The transit network in Seattle, Wash., had a good news/bad news situation last week as one light-rail project progressed, while work was halted on a streetcar project.
The girders will support light-rail tracks near the future Bel-Red/130th station and when complete, this segment of the alignment will transition from the elevated section of track beginning in downtown Bellevue and spanning I-405, to the street-level section beginning at the Bel-Red/130th station.
After the girders are set, Sound Transit says contractor crews will begin work constructing a bridge deck for the future rail line from 124th Avenue NE to 130th Avenue NE.
The future Bel-Red/130th station will include a park-and-ride facility adjacent to the station to accommodate up to 300 vehicles for transit use as part of the City of Bellevue's transit oriented development (TOD) project north of the station, as well as bicycle parking and lockers. When East Link opens in 2023, passengers will be able to travel from this station to the International District/Chinatown station in about 24 minutes.
In other Seattle transit news, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan directed work on the Center City Connector streetcar, with the exception of work on seismically vulnerable water mains, to be halted pending an independent review. The city of Seattle has begun an independent investigation following a preliminary assessment that determined operating costs were not accurate. Additionally, the Seattle Department of Transportation estimates that the project could face a significant capital shortfall, estimated to be as much as $23 million. The project's management to date is also under review.
Mayor Durkan said there are "too many questions" surrounding the costs of the project, which is being branded as the missing link that would join the existing South Lake Union and First Hill streetcar lines.
In a letter to city Councilmembers, Senior Deputy Mayor Mike Fong wrote a variety of factors including increased design expenditures, escalating construction costs and estimation errors concerning vehicle costs would drive the total project cost to more than $200 million.
The line was scheduled to be five miles long with 23 stations and enter service in mid 2020. The streetcar project was being built by the city of Seattle.
Fong estimates the investigation to take 60-90 days and no work on the project would continue until certain criteria were met including both the outside technical review and the project management investigation are complete, all issues surrounding the accuracy of operating and capital costs are resolved and the city understands what financial resources would be needed to complete the project, among others.
Some of us who use Seattle Transit a lot question the value of street cars. They seem to require as many workers per passenger, the rails are a bike and foot hazard. This particular line would connect two disparate lines, but I suspect that a bus with some street privileges would do a better job.
The rails are hardly a foot hazard since the top of the rail is at or very close to pavement level. The rails are a bicycle hazard only if a cyclist insists on riding in the middle of the street.
If the proposed streetcars are similar to the light rail vehicles currently operated by Sound Transit, they would have a one-man crew and could handle a lot more passengers than any bus.
The current Lake Union streetcar line in Seattle is a joke. The traffic on those streets is so bad, that you can walk from one end to theother faster than you can ride. This was Seattle's gift of a train set to Jeff Bezos.
This is going to be very bad for the light rail floating bridge getting complete.
WA: Bad light-rail ties on I-90 bridge can't be fixed, must be rebuilt | Mass Transit (masstransitmag.com)
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