Seattle Area Monorail

by Bob Fleming

Image courtesy of the Seattle Monorail Project

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History

SEATTLE IS FAMOUS FOR ITS MONORAIL.

Seattle has one of the World’s first modern monorails. It was built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, and still operates today as the The Seattle Center Monorail. It runs only a little over a mile from downtown Seattle to the Seattle Center, on the site of the former World’s Fair, but it is a very popular attraction and is a working example of a modern monorail. It demonstrates how monorail can be an alternative to subways or commuter railways for urban rapid transit.

THE PEOPLE OF SEATTLE VOTED FOR A NEW, EXPANDED MONORAIL SYSTEM.

In the 6 November 2002 election the citizens of Seattle approved a new 14-mile long monorail to be built in Seattle. This line has been named the Green Line, and will be the first of several lines in a city-wide system of monorails. However, in the Summer of 2005 there were financing problems and in anelection on 8 November 2005, the people voted to cancel the project to build the Green Line.

The Current Situation

The Seattle Center Monorail is operating. There is very little talk at the present about new monorail in this area.

There has been some discussion about mass transit between downtown Seattle and West Seattle, and also between downtown and Ballard, as one possible option for handling traffic during closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct for construction of a replacement. The Alaskan Way Viaduct is a major elevated freeway along the Seattle waterfront that is old and will probably be shut down in the near future (this is currently a matter of hot debate). There has been occasional suggestion of monorail as a mass transit option.

News

For my opinions regarding the recent Seattle Monorail Project demise and future possibilities, please click here.

Click here to read my opinions about the Seattle Monorail Project and other Seattle-Area monorail plans.