Quote:
Originally Posted by caphillsea77
I think Seattle has the best zoning. It knows what to keep and what to get rid of and have chosen the right places to build density while still retaining it's character with desirable single family homes in it's neighborhoods. Seattle's mass transit plan is moving slowly, but it's in progress. I like how they are building subway lines for the light rail instead of crawling though neighborhoods or downtown at street level. Seattle also is realistic and making strides to keep up it's freeway infrastructure, Portland falls behind on on that level.
Here are Sound Transit's plans going forward
http://soundtransit.org/Documents/pd...rview_0610.pdf (larger map version)
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Actually, Seattle pretty much entered the light rail world kicking & screaming. Ever since the 70's there have been ballot measures to add rail service to the metro area & every time it was voted down. And Seattle's hour-glass geography is perfect for rail commutes. I lived in Seattle in the mid-80's & it was all about building & widening freeways. I used to find it faster to drive around Lake Washington than sit on one of the floating bridges and crawl back to Seattle. Seattle's the last of the West Coast cities to get light rail.
Meanwhile, Portland opened up its first leg of MAX rail from Portland to Gresham. It was in the late 80's I believe.
I agree with you about the advantage of building a subway thru downtown. Portland will probably end up having to do that, too.