About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Thursday, November 28, 2024

Lynnwood Ridership Debunks Need for 2nd Tunnel

The video of the November 21st Sound Transit Board meeting included another example of the board ignoring Chinatown objections by not selecting the 4th Ave Shallow route for the second tunnel.  They objected despite all the problems with the 4th Ave route detailed in the prior System Expansion Committee meeting. 

The result being the Chinatown area will be devastated by a minimum of seven years boring the second tunnel through the area. However, the recent Lynnwood Link ridership debacle is not only another reason to not devastate Chinatown, it also provides another reason to not even bore a second tunnel.

Previous posts have detailed that 4-car light rail trains don’t have the capacity to accommodate the riders needed to reduce multilane freeway lane peak hour congestion and cost too much to operate off peak. That Sound Transit should have never extended light rail beyond UW Stadium, across I-90 Bridge or beyond SeaTac.

What’s different now is the Lynnwood Link boardings have debunked the Sound Transit’s “Field of Dreams” approach, "if we build light rail, riders will come." That very few of the 80,000 residents who Sound Transit reported lived within a mile of one of its 4 light rail stations chose light rail for their commute into Seattle.  That routing Line 2 trains to Lynnwood would add very few riders but could double the high operating cost.

Thus Line 2 trains should be terminated at the existing CID station with easy access to northbound or southbound Line 1 trains, without the need for a 2nd tunnel northbound.  That the need for the 2nd tunnel southbound can also be negated by the Lynnwood Link’s ridership results.

In this case because the area served by Ballard to SODO link already has multiple stops for access along KCM routes with more convenient egress in Seattle.  A sure recipe for another failure of Sound Transit’s “Field of Dreams” light rail ridership and their need for a second tunnel.

The bottom line is the Lynnwood Link ridership debacle should be a “wake-up" call regarding Sound Transit’s heralded “largest transit system expansion in the country”.  Negating the need for the second tunnel is just part of the “alarm”.

 

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