As streetcar construction begins ripping up the Broadway pavement between Pike and Pine following the initial work in front of Seattle Central, here’s an update on the project — and the future of fixed-rail mobility in the central city’s core.
- The most recent construction update includes some useful nuggets of information. Don’t let this one slip by: “On the weekend of September 15th & 16th Pine Street will be closed to through traffic at Broadway”
You can sign up for email construction bulletins and get more information about the ongoing project at seattlestreetcar.org/firsthill.htm. We reported on many of the changes and issues ahead here: After the ceremony, what to expect on Broadway during streetcar construction
Trackway Construction Between Pine and Pike
Weekday Work:
- · Howell – Broadway to Nagel
o Electrical duct bank installation
- Howell to Pine
o Traffic signal foundations and electrical work
- Pine to Pike
o Construction of trackway
• Pike to Madison
o Trackway survey and saw cutting
- Madison to Columbia
o Storm drain installation
- Minor intersection
o Construct foundation for electrical substation
Weekend Work:
- Pine intersection
o Trackway construction
- Minor intersection
o Connect water services
Traffic Advisory:
- On the weekend of September 15th & 16th Pine Street will be closed to through traffic at Broadway
Work Hours:
- Weekdays 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
- Saturday 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Loud impact work under a noise variance, including concrete breaking, may begin at 8:00 a.m.
- Sunday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- That federal money Seattle received to study a new streetcar line connecting the Pioneer Square end of the First Hill line to the SLUT? Getting spent:
Today Mayor Mike McGinn announced that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has selected NelsonNygaard to move forward with planning work on the City Center Connector, a high-performance high-capacity transit corridor identified in Seattle’s Transit Master Plan recently adopted by the City Council.
“We are excited to soon have NelsonNygaard and their team on board, including the engineering firms URS and CH2M Hill, bringing their combined planning and design engineering experience from past successes like the Seattle Transit Master Plan and both the South Lake Union and First Hill streetcars ,” said McGinn. “I look forward to the work ahead.”
SDOT will now begin contract negotiations with NelsonNygaard with the goal of having them at work on the City Center Connector within a few weeks.
The city says public outreach will begin in October with stakeholders and continue over the 12 to 18-month life of the project. “A final draft plan for the best transit technology and street pathway through the Center City will be completed by the end of 2013,” the announcement concludes.
- If you missed it, there is now a plan to make a plan for the extension of the First Hill streetcar farther north on Broadway to Aloha.
My prediction is that there are enough No Streetcar voices on 4th/5th that the loud and constant drumbeat for a First Ave Streetcar from the PDA and Belltown will make it happen there. The city will say to dejected wonks “we might still do it, promise!” and never do it at all.
Provided nothing has changed … when the First Hill Streetcar line construction is complete there will be no more left turns off of Broadway onto Pine Street (from both directions on Broadway.) Broadway will have left turn lanes (both directions) at Pike Street though …
First Hill Streetcar Track Plan: http://www.zoom.it/Ge29