New Subway Map

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by chrisms86

Are we looking at the same plan? I'm looking at the original post, with lines to West Seattle and another that follows 99 north.

Adding rail onto I-5 is probably just as easy as digging a tunnel under Seattle. I'm not an engineer but if we were able to add express lanes, I think we could find a place for a little train.

edit: I think you misunderstood my wording. When I say "we are" I mean "we are" under this plan

What the OP posted isn't official... it's what he and the support group wants. Its their vision ("plan"). If you want to know what's the latest (official) project, you'd go to SoundTransit official site: Projects and Plans - SoundTransit

Putting the rail on the i5 doesn't really serve neighborhoods though. Hwy 99 rail would.

[civic94]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

Putting the rail on the i5 doesn't really serve neighborhoods though. Hwy 99 rail would.

I think 99 or 1-5, If each station has tons of parking, this will help with the congestion on I-5. I know how seattle promotes people leaving their cars, but this way, I believe many people will use the light rail.

[rainforest338]

Agree Civic94. If they could get a park and ride set up for a light rail that easily delivered people some place convenient it would be great. When I lived in Connecticut we would drive to New Haven (roughly where the traffic for NYC started to get bad) then get on the train to downtown Manhattan. They had great parking available at the train station and many people used that method.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by civic94

I think 99 or 1-5, If each station has tons of parking, this will help with the congestion on I-5. I know how seattle promotes people leaving their cars, but this way, I believe many people will use the light rail.

And that's the crux of the problem here is that not every place can offer such parking. There's been already issues where people just went ahead and parked at a Safeway only to have their cars towed and also places where that decide they're going to charge for parking (that people were willing to pay)-- only to be told they're not allowed to do that.

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

And that's the crux of the problem here is that not every place can offer such parking.

I am generally opposed to public built parking around incity Link Stations (and 'free' parking even out in the suburbs), the land is simply too valuable. However depending on the details, I could be convinced that a 1 acre, 6 story parking garage (with groundfloor retail below and commercial and/or retail above) shared between Metro, Sound Transit, and Northgate Mall combined with 5 acres of new TOD is preferable to the current 6 acres of surface parking.

But that is a pretty unique situation.

The Northgate 900 – King County TOD and Access,P&R Policy - Seattle Transit Blog

There's been already issues where people just went ahead and parked at a Safeway only to have their cars towed and also places where that decide they're going to charge for parking (that people were willing to pay)-- only to be told they're not allowed to do that.

That was taken care of two years ago:

City Suspends Policy Against Private Park-and-Rides - Seattle Transit Blog

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by rainforest338

Agree Civic94. If they could get a park and ride set up for a light rail that easily delivered people some place convenient it would be great. When I lived in Connecticut we would drive to New Haven (roughly where the traffic for NYC started to get bad) then get on the train to downtown Manhattan. They had great parking available at the train station and many people used that method.

That is more commuter rail than Subway. While I WOULD like to see South Sounder's frequency increased, that is not what Link is about.

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by civic94

I think 99 or 1-5, If each station has tons of parking, this will help with the congestion on I-5. I know how seattle promotes people leaving their cars, but this way, I believe many people will use the light rail.

It's a short term v long term and city v regional question. Is building immediate ridership at the cost of future growth, and pushing all the negative externalities of automobiles out from the city and into the suburbs worth it?

My cousin lives in the suburbs north of Atlanta. When we go to visit we'll take MARTA (Forward Trust... *sigh*). B/c they went with the freeway and Park and Ride model, these stations are mostly abandoned and scary as crap. NOTHING around them, and at least at my cousins station, you have to walk THROUGH a giant parking garage just to get to the street. EVERYONE has to drive to the station.

All that did was help push the sprawl out further.