We’re Getting a New Streetcar!

[DET63]

Good news Seattle commuters: looks like we’re getting a new streetcar. But the question on everyone’s mind is: will this one come with a funny acronym and novelty t-shirts too?
Mayor McGinn’s office announced in a press release this morning that the Center City Connector has selected a streetcar as the preferred mode of transportation for the project. The two alignments selected for further study would run on First Avenue, to serve through Uptown, and a Fourth/Fifth Avenue couplet, which would help connect to the Westlake transit hub and other streetcars around town.

“More jobs, housing, and businesses are coming to downtown Seattle, and we need more high capacity transit to meet those needs,” said McGinn in a statement. “The Center City Connector is another important step forward in building a rail network that connects our neighborhoods to each other.”

Seattle Weekly's The Daily Weekly (hey, that's what they call it)

For years, Seattle's high-tech public transit showcase was the monorail. Then Portland built MAX light rail and the Portland Streetcar; now Seattle's battling to catch up with their neighbors to the south.

 

[CHamilton]

This concept (and that's all it is for now) has been in the works for some time. "The two alignments selected for further study..." are likely to be studied to death. Meanwhile, the Waterfront Streetcar, which could have been operational this whole time, is still in limbo.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Sounds like Mayor McGinn is a politician's politician. Why actually get anything done, when you can talk about and study what could or should be done. ^_^

 

[DET63]

This concept (and that's all it is for now) has been in the works for some time. "The two alignments selected for further study..." are likely to be studied to death. Meanwhile, the Waterfront Streetcar, which could have been operational this whole time, is still in limbo.

IOW, while Seattle's studying, Portland's building. Seattle will probably never catch up with Portland as far as rail-based public transit is concerned.

 

[DET63]

Seattle Streetcar Network

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Seattle Streetcar Network will be a system of streetcar lines in Seattle, radiating out from Downtown, in the U.S. state of Washington. One line has been in operation since 2007, and others are planned.

The first streetcar to run in Seattle since 1941, the Waterfront Streetcar, opened in May 1982, but its operation was suspended indefinitely in November 2005; it was a heritage streetcar line. A second line, the South Lake Union Streetcar, opened in December 2007, using modern cars. The First Hill Streetcar is under construction and targeted to open in 2014, and future lines to the University District, Fremont and Ballard, the Seattle Center, and the Central District are planned. The South Lake Union Streetcar is owned by the City of Seattle and operated by King County Metro, a scheme which was used on the Waterfront Streetcar and will probably be implemented for the future lines as well.