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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Transportation / News First Hill Streetcar Project to Break Ground in 2011

Posted by Unpaid Intern on Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 11:35 AM

Posted by news intern Jon Brock

Sound Transit and the City of Seattle will be sponsoring three community open houses regarding the First Hill Streetcar, which will offer service to Capitol Hill, First Hill, Yesler Terrace, International District, and Pioneer Square. The streetcar is part of the mass transit expansion plan, which Puget Sound voters approved in November 2008, and would connect those neighborhoods with other regional transit systems such as the light rail and Sounder train. The First Hill light rail connects on one end to the International District light-rail station and on the other end to the Capitol Hill station. The project's fancy new website goes on to say that, "[t]his is an important link in the regional transit system, providing an alternative to the originally proposed deep tunnel light rail station on First Hill." The streetcar has been fully funded for both construction and operational costs. There are currently several alignments that are being considered, and Sound Transit and the city are welcoming feedback on which would best serve the needs of the community. The big debate will likely center around whether the Streetcar will run partly up 12th Avenue (as an impetus for economic development) or if it will satisfy the interest of hospitals (which didn't get the light-rail stop they were originally promised and want a streetcar). For a pop-up map of alignment options, click here. The three open houses are on:

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
6:00 — 8:00 pm
Seattle Central Community College
101 Broadway Seattle, WA 98122

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
6:00 pm — 8:00 pm
Yesler Community Center
917 E. Yesler Way Seattle, WA 98122

Thursday, December 17, 2009
6:00 pm — 8:00 pm
Union Station
401 S. Jackson Seattle, WA 98104

The current schedule is projected to break ground in 2011, with an opening date of 2013.

Comments (15) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

This requires a derrickito "statement of the obvious or mundane" reply.

Congratulations, Sound Transit and SDOT-- you're doing your job.

Posted by Baconcat on December 3, 2009 at 11:39 AM

Awesome. Keep the transit coming. Bring on more density.

Posted by Rotten666 on December 3, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Boren to Seneca to Broadway. Gotta serve the hospitals, not to mention all the medical offices and SCCC too.

Posted by Joe M on December 3, 2009 at 12:18 PM

12 Ave loop is a pipe dream - First Hill controls the route - more workers, and part of the original plan

And - Fred Hutch. has just begun to fight - and all the rest of the medical heavy hitters

C. Hill has delusions of grandeur and self importance on this one

Posted by Clyde Ronson on December 3, 2009 at 12:28 PM

@3, too zigzaggy. A trolley line should look and be axial, not meandering. Broadway is fine for reaching the hospitals, it's downhill from there. But I'd love to see it run down 12th, where it would pass a lot of storefront spaces instead of the storefrontlless pedestrian deadzones of Broadway as it passes between Seattle U and Swedish.

Posted by Eric F on December 3, 2009 at 12:31 PM

run it along 12th. the 9th has way too much congestion and parking. 12th is wider.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on December 3, 2009 at 12:38 PM

Thank you for posting the leaflet I got in the mail in blog form.

Posted by I check my mail on December 3, 2009 at 12:49 PM

I like 12th. It's right past my house. I worry about tearing it up, though. And they really should run up Denny to the SLUT.

Posted by Vince on December 3, 2009 at 12:55 PM

hello? the waterfront trolley? where did it go? can we have it back, and maybe extend it to little saigon?

Posted by Max Solomon on December 3, 2009 at 12:58 PM

They can run it up 12th if the yank the parking. Bullshit if they destroy the bikeway like they did on Westlake.

Posted by Westlake, son! on December 3, 2009 at 1:03 PM

@9, a downtown line is envisioned in the Seattle Streetcar Network Development Report, but I think it's likely to run up 1st Ave past the Market. It would terminate at Seattle Center and 23rd and Jackson.

Posted by Eric F on December 3, 2009 at 1:05 PM

Eric @5, nonsense. Trolleys need to go where people work and congregate in large numbers. Unlike regional rail, trolleys can make a couple turns along the way.

Posted by Joe M on December 3, 2009 at 2:53 PM

@12 - exactly. which is 12th.

Yesterday and today are not tomorrow. This won't be in operation until 2015.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on December 3, 2009 at 3:41 PM

AKA, Not A Monorail, Bus, or Lightrail Alternative.

Posted by elenchos on December 3, 2009 at 4:48 PM

@9 and other streetcar supporters, you might be interested in this blog:
http://streetcar.slumberland.org/

(Disclosure: I host the blog on my server but I am not the one who writes on the blog. I offered to host it as a small but hopefully helpful contribution to the cause.)

Posted by litlnemo