July 27, 2006
Transportation Round-up
Today's Seattle Times: "Nickels presents vision for waterfront", which hinges on the Alaskan Way Viaduct being replaced by a tunnel. The Times calls the vision
still vague, and full of lofty hopes for "a feeling of sinuosity" and "activity zones,"
Meanwhile, the
Daily Journal of Commerce [subscription only] reports that
Keeping tunnel site dry would be challenge for viaduct team and cites a geology and civil engineering professor who says
the proposed tunnel would likely spring major leaks like Boston's ill-fated Big Dig
The King County Council
voted Wednesday to ask voters for a one-tenth-of-a-percent increase in the sales tax to upgrade Metro Transit bus service.
And Bruce Ramsey says that the main benefit of the multi-billion dollar [un]Sound Transit boondoggle is
Building a transit system for tourists from Montana light rail ... is coming. I expect Seattle people will be disappointed in its usefulness to them personally, but they may be proud of it. And the tourists from Montana will all be able to understand it.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 27, 2006
11:38 AM | Email This
1. At this point I'm for just reinforcing the current viaduct. But that doesn't mean much $$$$$ for the mayor's base, so I'm not sure it'll even be put on the table.
2. Confusing hallicination with vision again are we Mayor Nickelbag?
3. It's no surprise that the wacky left favors a tunnel option. Whenever they are confronted with anything they disagree with, they tunnel their heads into the ground.
One could understand building something like a bridge caisson underwater because once it's built, the water poses no problem. But building a major thoroughfare below sea level, but above the sea floor, at a tremendous expense, is just plain stupid. How much energy will it take to run the sump pumps to remove the continuous trickle of whater coming in from the sound? Is this the green solution? What would Al Gore say?
Sheesh.
4. ST p*ssed enough money off on thee Tacoma Link Light Rail to fund Countywide bus service with 10 to thirty minute headways for everyone. Why is it that the News Buffoon does not couch their advocacy for Tacoma to Sea-tac Light Rail in terms of "we can spend x amount and provide bus service region wide potentially benefitting everyone in the County" or for the same amount we can provide 10% of the population the option of taking light rail to the airport the three times per year that they fly? Another question is if the Tacoma Link Light Rail does not charge passengers to ride, does their ridership numbers have any relationship to demand? I say NO it does not, demand would only be demonstrated if people were required to demonstrate how much they value light rail at teh fairbox.
5. The only people who benefit from the Sea-Tac link will be the airport employees who live near enough to take it. It is not likely that alot of passengers will lug their luggage onto the lightrail to get to their flights. I used to live in portland and I worked at PDX as a baggage handler. I took lightrail, because I didn't have a car at the time (didnt make enough to live on and pay for insurance/car payment). I not once saw a person with their luggage on the lightrail going to the airport.
6. lordy--wait till the first 'artifact' is found in the tunnel; another 6 bil, 6 years in extra legal and other fees; hey--we have a neat 'art park' (bum park) being built downtown and Snohomish county likes that mandatory 1% (cost) for art projects scam; that's my vision--so far it hurts my pocket;
7. AP has a story about the Big Dig. "Massachusetts Turnpike Chief Resgins after Pressure to Step Down".
If intererested, it's posted on Foxnews.com. Oh so similiar to the viaduct/tunnel proposed by Mayor Nipple.
8. AP has a story about the Big Dig. "Massachusetts Turnpike Chief Resgins after Pressure to Step Down".
If intererested, it's posted on Foxnews.com. Oh so similiar to the viaduct/tunnel proposed by Mayor Nipple.
9. Porlland airport light rail is one of the sorriest jokes ever.....it is so lightly used it is breathtaking. Ah, but SeaTac light rail will be a smashing success, loaded to the gunnels with happy passengers dragging their luggage, because Puget Sound politicians and planners are so far superior intellectually to Portland's. It is the old saying about liberals that is always true and never changes: If it doesnt work, we need way more of it; if it works, junk it-right now. Where are the clear thinking adults???
10. Clasina, don't be surprised if the MA Turnpike Chief shows up in Seattle's city government payroll. I am sure he is a hot commodity to Nickles.
11. Hank you are completely right. The PDX light rail link was empty, except for the few of us who did not have cars. I was sooooo glad when I got a higher paying job and could finally afford my car!!!!
12. Many cities in second world countries are actually acknowledging that mass transit costs a lot of money and that they can't afford the high price. There's a new concept in these cities called BRT. Bus Rapid Transit. Median barriers are added to key streets and busses travel in special lanes. In these lanes, every so often there are "boarding tubes." Basically these are cages that are at "walk on bus height." In order to get in to the tube, a rider must insert their card or ticket and go through a turnstyle. And then they wait, much like they would for a light rail train. The advantages are many. There are less loading and fare oriented delays. Buses can go anywhere and be scaled back and realigned as need. It's much, much cheaper to build and operate. And the whole system coexists with road infrastructure and actually encourages better maintenance and expansion of the roads to benefit autos as well.
This seems like a good fit for the Puget Sound. Cities that have implemented this strategy have aggressive campaigns to remove the stigma of buses and subwayify buses and their surroundings.
What I like about this kind of solution is that it acknowledges the real cost and long time span required to implement heavy or light rail. There's no reason why we need rail in the Sound other than it feels good to leftists who envision a carless world with mass transit, etc. We'd be way better off with a more limited system such as this one, with light rail being added to only to the highest population and transit density corridors.
What are the chances of Puget Sound leftist politicians taking a more responsible view towards mass transit? Absolute zero.
13. TrueSoldier & Hank --
Ditto for Cleveland. I was there a few weeks ago, but not long enough to justify renting a car. The train came to the airport only once or twice per hour (never did find an actual schedule), and then less than half a dozen folks got on, and I was the only one with baggage.
But ya know, we shouldn't look at everywhere else on Earth as a guide because, like they taught us in the gummint skools, we're unique and special.
14. i want to see the artist's rendering actually portray what WILL be in this "promonade" along the newly flattened waterfront. show the vagrants peeing on the $100,000 sculpture, drunks passed out on the benches and if Capt. Ron has his way, tent city 40 camped out across from the (long abandoned) ferry terminal...the socialist city council wouldn't support a transportation option that used so much fossil fuel.