Why Seattle Should Oppose East Link

For more than 5 years this blog has attempted to expose why Sound Transit’s East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside.  The blog had been preceded by more than 3 years of frequent appearances before, and emails to, the Bellevue City Council urging them to disallow the East Link permits Sound Transit needed.  My current candidacy for King County Executive is the 6^th attempt to use the “Voters’ Pamphlet” to attract attention to the blog.   

However, at this stage it’s “unlikely” the eastside can do anything to prevent Sound Transit, with WSDOT connivance, and with Seattle Times support, from proceeding with East Link.  The result being the vast majority of cross-lake commuters won’t have access to East Link’s limited capacity, inevitably forcing them to choose between high HOT fees on HOV lanes or gridlock on GP lanes. 

East side commuters are not the only ones impacted by East Link. Central Link riders will loose access because East Link operation will divert half of the Central Link trains through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) across the I-90 Bridge.   Central Link trains that currently run every 6 minutes during peak commuter will no longer be able to do so.   The PSRC concluded in a 2004 report that safe operation required a minimum of 4 minutes between trains.   Thus, East Link operation will require Central Link trains maintain 8 minutes between trains. 

However, even 8 minutes between trains may not be sufficient.  The problem being East Link round trips from International District Station are far shorter and have fewer stops than Central Link routes to Tacoma and back.   It’s not clear how Sound Transit intends to integrate the two different round-trip times and still maintain the 4-minute intervals between them through the tunnel.   That “uncertainty” may explain why Sound Transit’s latest East Link website video depicting operation no longer includes the previous videos “one train every 8-10 minute” operating schedule.   It’s likely East Link operation will increase headways between Central Link trains beyond the 8 minutes. 

East Link’s impact on Central Link operation is only a part of the problem.  Sound Transit intends to complete the Federal Way extension in 2024.  They claim it will attract up to 58,000 daily riders by 2040.  By 2030 their extension to Tacoma will begin operation and attract up to an additional 37,000 riders by 2040.  With 8 minutes between four car-trains, the PSRC assumption each 74-seat car could average 148 riders gives a capacity of 4440 riders per hour.   Even a fraction of the projected riders would fill that capacity before Angel Lake, ending access for those currently using Central Link. 

Ending East Link would eliminate the problems with integrating the two routes, more than doubling Central Link capacity.   The added capacity would at least delay the lost access for current riders.  The increased frequency could also be used to reduce route times by scheduling alternate trains to skip half the stations.  While it would increase wait times at all the intermediate stations, eliminating half the stops would reduce route times for everyone. 

Central Link commuters as well as those from the east side surely deserve better than what they’ll get when East Link begins operation.