high capacity transit

Ballard Historical Society

Scenes From Old Ballard: When streetcar existed

Guest — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:20:17 +0000

Guest (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2013 - 8:20am

Courtesy of Ballard Historical Society

With all of the recent hubbub over the possibility of a high capacity transit line connecting Ballard to Downtown, we thought it might be nice to take a look at the past. If you'll remember, Ballard had a streetcar before.

In this photo from the Ballard Historical Society's photo archive, which was taken around 1920, Maud Reid Adams stands on the Ballard Bridge with a steetcar in the background.

Here are their notes on the photo:

The Ballard Bridge was originally constructed in 1888. Prior to it being built there was no direct access to Seattle from Ballard. Interestingly, there was originally a tiny island located where the current bridge stands. Anchored to this island (at the turn of the century) was what was known as a Pest House. Built initially upon a scow and eventually secured to the island with pilings, the pest house was used as a quarantine facility during the epidemics of diphtheria, scarlet fever, small pox and polio. The original bridge has been replaced twice by more modern versions.

In 1890 the first streetcar started operating in Ballard. The run consisted of twelve motorcars that made two daily trips apiece. The cost was $.05 (with a transfer) and the streetcar grossed about $20.00 a day. In 1902 the Fremont-Ballard Streetcar began service. As a result people could live in Ballard and easily commute to downtown Seattle every day. Unfortunately streetcars were unreliable and often overcrowded. Ballard’s streetcar system started to decline in the 1930’s and the last Ballard streetcar run ended in 1941. The City of Seattle replaced the electric streetcars with diesel buses and trackless trolleys.

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Seattle news

Mayor to attend Ballard transit study open house tomorrow, March 12

Guest — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:42:26 +0000

Guest (not verified) Mon, 03/11/2013 - 10:42am

A light rail will be one of the high capacity transit options considered in the Ballard-Downtown corridor study.

Photo by VeloBusDriver (Flickr/CC)

If it's one thing Mayor Mike McGinn wants to be known for in Ballard, it's helping to push through progress on the Ballard-Downtown high capacity transit corridor.

On Tuesday, March 12, 5-7 p.m. in the Ballard High School Commons (1418 NW 65th St), he will be attending the first open house on the Ballard-Down transit study, which has started at the beginning of this year and will be completed mid-2014. For residents, it's a chance to express any initial concerns, questions and support for the study and the project as a whole.

Certainly, Mayor Mike McGinn is giving it all he has. Last week, he sent out a wave of robocalls to people in Ballard and those who have expressed interest encouraging them to attend the open house. He also sent the following statement in an email:

"Since coming into office, I’ve been working to help connect neighborhoods with rail and provide faster and more reliable transit options. One of our top priorities, as shown in the Transit Master Plan, is a Ballard to Downtown rail transit corridor. The Transit Master Plan showed that corridor having the highest ridership potential of any route in the City.

The City of Seattle has partnered with Sound Transit on studying this corridor. There are many questions and details to discuss as we move forward. That’s why I’d like to invite you to attend an open house March 12th on options for rail transit between Ballard and downtown Seattle. We are seeking public input on potential routes, station locations, travel patterns and other issues as we examine building new rail options between Ballard and downtown."

On March 1, the Sound Transit Board of Directors unanimously approved a motion to accelerate planning for the next phase of the Regional Transit System Plan (which includes high capacity corridor studies such as Ballard's) and update the Long-Range Plan by 2014. This would allow Sound Transit to bring a ballot measure asking for funding in 2016, which would likely include funding for the Ballard corridor.

If you can’t attend the meeting, you can offer feedback online through the project website between March 11 and March 15 at www.soundtransit.org/ballardstudy.

Zachariah Bryan can be reached at zachb@robinsonnews.com

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Study of Ballard-to-Downtown high capacity transit corridor to begin soon

Guest — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:54:01 +0000

Guest (not verified) Tue, 02/12/2013 - 9:54am

Sound Transit is beginning their Ballard transit expansion study soon to figure out whether Ballard is a candidate for high capacity transit (HCT), e.g., light rail or street car.

For Ballard, which is tucked away in the northwest corner of Seattle and far from I-5 -- yet still has a popular nightlife scene on Ballard Ave and the third most visited tourist attraction, the Ballard Locks -- it's a long time coming.

The study was first approved by voters in 2008 when they passed the ST2 plan, which included studying potential HCT options from Ballard to Downtown.

The study will have to answer a difficult question, though: How to cross the ship canal. A new bridge could be costly, but there may not be enough capacity on current bridges for HCT.

Sound Transit and the Seattle Department of Transportation will study the following:

Identify project goals and objectives
Identify possible alignments between Ballard and downtown Seattle
Evaluate and refine potential HCT light rail and rapid streetcar alignments and station locations
Develop general ridership estimates and cost estimates
Summarize and document findings
Present findings to the Seattle City Council and Sound Transit Board for possible future action

For more info, visit http://www.soundtransit.org/x7914.xml

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Sound Transit approves up to $2 million to study possible light rail to Ballard

Guest — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:18:39 +0000

Guest (not verified) Fri, 11/16/2012 - 12:18pm

Yesterday, Sound Transit agreed to commit up to $2 million for a study of possible high capacity transit on the Ballard-to-Downtown transit corridor.

This funding would be in addition to $800,000 provided by the city of Seattle. The study is scheduled to start in early 2013 and will be completed by mid-2014, according to Sound Transit.

No promises are being made on what the study will result in, but it does mean at least the possibility, finally, of gaining a light rail or a streetcar connection to Ballard in the future.

The corridor is identified in the Sound Transit Long Range Plan as a possible rail extension. The study will help update the Seattle Transit Master Plan, which seeks to expand the city's street car network.

Mayor Mike McGinn has described the Ship Canal crossing (currently the Ballard Bridge) as one of the most constrained choke points in Seattle. According to his office, the transit master plan estimated that rail will increase ridership by 12,500 people per day in the Ballard-Downtown corridor, for a total of 26,000 people per day. Rail is the only mode of transit which produced those gains, according to the Mayor.

For many Ballardites, who have waited time and again for a study only to have a new ship canal crossing proclaimed as "too expensive," this may be a long-time coming.

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