TOPSOIL DEPTH PLANTING XSECTION SOUND TRANSIT SERIES
While transit-oriented development is hardly the entire answer to Seattle’s housing crisis, building transit around stations is a must-do in South Seattle, where Sound Transit failed to plan for housing two decades ago, the sparsely populated light rail line represents a series of missed opportunities.Ī similar price convergence is also occurring between above and below ground options in West Seattle, where stations are planned for the Junction, the Avalon area and North Delridge. The 14th Avenue location provides better transfers between buses and trains than alternatives on 15th Avenue, while also avoiding the need to build a moveable bridge over Salmon Bay.Ī buried route along 14th would also create opportunities for transit-oriented development on Sound Transit-owned land after construction-up to 450 housing units and 70,000 gross square feet of retail space. If that doesn’t happen, routes along 14th Avenue NW might offer the best combination of transit connections and development potential. Help keep PubliCola sustainable by clicking here to become a one-time or monthly contributor today. To fully resurrect this option, however, Sound Transit would have to create an entirely new environmental impact statement, which is no easy task and could add time to the project.Įnjoying this article? PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you. Serving dense neighborhoods (rather than more car-centric areas on their periphery) is a core urbanist tenet: High-capacity transit works best when it serves a dense core of riders, and easy access to transit can spur more density in urban areas. NW-the price tag for the elevated options is now almost identical to the estimated cost to tunnel: Between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion, compared to $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion for the tunnel alternatives.Īs the cost difference has evaporated, Seattle Subway, a transit advocacy group, hopes to persuade the agency to revive an old proposed route along 20th Avenue Northwest that would deliver riders closer to the core of the neighborhood rather than several blocks east. In Ballard, where there are basically four options-an elevated or underground station at NW Market Street and either 14th or 15th Ave. It stipulated that while the agency staff would continue to study the more expensive tunnel routes, they would not move forward without third-party (non-Sound Transit) funding.Ī few years later, the relentless increase in property values has made it just as expensive to build above ground as to tunnel beneath the city for third-party funding. To keep certain tunnel routes on the table for West Seattle and Ballard, as requested by many in those neighborhoods, Sound Transit board members representing King County proposed a last-minute compromise in 2019.
But underground stations don’t always equal a better experience for riders.
Those decisions might be a little easier now that the costs of elevated routes is similar to that of tunneling. While transit-oriented development is hardly the entire answer to Seattle’s housing crisis, building transit around stations is a must-do in South Seattle, where Sound Transit failed to plan for housing two decades ago, the sparsely populated light rail line represents a series of missed opportunities.Īs the Sound Transit board makes a final decision on the route, expected in 2023, board members will be weighing short-term construction impacts against building a system that’s easy and seamless for riders to use for decades. Other alternatives lessen construction impacts by moving stations to the fringes of the neighborhood or deep below ground. Some options offer better bus connections or more potential for transit-oriented development. This extension will add a second transit tunnel through downtown to handle increased train volumes (including the new extension to Everett, also part of Sound Transit 3) and new stations near existing ones at Westlake, the CID and SoDo, which will become transfer points between the two light rail lines. The Ballard spur will start in the Chinatown-International District (CID), then head north through a new tunnel under downtown toward Seattle Center, through Interbay, and over or under Salmon Bay to its terminus in Ballard. This second Seattle light rail line will start at the current SoDo station and cross the Duwamish Waterway before skirting the north edge of the West Seattle Golf Course on its way to the Alaska Junction. It lays out the pros and cons of a variety of elevated and tunnel routes as the agency tries to weave light rail tracks through some of the densest parts of Seattle. The massive draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the West Seattle-Ballard light rail extension landed on Sound Transit’s website in late January. Plans show a deep Westlake Station, similar to the new U District Station pictured here.
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