More evidence, in case you needed it, that Sound Transit is nothing more than a very expensive and very silly boondoggle. "Sound Transit likely to approve Roosevelt tunnel". Even though there is no known revenue source to extend the as yet unbuilt light rail line to Northgate, the agency is already planning to spend tens of millions extra for the fanciest possible route that will offer the fewest possible transportation benefits:
Sound Transit's executive board is expected to choose a tunneled station at busy 12th Avenue Northeast today to be part of its proposed "North Link" line from downtown to Northgate, even though the costs are $35 million to $40 million more than the alternative of building elevated tracks along Interstate 5.The total cost of the Northgate extension will run into the billions, yet will do almost nothing to reduce traffic congestion. Sigh. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 27, 2005 03:02 PM | Email ThisBackers of a tunneled station hope it would promote a populated "town center" where residents could walk between trains, grocery stores, restaurants and homes, said Jim O'Halloran, president of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association.
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One drawback of the 12th Avenue site is that it would provide no apparent park-and-ride access, while a freeway site would be served by an existing commuter lots and bike lanes.
Jon Beahm, whose Shears hair salon on 12th would be condemned, questions the notion of an "urban village" station there without parking. Roosevelt residents at a light-rail forum Tuesday filled a church parking lot with automobiles, he noticed.
Despite the glaring deficiencies of the system in serving a fraction of commuters with a fraction of their needs at vastly unfeasible costs, Sound Transit is a lavish payoff to the planning and environmental elites, and their allies in organized labor. From the entire Sound Transit payroll once it's up and running, expect total fealty and mighty campaign contributions to the party of Ron Sims - at the expense of those of us whose choices in commute routing and scheduling are to be held hostage to said elites.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on January 27, 2005 03:53 PMThat said, I am puzzled, because we're not getting any new lanes on the highways. That's going to be a problem.
Posted by: Bostonian on January 27, 2005 04:38 PMOne party control has everything to do about it.
King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties are Demoncrat strongholds!!! Check their voting records.
It doesn;t have to make sense, it only has to feel good and be the "right" thing to do.
Oh, and create a bigger bureaucracy!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Norm on January 27, 2005 04:57 PMMy point was that this isn't something foisted on people by a political party or its representatives in the legislature. These things were voted on and passed handily. You may not like the outcome (and frankly at this point neither do I) but it's not right to say this is the result of one party's actions.
Posted by: Steve on January 27, 2005 05:26 PMA commuter might walk as much as 5 blocks to catch a ride to work, but not for coffee or groceries.
Posted by: Terry j on January 27, 2005 10:55 PMThe Shark is right - "sigh." Between tunnels that don't add capacity, monorails that have the capacity of bicycle carts and go from nowhere to nowhere, and light rail that will interfere with traffic flow, it looks pretty hopeless for anyone looking for logic.
This, of course, is what happens when there is no leadership. The urban planners are circle jerking over this while calling all of us naysayers.
I'm actually not entirely against some sort of transit development, I just think it makes no sense to build two different rail systems. The waste involved due to lost economies of scale in purchasing and operations is just mind boggling.
The urban village stuff is nonsense. I lived in DC for several years and I don't think I ever saw anyone carrying groceries on the Metro. It was great for communiting, though, and that is what it was used for. While there aren't pockets of idealized urban villages around each station, the neighborhoods within walking distance of stations where very popular with Yuppies. I don't know if that is good or bad, frankly, but having a few of the bean sprout eaters displaced by Yuppies would not be such a bad thing for Seattle.
Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on January 27, 2005 11:04 PM