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It has nothing to do with financing, and yes, banks make stupid real estate loans all the time (see 80's S&L crisis, 90's recession, 2008 economic collapse, etc.).
And what are those banks doing now?
Think about that.............................................. ....
So MD...when is the DC streetcar going to be up and running? You do realize that George W. Bush was in office when construction began, right?
Well, the H street line was delayed because of the Amtrak master plan. Also, the tracks were laid early to coincide with the great streets project on H street which never had anything to do with the H street streetcar timeline. DDOT didn't want to have to tear up the street again in 2 years so they laid the tracks early. The 2 year delay after that was really Amtrak’s fault or maybe, what many believe, the Fenty to Gray administration change making the Amtrak deal fall through.
The London Tube is never called the subway. The Chicago EL is never called the subway. Doesn't mean these cities don't have subway systems.
Even in NYC, locals rarely call it "the subway". It's usually "the train", and the suburban trains are "the railroad" (except for PATH which is "the train").
They are still subway systems regardless of what locals or others call it. As far as SEPTA goes, it more than just semantics because the Green line trolleys actually does have a subway portion on the lines. SEPTa makes it pretty clear when it comes to its various modes of transportation.
Seattle's light rail network (which mostly connects suburbs to the city) has a daily ridership of about 50,000. The one line that can somewhat be considered a "subway" line (the one with many stops in the city) gets about 25,000 riders per day, but that is also the line that goes to the airport, so those numbers probably do not accurately reflect commuters only.
Seattle's city bus system has a daily ridership of about 400,000 and the county bus system (Sound transit) adds about another 50,000.
I think these numbers compare quite favorably to Los Angeles considering that LA has 6 times the population of Seattle.
I meant the new expansions, not the existing system.
And yes Seattle does compare favorably to the LA - though they are pretty much on similar levels (while DC is the next level up). One thing to keep in mind is the LA area has some decent-size municipal / regional lines (BBB - 71k, LB Transit - 90k, OC Transit - 194k, Foothill - 47k) and also a commuter rail with 43k riders vs. Seattle's 12k riders.
Lived in Capitol Hill area, some ways east of Union Station. Did some work in Penn Quarter/Chinatown and then kind of just hung around around Logan Circle/Shaw with a bit of time spent in Adams Morgan. Most of this was done on bike (though a bit nippy at times). Also visited the wharf/fish market for the first time which was pretty fun. Lots of fairly nondescript new construction, but I do like how airy the streets still feel due to the height limits.
Wow...that's good you were able to see that before the Wharf starts construction next week. That area will look absolutely nothing like that ever again. Did you go over to the Capital Riverfront/Navy Yard area where the baseball stadium is? There are 5 residential high-rise buildings and 3 hotels in varies stages of being under construction (sheeting shoring/foundation/above ground, etc., etc.) over there. If you get a chance to come back next year, it will be interesting to see how fast an area can change. Hope you enjoyed yourself.
There is an underground bus tunnel, that has been there for decades, that will eventually host light rail. But I have never heard of plans for a subway system for Seattle.
Sorry, but you don't know what you are talking about here. First of all, the multiple new underground and elevated stations being built and designed have nothing to do with the bus tunnel, as do the existing underground and elevated stations that are not downtown. Not to mention, when the buses vacate the downtown tunnel in 4-5 years that tunnel will be exclusively rail as well.
In terms of the big picture, the majority of Seattle's light rail line is grade-separated or underground, just like a heavy rail system. The currently open Central Link has a portion that is at grade, but it receives total signal priority so there are no stops. The other multiple lines either under construction or in design are entirely underground or grade-separated.
And, yes, there is no reason not to call University Link and North Link a subway line (as well as the Ballard line currently being studied). In the end, they will connect nearly a dozen busy nodes in Seattle via underground stations with trains riding through them. Trains will come every 7 minutes during peak and it will function almost entirely like a heavy rail system, albeit with less capacity.
I've ridden many heavy rail subway systems and traditional light rail systems (Portland and SLC) - Seattle system very much feels like a heavy rail subway system. It doesn't ever get caught in mixed traffic and is usually underground or elevated. The buses will be removed from the Downtown tunnel in 4-5 years, but the other underground tunnels are/will be exclusively rail from the beginning.
Here is the currently open Beacon Hill subway station - how exactly is this not a subway?
And here is the Mt. Baker Elevated station:
Also, check out the design for the new underground and elevated stations opening in 2016 and 2021 - hard to argue they are any different in design and function than a heavy rail system aside from capacity. Most light rail system are less reliable and ride on shared roads. That is absolutely not the case with Seattle's system.
Sorry, but you don't know what you are talking about here. First of all, the majority of Seattle's light rail line is grade-separated or underground, just like a heavy rail system.
No, you don't know what you're talking about.
Heavy rail vs. light rail is a capacity issue. Whether or not you put trolleys underground or elevated or street-level means nothing regarding potential capacity issues.
Seattle is building a trolley/light rail system, not a subway/heavy rail subway system. It isn't a high density city, and heavy rail wouldn't make much sense. There are bus lines in the U.S. with higher ridership numbers than the entire Seattle light rail network.
Both this project and the Union Station/Burnham Place videos you posted are fantastic. They were talking about both of these when I first moved into DC a decade ago in 2005. Its nice to hear they are finally breaking ground.
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