My transportation dream

By Marc Calhoun

In the Feb. 28 Herald I wrote of a walk I took after a bad commute; a walk to shake off the frustration of a slow drive home in gridlock traffic. The Ghost of Times Present went with me on that walk, but I had to shoo him away. I needed an escape. So I let the Ghost of Simpler Times Past take my mind off things for a while. Reality eventually called and, as I returned home, the Ghost of Times Future decided to perk me up. He prodded me to write up one vision of what things might be like in our city in 10 years. What it might be like without a viaduct strangling us, or a tunnel that hides traffic, but does not solve the real problem.

It is the year 2017 and I need to get to Green Lake from West Seattle. So I hop on one of the Admiral/Morgan shuttles, buses that run the length of California Avenue every 15 minutes, and get off at Junction Station. The reader board shows I have five minutes until the next inbound monorail leaves. A few minutes later it zips me over the Duwamish on the Falkenberry Bridge, and then an automated voice says "Mind the Gap!" as I step onto the platform of Lander Station. A southbound light rail train departs and 10 minutes later my train pulls in. It is a quick ride north and I get off at Westlake Tunnel. To get to Green Lake I need to go up to street level and catch the Highway 99-BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) that runs on its own lanes from Federal Way to Lynnwood. Except for its three mile run through town, from the stadiums to Seattle Center, its route from the south end pretty much follows the course of highway 99. I'm hungry, so I first head to the market to pick up a hum bow. After gobbling down the barbequed pork goodness I return to Fourth Avenue and wait for the BRT.

As I stand there I see commuters on their way to work. I am retired now, so daily trips across Lake Washington are a thing of the past. But that commute is not as bad as in the old days. Slow bus crawls up I-5 and across the bridge are a thing of the past. If I wanted to go to the eastside I'd hop on the 520-BRT that goes all the way to Bear Creek on its own lane. It crosses the lake in the center of the Sims Bridge, which, while still only having two lanes in each direction for cars, carries more people than the old SR-520 bridge did in the dark days of gridlock. Of course none of these improvements would have been possible if they hadn't added two additional lanes to I-5 in each direction from Spokane Street to Freeway Bridge. It took courage for the mayor to call for demolishing the Convention Center to make room for the lanes. But concerned for his legacy he realized it was the right thing to do.

Eastside traffic is also much improved. The SR-520 BRT has been a boon and, with the completion of the trails-to-rails project, commuter trains now provide regular service from Maple Valley to Woodinville.

I am soon aboard the Highway 99-BRT to continue my journey north. We stop at Center Station, then continue north across the Aurora Bridge to start the steady climb to Woodland Park. Green Lake Station nears, the bus rolls to a stop, and I step out onto the platform. A three mile hike around the lake is next.

Two hours later I'm on my way home. I get off downtown and walk to the waterfront. The road here is busy, for it's a working waterfront, but the continual roar of 50 mph traffic is gone and I can hear myself think. The strip of land where the viaduct once stood is now a mile and a half boulevard. No development was allowed on the newly opened space, and the only traffic allowed is maritime industry related, ferry access, and waterfront visitors. You can't use the road as a through-route without a trucking or maritime permit, and enforcing this was a problem at first. But the Brits were consulted, and it's amazing what they can do with cameras.

Even though it's the dead of winter I board the year-round water taxi to West Seattle. The boat docks at its permanent pier near Salty's, so no more bouncy pontoon dock-walks as in the past. I see the shuttle to the junction approach and step aboard.

So that's a dream of the future the ghost of those times goaded me to write. Am I a qualified transportation engineer? No. But I have commuted through Seattle traffic for 25 years. And I am tired of seeing gazillions of bucks spent to widen roads during that quarter century, yet nothing is done to give me a mass transit option that does not mean being stuck in traffic with all those cars. Will something like I've described come about? Probably not, but one can hope. My main point, and I'll say it directly now to the powers that be, is please, please, I beg of you please; regardless of what happens with highway 99, SR520, or I-5, give us mass transit options through town, including Ballard and West Seattle, and across Lake Washington, that operate on their own right of way, all the way!

Marc Calhoun may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com

Marc Calhoun

The Ghost of Times Future-Part 2

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