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A statement by a Sound Transit representative accused opponents of Link
light rail of being “anti-transit” and of “wanting to kill
Sound Transit.”
I am opposed to Link light rail, but I also strongly support transit and I want Sound Transit to live. I WANT A GOOD MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM: The Seattle area desperately needs a good mass transit system including high-capacity high-speed links throughout the area. In today’s environment light rail is not the best choice. The Link light rail project has become much too expensive and is falling short of the original plans. If a monorail were to be built instead of light rail it would cost much less, provide faster service, and be better in many others ways. SOUND TRANSIT IS THE BEST AGENCY FOR REGIONAL TRANSIT: Sound Transit has the responsibility of providing high-speed regional transit. It is doing a good job with Sounder commuter heavy rail and a large fleet of ST Express buses. But Link light rail is Sound Transit’s Achille’s Heel. This prohibitively expensive project with many shortcomings endangers the future of Sound Transit. We need Sound Transit to survive and lead us into the future, not with outdated and expensive light rail, but with more effective and less costly monorail routes along with other alternatives such as bus rapid transit (BRT). THE LINK PROJECT IS GOING TO COST WAY TOO MUCH: The estimates for the costs of the project have grown enormously from when the project was first presented to the voters. A monorail can be built for less or a longer line built for the same amount of money. FOR MORE MONEY WE GET LESS: The original plans were for a light rail line that would go north from Downtown Seattle to Northgate, and south from Downtown to Sea-Tac Airport. Due to much higher costs, the initial project has been scaled back to where only the southward line will be built. So not only will it cost much more, it would not be nearly as useful. (They are currently planning the northward line, but will need more funding to build it.) If the money is used instead for monorail, a longer line can be build in less time, and a line north can probably be included. SURFACE LIGHT RAIL IS NOT TRUE RAPID TRANSIT: The Seattle region needs a true rapid transit system, meaning that people travelling over longer distances in the region can travel at high speeds from one place to another. In other cities this is accomplished with subway systems and heavy rail commuter trains that are mostly or completely separated from surface traffic. The plan for Link light rail will included long stretches along surface streets. The trains will have a dedicated right-of-way, but will still have to cross streets every few blocks, so the speed has to be restricted. Light rail can not operate at the higher speeds of subways or high-speed commuter trains. A monorail is up out of the way of traffic so operates at higher average speed. LIGHT RAIL WILL NOT BE AS EFFECTIVE AT ATTRACTING RIDERS: One of the main goals of a regional rapid transit system is to encourage many automobile drivers to use rapid transit instead of driving. This will work best if the drivers can drive to a location some distance away from their destination and then ride quickly to a point near their destination, saving time over the driving and parking. Light rail is too slow to lure many drivers away from their cars. The higher speed of monorail means a shorter trip, and will encourage more people to ride instead of driving. MANY HOMES AND BUSINESS WILL BE DESTROYED TO MAKE ROOM FOR LINK TRACKS: Where Link will travel through Seattle’s Rainier Valley community, the tracks will go down the middle of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, a major arterial, with the tracks fenced off from the street. In order to make room for the tracks, the street must be widened. This means the tearing down of homes and businesses along the street. Similar destruction must take place along most of the route, except for a portion that will be in a tunnel. The slender pylons (columns) supporting the monorail can utilize the two-way left-turn lines down the center of most streets along the proposed route, so that no widening of the streets would be necessary. THE TRACKS WILL DIVIDE COMMUNITIES: Again using Martin Luther King Way as an example, the tracks will form a barrier down the street except for crossings every few blocks. Neighbors and shoppers will no longer be able to get from one side of the street to the other except at certain crossings. This will in effect divide the community into two parts. The monorail does not interfere with the movement of people crossing the street. THE TRAINS WILL BE NOISY: Families and businesses near the tracks will have to put up with the increased noise of passing trains. Steel wheels on steel rails are inherently noisy. A monorail uses rubber tires so it is much quieter. THERE ARE CONCERNS ABOUT SAFETY: The tracks will be fenced off. But the trains still have to cross streets every few blocks, and the history of light rail elsewhere shows that accidents do happen fairly often. There are inevitably going to be smashed cars and dead and crippled children and adults. The monorail trains are up there and can't hit anybody. Click here for more about safety. LIGHT RAIL WILL DISRUPT THE DOWNTOWN BUS TUNNEL: The Link project will run tracks through Downtown Seattle by using the Downtown Bus Tunnel for the tracks. The tunnel would be closed down while being modified for rail use, and during the modification all the buses now using the tunnel will be using surface streets, creating a lot more congestion and slowing bus service. After modification, the buses will be sharing the tunnel with trains, greatly reducing the capacity of the tunnel for buses. A monorail obviously will not use the tunnel. CENTRAL LINK WILL NOT SERVE SOUTHCENTER MALL: Southcenter Mall would be a major destination, but the Link line will not go there on its way to the airport. I think that if a monorail line were to be built instead, it could go to Southcenter Mall before going west and south to the airport. THE TUNNEL UNDER BEACON HILL IS NOT COST EFFECTIVE: The tunnel under Beacon Hill is going to be very expensive and will serve only one station on Beacon Hill. With a monorail line, it would probably go along Dearborn to Rainier Ave. S. and then south onto Martin Luther King Way S. It would not have any stations on Beacon Hill, but would better serve Rainier Valley. With proper bus connections to the monorail, service to Beacon Hill would be better than with Link. Additionally, a future monorail line could run down the spine of Beacon Hill. LIGHT RAIL SUPPORTERS POINT TO THE SUCCESS OF OTHER SYSTEMS: Many cities use light rail and most of these systems are successful, such as Portland’s Max system and Vancouver, B.C.’s Skytrain . But I think monorail would have been more successful at less cost. Those places have already have light rail systems and so it is only logical to add to what they already have. The Seattle area is about to get locked in to the same trap, but it is still not too late to change for the better. For more about how things could have been better for other cities, go to my What If? page. SO WHAT DO I SUGGEST? I suggest that Sound Transit listen to the voices of the people, stop further expenditures for Link light rail, and build instead a monorail along a similar route. Since the monorail will replace the Link light rail project, I am calling the monorail line Link Monorail. Click here for my Link Monorail proposal. |
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©2003 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last updated 4 October 2004.