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This is Seattle's light rail system running from downtown to the airport. This line was originally designed to serve riders from the University District through to the airport, but the line was shortened after costs increased. Soon after voters approved Sound Transit, discussions began on extending the line to Northgate, which has a large regional bus transit center. Even future extensions to the Eastside or to Tacoma were proposed.
Then the problems began. Due to the unique topography of the Seattle area, as well as its urbanization, a significant portion of the line needed to be in a tunnel under Capitol Hill and the University District.. It turned out the tunneling would cost more than predicted due to difficult soils. Then, another large portion of the line was designed to run at street level through South Seattle. The community was upset by this, and demanded concessions. These issues led to years of delays...at a time when property values were just about doubling every year. Note that Sound Transit didn't own any of the right of way for the project.
The current project has been scaled back, yet is still more costly. Now the line will stop at the Westlake station of the downtown bus tunnel and will run to the airport after a short extension is completed. Plans are in the works to continue to Northgate and extend to the Airport and past to the South 200th station as planned, but it may require another tax levy to do this. Also, another Tim Eyman initiative, Initiative 776, was recently upheld by the courts. This would remove the Sound Transit tax on vehicle tabs. However, it appears it would be illegal to actually remove the tax. Removing this tax however would jeopardize this project.
While I don't doubt the ridership numbers for this project as the line will pass through some of the most urbanized areas in the Northwest, it doesn't seem to do a lot for solving the area's's traffic problems. The two major traffic problems here are between Tacoma and Seattle/the Eastside, and between Seattle and the Eastside. However, Seattle to Tacoma is best handled by Sounder (preferably with an eventual cross-connection to the Eastside Monorail), and a possible Tacoma to the Eastside Sounder line.
As for light rail to the Eastside, this would have a major impact on local traffic...but it would also have a major cost. Due to the depth and width of Lake Washington, it is only possible to cross it via floating bridge. Given problems utilizing the I-90 corridor, and with the current need for a new 520 bridge, that is the most logical path. But the current cost of a 520 bridge with light rail is 9 BILLION dollars. That is just for the bridge. Add more for the infrastructure on the Seattle side and the Eastside. Even with cost overruns the current Link system is much cheaper.
Another think to keep in mind, in my opinion, is that especially for a starter system such as this or the Tacoma Link, you may not see a lot of traffic benefits in the beginning...but it may help with business and tourism. There are still a lot of companies downtown, with people who fly in and out to do business with them. To illustrate this case: in 2002 I flew to Idaho Falls, Idaho. On the way back, when landing at Sea-Tac, someone asked how close to downtown the airport is, if they could walk to it. So, for this tourist, having light rail at the airport going into downtown would be a MAJOR boon. Even the MAX Red Line in Portland was built expressly for airport access. Furthermore, the line allows for a new way to access downtown: by parking at one of the outlying stations and riding the train in.
With construction well underway on the initial segment and the announcement of the extension to the Airport, Link will be built and should be very successful. Whether future extensions will be built depends on how angry voters are with taxes, how useful they determine the initial line is, and what happens with the economy in the area. Traffic has actually lightened up a little with many of the jobs leaving or gone over the past few years. Hopefully an extension over I-90 or over 520 to the Eastside will eventually happen as job growth will probably continue to happen on the Eastside..
To come: more trip reports and photos.
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