Would you ride the Capitol Hill gondola?

do it!

That would be amazing! Yes!

I'll give props, it's ambitious and bold, something Seattle rarely sees in our normally meek and understated projects. Even if it never comes to be, GREAT job thinking of SOMETHING other than another faceless 6 story mixed use apartment retail redeux.

I would invent reasons to go downtown if I could ride something like this.

A gondola solves quite a few logistical issues. Own ROW, no tunneling or bridging. On the down side there are issues with private property aerial rights, and there are issues with high winds.

It is an idea worth an engineering and cost study. I don't know who pays, but this could be suitable for a privately funded project, or a public-private project. I can't see the city or metro doing this on their own.

I would ride it.

And we can drop things on/admire the Chihuly Park as we go over it.

BTW this can be a very practical urban transit system. I totally fell in love with the Roosevelt Island tramway in NYC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island_Tramway

I would ride it. Here are my requirements: a stop in South Lake Union or near there (Denny/Yale-ish). Closed cabin (can you imagine cold and rainy days?). Speed from one point to another should be slightly faster than taking other community transit options during rush hour.

Wire High Club :)

I really like the one in PDX that goes up to OHSU. (Sorry to go there, but it's true.)

I'm sure we could have this built sometime in the next 35 years or so.

Props for thinking outside the box. :)

But I'd much rather see work go into a proper urban rail system, whether above or under ground.

Agree with other commenters that a stop in Amazon territory of SLU would boost the usefulness.

I rarely go to the Seattle Center, but might go there & to Lower Queen Anne more often if this were around -- difficulty in getting to those places definitely factor into me hardly ever travelling there.

Oh, and make the cars big and allow bikes like the Portland one does. Arriving to the Seattle Center area quickly with bikes does start to sound pretty appealing.

I love love love this idea, including the signature tower on Cap Hill. Getting between Cap Hill and Seattle Center is a nightmare, regardless of whether you're driving, on the 8, or walking/biking. This would be fantastic.

This seems like a really cool idea. As a Capitol Hill resident whose view includes this proposed route, however, I wonder if this would interfere with the sea planes that land on Lake Union. They seem to always come directly from the south for landings, so they'd be coming right through there. The lines would probably be low enough and far enough from the lake that it wouldn't be an issue, but any potential developers should probably talk to Kenmore Air before getting us too excited about the idea.

I have great affection and respect for Matt Roewe, but I don't love this idea - Roosevelt Island Tramway aside, many successful tramways I've ridden around the world hug a hill, go through a dense neighborhood or landscape - this one would swing off a grossly out-of-scale building, keep people off the streets and clutter up our sightlines to the beloved view corridors we're having a difficult time preserving. I'm working hard to get exciting architecture on the Capitol Hill TOD site, but I also believe great density in done low/mid-scale with people on the streets mingling. Is our goal to have a major tourist destination, or a vibrant neighborhood? OHSU in Portland has a huge employment base in an isolated setting which makes that tramway effective. Spend that kind of infrastructure money on something unglamorous such as making our bus-system comprehensive and effective so I can get out of my car more frequently!

Big fan of the Cascade stop. It might help the neighborhood from being erased by Vulcan.

Actually I think this idea has merit.

It could be great if it had a stop at Seattle Center and then down to the waterfront. I think the tourists coming off the Cruise ships would absolutely love it.

A yardstick for comparison might be the Peak to Peak to Peak Gondola at Whistler Mountain which is twice as long. It can carry 4100 people per hour and was built for $59 million dollars.

But of course that wasn't in an urban area and the issues regarding the placement of the towers in Seattle might get sticky. In addition, I don't think it would work to have the Capital Hill terminal a third of the way up a 400 foot building. I think there would be too many pedestrian conflicts with either the residents or the business people at this tower.

But I like the vision, Unfortunately I think the technical and bureaucratic obstacles would kill this before it ever got off the ground.

But I still think it merits exploring further.

Is it April Fools Day already?

We think there is a suicide problem with the Pike Street overpass, I can't imagine how many jumpers this monstrosity would attract

Oh, then there's the possibility for a terrorist setting a bomb at one of the support towers.

Think it'll be covered by your bus pass? Uhhh, this thing will cost you no less than $10 per one way trip.

Those post card views of the Space Needle? Not anymore!

I'm sure a 400 foot tower won't look out of place in the middle of Broadway. It'll fit right in.

Need a private place to shoot up? No problem. Just get a gondola with several buddies and you'll have your privacy for a few minutes.

If this would get all the bums and druggies out of Capitol Hill and drop them off at the Sculpture park then I'm all for it. Oh wait, it's a round trip. :(


I could sit here and write all night about how moronic this idea is.

I don't want the shadow of a 400 foot tower hovering over the Broadway strip.

Heck yes! This would be a great attraction.

No towers on Capitol Hill. Proposals including towers demonstrate a lack of awareness to the historic character, scale and view lines of the neighborhood and city.

Not that we give a goddamn about preserving views in post-Reagen-Seattle. But we COULD care. How many cities include ridge lines offering views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound...

Some of these towers popped up decades ago (U-District, and near 13th/Republican, etc). Height limits have been in place since then because its not appropriate to drop a tall building anywhere outside downtown.

Density does not equate with height, anyone who thinks so is mistaken- don't believe me look at the old buildings in Capitol Hill or San Francisco. You can have hella density using 30-50 foot development wisely. We don't need towers, towers will make the city worse for numerous reasons.

You guys want something big? How about this: We cap I-5 from Yesler Terrace to Denny Way. Visualize it where Pine crosses I-5 near Bauhaus coffee. The lid would be all public open space. For-profit or private development not welcome. Transit would be linked in with a public square at what's now Convention Place.

Build a monorail or electric bus trolley across Denny Way. Build more subway-like rail, monorail, bike, walking, bus, trolley, etc. NO ROADS or PARKING.

To hell with cars, parking, the oil industry, self-destruction and all sell-outs.

peace 206-4-L

Would this be similar to the one at OHSU in Portland?

But when a lift cost inevitably $5 or $6 you will all gabber about what a stupid waste of tax payers money it was to build.

A thousand times YES!!!!!!!!!

Transit is good, but multiple transit systems that go to just one or a few specific places? ...not so much.

Why not a gondola that goes all the way across the lake to the Eastside? WAY cheaper than light rail. In europe they have like forty person gondolas? Seems like that might be an interesting solution.