The City Council’s transportation committee is being briefed Tuesday morning on the latest updates in the planning of the streetcar line that will run from Pioneer Square and the International District to Capitol Hill. We’ve uploaded the Seattle Department of Transportation presentation for the briefing below and will monitor the meeting for important updates.
The briefing will update the Council committee on progress toward finalizing the route the streetcar tracks will take and the design of traffic features and stations. It will also include more information about the planned bicycle track concept and updates on SDOT’s strategy for considering possible extensions of the line including running the car all the way up Broadway to Roy. The current plan is for the route to terminate at Broadway and Denny when it is completed in 2013. That, of course, is the location of Capitol Hill light rail station which is planned to open in 2016.
The extension conversation is a tricky one especially as local government is fighting hard to work with a dwindling civic budget. Because of past agreements, SDOT will do the construction but Sound Transit is on the hook for the newest streetcar line’s budget. Thus far, the agency hasn’t exactly embraced the idea of redirecting budget to studying extensions of the line with any construction cost savings. The Complete Streetcar Campaign has been formed to advocate for the north Broadway extension and streetscape improvements.
Below is the SDOT presentation. We’ll update this post with information gathered from the briefing. You can watch the live stream of all City Council public meetings here http://www.seattle.gov/councillive/ or check out this video simulation of a flyover of the probable route.
Mass transit is supposed to connect people to the places, things, businesses they need/frequent so that they don’t have to use, or own, cars. The North Broadway extension is a no brainer. I know budgets are tight, but we can’t accept a streetcar that doesn’t serve the retail core. No way. And I like the idea of a connection to downtown, but am not sure how necessary it is when the light rail will already connect both the Hill and the International District to downtown. Still, the more options the better! Kudos to the City Council for recognizing the need—now show the political will to make it happen!
If this thing doesn’t run at least to Roy, and preferably to Aloha, I’m going to light myself on fire, in the manner of Lucille Bluth.