would make sense along existing rail right of ways.
Only 3 more days!
>UW to Capitol Hill in 300 seconds
unf
2 short days!
Tomorrow
>>933420
>non-standard tiling patterns
this is exactly how every platform looks like in germany, can't get more standard
>>934639
Tomorrow!
>>933388
>Elevator to Upper Leve
>Leve
Congrats Seattle from your friends in big Vancouver!
Hopeful someday we'll get our university line. But we still beat ya' to the airport haha. Enjoy tomorrow!
>>934827
Seattle is bigger than Vancouver, but thank you! I've always been jealous of the transit in Vancouver.
I just rode the university link, and I know a guy I can ask questions about sound transit. ama
>>934920
Ask him what we can expect to see in the ST3 draft released in the coming week.
Headphone users beware
https://youtu.be/nVSIfEeytUs
>>934922
"We will release that next week"
"We're not answering these questions until next week"
Rip, sorry. He's kind of tired
>>934922
This morning in his speech Peter Rogoff said "we're going further than lynwood"
"This is a delicate matter"
"We look forward to sharing our draft plan with the public on Thursday"
He's getting annoyed of me bugging him
I'm going to bed, and I'm going to the first public opening of the rail line tomorrow morning, so I won't be back in this thread for like at least 12 hours
>>934928
Whoops forgot to dump
Seattle bros.
After this, what and when is the next big expansion? East Link? Angle Lake?
He told me, but then asked me to not tell anyone else and send them to the public affairs department of sound transit, and tried to explain to me why I shouldn't be telling people stuff
>>934958
Is this the passage under Broadway?
>>934938
Angle Lake is opening later this year but it's just a P&R, nothing very exciting. Northgate and East Link are both scheduled to open in 2021 but I suspect Northgate will open earlier than that.
>>933419
Those panels will be moderately expensive as each has its own design. That sort of thing (as opposed to having lots of panels the same) increases the cost quite a lot.
Looks good though.
>>935087
These things are made by artists outside of the agency though. They probably didn't cost anything to the agency beyond installation fees.
>>935064
Have they said if they will open the entire extension at once, or will they open the stations individually as they come on line?
Because they are pretty close to finishing the tunnel to the U District station, and they should really open that one as soon as possible.
>>935103
U Dist, Roosevelt, and Northgate will all open at the same time. Not possible to open them incrementally. They'll all be finished around the same time anyway.
>>935061
No, it was capitol hill or UW, probably capitol hill
>get off at the station
>there's some guys dressed as a reasonably believable woman singing a Johnny Cash song
Yep, I'm in Capitol Hill.
>>926679
The amazing two stop monorail
>NIMBYs
>>925543
Anybody who says that has never ridden on MARTA. GOD WHY DOES ATLANTA HAVE TO BE SHIT AT EVERYTHING
>>935748
I rode on MARTA a couple of times and it was whatever. At least they try to keep fare cheats off. The MAX in Portland is a true shithole of a light rail system, as are the streetcars.
>>935324
>Named Capitol Hill
>Nowhere near Olympia
Where *did* that come from, anyway?
>>935748
hate the players, not the game.
>>935780
Some people think they named the hill 'Capitol Hill' in order to attract the state to build the capitol there. Some think it was named after the neighborhood in Denver, the hometown of an early settler's wife.
>>935747
Why can't we just kill all boomers?
>>934938
Northgate 2021
Lynnwood 2023
East Link 2023
South 200th 2016
Federal Way 2023
What does everyone think of the draft package for expansion?
>25-years
>$50 billion
At this rate I'll be dead by the time Seattle has a decent system.
It needs to go further than Alaska Junction. At least one more stop down California is needed.
>>938062
It should go deeper into Ballard too. I'm pretty disappointed with the timeline of this expansion. Unfortunately we get basically zero state support despite the governor happily cheering at the U-Link opening.
>>935748
If the trains take you where you need to go, they're ok if you don't mind dealing with the occasional human piece of garbage. Having done it a few times, I can't see why anyone would EVER ride and park at the airport instead of taking the train.
The buses are basically shit. An hour between buses at a stop, and the bus schedule is basically only accurate for the very first stop of the day
>>933616
This.
As much as I enjoy the CKC as it is, the area needs better public transportation or we're going to end up like the hellhole that is the SF Bay Area. Fuck NIMBY single house owners.
