Tag Archives: west seattle

Sound Transit: Light rail to Ballard and West Seattle will cost billions more

Posted on by

(Image: Sound Transit)

Your hopes of taking light rail from Capitol Hill to visit friends in Ballard and West Seattle are going to be even more expensive.

Sound Transit officials have unveiled new cost estimates for the “Sound Transit 3” package of projects including light rail connecting to West Seattle and Ballard that have risen nearly 50% from previous forecasts — a potential $5 billion to $6 billion surge.

Publicola reports:

The estimated cost of extending Seattle’s light rail system to Ballard and West Seattle, as well as several other components of the Sound Transit 3 plan adopted by voters in 2015, has risen dramatically since last year, Sound Transit staffers told the agency’s executive committee Wednesday. The main factors driving the increase, according to the agency, are higher than anticipated property acquisition costs, higher costs for labor and materials, and unanticipated “soft costs,” including additional funding for contingencies.

The the new numbers likely mean new timeframes for the projects. Continue reading →

Seattle’s next top crisis: the cracking West Seattle Bridge

Posted on by

Seattle has another crisis on it hands. Even with costly repairs, the high bridge to West Seattle won’t reopen to traffic until 2022.

Three weeks after the 1984-built structure was closed to traffic when routine inspections revealed unexpected deterioration, the Seattle Department of Transportation has announced some likely terribly expensive bad news:

We do not yet know if repair of the bridge is feasible technically or financially. If repair is feasible, it’s likely this would only restore up to an additional decade of life to the bridge. In either case, we will need to replace the West Seattle High Rise-Bridge much sooner than promised when it opened in 1984. Further, should repair prove feasible, under a “best case” scenario we do not anticipate traffic returning to the bridge in 2020 or 2021.

Continue reading →

From I-5 Shores to Alki, Julian Hagood making plans for Harry’s Beach House

Posted on by

It’s not exactly beach weather but Julian Hagood, the owner and chef behind Capitol Hill’s Harry’s Fine Foods, is already thinking about summer.

Plans for Harry’s Beach House are in motion to transform a former Tully’s Coffee across from West Seattle’s Alki Beach into a new food and drink destination shaped by Hagood.

Think Harry’s at the beach, Hagood says. “The spot will have a significantly larger kitchen to provide a bit more variety,” he writes. “Same killer brunches and seasonally driven fare that caters to locals and visitors alike.” Continue reading →