Preliminary Options for Rail to Ballard Revealed

[Ruth4Truth]

Where's the money for all this going to come from?

[JBVirtuoso]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Where's the money for all this going to come from?

That's actually another reason younger cities have problems building transit networks. In the old days, transit networks were built by private developers who competed for ridership. Some of them actually operated at a loss for years just so they could build up high ridership, with the goal of raising prices later down the line. Local governments usually offered big subsidies, but it was ultimately the developers who ran the show. After the 1940s, transit agencies across the country were consolidated and brought under the arm of the government. What that means is that now every little decision is inherently political, and the sources of funding that existed in the past just won't cut it anymore.

I could go on and on about all the problems with the way transit is funded in the United States. Money problems always stand between what cities need and what they can have. What American cities really need to do is stop treating transit as an expense and start treating it as an investment. When rapid transit first started showing up in the US in the 1890s or so, developers built it knowing that cities were growing fast, and they'd soon see big returns. The NYC subway was actually built all the way out to farmland in the Bronx. The problem with building transit after cities have developed is that people know they can live without it. That leads to NIMBYs being able to stop all the progress in the name of "there's no money for it."

[Brookdale46]

It was so funny. The display boards showed, for instance, Corridor 2 as 2,500 to 3,000 M. Folks, that's 2.5 to 3 BILLION. Not sure how many might not have caught that little factoid. It's as if they were hesitant to put the "B" word in print. I'm older than most of you, so I realize my support of Corridor 8 is selfish--I want rail to Ballard (I live in NOBA) in my lifetime. At grade, exclusive lane all the way to Market Street. And an extension close to my house. This for under a half billion plus 100 M for the trackage north of Market. I say leave the light rail for the longer distance routes as are being built and planned for now. I think a streetcar in an exclusive lane will suffice nicely for Fremont and Ballard and it could be built within five years of funding being secured. The 15th Avenue Corridor is being served nicely by Rapid Ride. Lower Queen Anne can be covered adequately by the extension of the "connector" streetcar line, if it is built on First Avenue.

[poopskooper]

A possible Option 9 revealed that uses a combination of subway and elevated LRT and Rapid Streetcar:

Map

Promotion and Discussion of Option 9 from Ben of the Seattle Transit Blog

[JBVirtuoso]

Originally Posted by Brookdale46

It was so funny. The display boards showed, for instance, Corridor 2 as 2,500 to 3,000 M. Folks, that's 2.5 to 3 BILLION. Not sure how many might not have caught that little factoid. It's as if they were hesitant to put the "B" word in print. I'm older than most of you, so I realize my support of Corridor 8 is selfish--I want rail to Ballard (I live in NOBA) in my lifetime. At grade, exclusive lane all the way to Market Street. And an extension close to my house. This for under a half billion plus 100 M for the trackage north of Market. I say leave the light rail for the longer distance routes as are being built and planned for now. I think a streetcar in an exclusive lane will suffice nicely for Fremont and Ballard and it could be built within five years of funding being secured. The 15th Avenue Corridor is being served nicely by Rapid Ride. Lower Queen Anne can be covered adequately by the extension of the "connector" streetcar line, if it is built on First Avenue.

Yeah, transit is expensive. But the dedicated lane streetcar plan is just a massive waste of money. Hell, if you're going to settle for that, you could just improve service by increasing the frequency so the bus runs every 5 minutes. That will reduce travel times a bunch, and requires no additional investment up front.

[sean98125]

There were rail rights-of-way all over the city that we gave up. Look at any of the long distance bike trails in the city and you see places where there used to be rail service. The Burke-Gilman/Lake Sammamish trail could connect downtown Seattle to the UW to Woodinville and on to Redmond and Issaquah. The Interurban trail in North Seattle and Snohomish County could connect Seattle to Alderwood and on to Everett. There was a right of way south of the city that could connect SODO to Southcenter and on to Auburn and Tacoma. And there's a rail corridor on the Eastside that could connect Renton to Everett.

The infrastructure is there, and the rights-of-way are there, but we keep selling parts of them off to the highest bidders or converting them to limited use. We already have massive park and rides along our interstates that could be tied in to the city with rail, but unfortunately we keep focusing on social engineering rather than traffic capacity management.