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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Transportation Release Date for Report on Vision Line Moved at Last Minute

Posted by Unpaid Intern on Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 3:57 PM

Robert Ullman

Posted by news intern Sarah Anne Lloyd.

In this week's Stranger, I wrote about the so-called Vision Line, the proposed route for the Sound Transit Light Rail East Link project, backed by wealthy Eastside developers, that would skirt the edge of Downtown Bellevue. It's most notable supporter is Kemper Freeman—the region's leading opponent of light rail—who coincidentally donated to the campaigns of all four Bellevue city council members who now support the Vision Line (now only three council members don't support the impractical route). If built with a stop next to the 405 freeway, getting to the downtown Bellevue's main shopping streets, where thousands of people work and need to get to, would take an 11-minute walk, kneecapping light rail ridership to Bellevue.

Sound Transit was supposed to release a report on the Vision Line at their board meeting tomorrow—including estimates for cost, ridership, and other potentially revealing information that could demonstrate it's a terrible idea—but the release has been delayed to an undetermined date. Bruce Gray, spokesman for Sound Transit, says that they're "trying to nail down a date in mid-February" for a "joint workshop with the Bellevue City Council" to "roll out analysis of everything related to Downtown." Gray says that at this week's Sound Transit Board meeting, they will be discussing having another meeting —not the Vision Line.

Claudia Balducci, a Bellevue city council member and Sound Transit board member who's not thrilled with the Vision Line, explained that it's "taking the staff longer than originally anticipated to finish the more detailed modeling stuff." She adds, "I really believe they just need a little more time. Having a joint meeting might be a really positive step in terms of us all working together."

(Balducci also informed me that the internet filter at King County Jail (her day job) blocks The Stranger. Who knew?)

Comments (14) RSS

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it's because you have pervy ads (the jail blocking)

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 27, 2010 at 4:27 PM

well, I assume that the 9 minute walk from the Columbia City Station to Columbia City is also a bad idea? I mean, it's only 2 minutes shorter of a walk, but if you were going to Tutta Bella then suddenly your walk becomes 14 minutes....

Posted by 11min-is-nothing on January 27, 2010 at 4:30 PM

What a shame, people will be forced to get an extra 11 minutes of exercise a day.

Posted by poseurriffic on January 27, 2010 at 4:44 PM

Is an 11 minute walk really that long? Next thing you know, they'll be asking people to walk uphill.

Posted by ak47 on January 27, 2010 at 4:54 PM

Man, fuck Kemper Freeman sideways with a foot-long pepper grinder. He'll do anything to keep the uninterrupted stream of Q7s, CX-70s, and X5s converging towards 8th and Bellevue Way.

Posted by laterite on January 27, 2010 at 5:09 PM

Not so bad for a little Bellevue day trip, but it'd be awful for daily commuters.

Posted by Unpaid Intern on January 27, 2010 at 5:48 PM

Who cares what the Bellevue Shitty Council thinks? If a car tunnel is shoved up Seattle's ass light rail should be shoved up theirs.

Posted by Spicy McHaggis on January 27, 2010 at 7:42 PM

ak47 @4: Is an 11 minute walk really that long? Next thing you know, they'll be asking people to walk uphill.

Multiply that by 2 for a 22-minute round-trip walk. Pretty soon, that car trip's not looking so bad.

There's a reason transit planners around the world don't locate transit stations where there'll be an 11-minute walk to the actual destinations people want to get to. Because it just doesn't work.

Likewise, there's a reason Kemper Freeman is supporting the Vision Line. If placing a light rail station next to a busy freeway and far away from the places transit riders actually wanted to get to--if this kind of planning actually was good for light rail and light rail ridership and reasonable to an average prospective rider, there's no way in hell Kemper Freeman would be trying to pack the City Council with backers of it.

Posted by cressona on January 27, 2010 at 8:05 PM

It's = it is
its = possessive

Posted by everyone deserves this on January 27, 2010 at 8:15 PM

it's = it is
its = possessive

Posted by everyone deserves this on January 27, 2010 at 8:16 PM

You reap what you sow. Bellevue's going to fuck itself out of a share of the light rail benefits, while still paying the full costs, all to help out some property owners who happen to be related to a certain new city council member. Meanwhile Redmond is going to become the new bigshot city on the Eastside.

Posted by Greg on January 27, 2010 at 9:07 PM

@6 Unpaid Intern & @8 Cressona; how many minute walk IS acceptable? According to your article it would seem the answer is 4.5 minutes at the average walking speed of a pedestrian. "National Personal Transportation Study found that only 40 percent of Americans would walk 1,000 feet"

So, how about drawing a 4.5 minute walking circle around the Rainier Beach Link Station, gee, that will get us to a produce stand, a church, furniture rental, and Vinces Pizza. Draw it around Mt. Baker and you can get to RiteAid, QFC, Shucks, Lowes, and a couple gas stations. Excellent!

My walk to the Link station is 15 minutes, I get on the train, it takes 20 minutes to get downtown, and then I have another 10 minute walk to get to my office. I could drive and park and be at my desk in 20. I do this in the rain, I do it in the sun, I do it in the cold. Even the walk from the terminal to the station at the airport is longer than 4.5 minutes!

Take your hatred for Kemper out of the equation. If anything, he has helped TOD by building his condo/hotel/shopping monoliths. Exactly what is to be built around tranisit stations right?

and Cressona: "actual destinations people want to get to." boy, that Tukwila station sure is a great destination isn't it!?!?!

Posted by put on yer walkin shoes on January 28, 2010 at 7:15 AM

The Bellevue city council can suggest all the new routes they want; sound transit has the final say. So this is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot.

Posted by Rotten666 on January 28, 2010 at 7:18 AM

An 11 minute walk is not very far to walk. It's sort of ridiculous in a melodramatic way when boldfaced like that.

I'm from Seattle, and now I live in New York (a city with better public transit). I walk about 11-12 minutes between my office and the F train twice a day. I could take another train and transfer to the F, but I don't because I'm not a giant baby.

Posted by sam1729 on January 28, 2010 at 11:01 AM