Why West Seattle Light Rail?

The Seattle Times Sept. 18^th Traffic Lab article, “West Seattle’s light rail estimate soars past $6 billion” exemplifies the paper’s support for Sound Transit’s approach to the area’s transportation problems.  Abetting claims the latest estimate “somewhere between $6.7 billion and $7.1 billion” are no reason to panic, but a good reason to forge ahead”.

What the voters approved in 2016, $2.3 billion, has apparently gotten Terri Mestas, the deputy CEO Megaproject deliverer's approval, to spend the additional funds.  That Sound Transit considers the need for drastic reductions as premature. Mestas said “her team still has a long runway to cope with West Seattle cost". The article reports “an advisory panel of outside experts gave high marks for management reorganization, and said Sound Transit now has the best talent available”.

What she and her team (and outside experts) apparently won't consider is whether there’s any real need for light rail from Alaska Junction to Sodo. King County Metro already provides Rapid Ride C and Rapid Ride H, 24-hour service to the entire area.  During peak commute Rapid Ride C buses run every 15 minutes from Westwood Village, Fauntleroy Ferry to Alaska Junction, down Avalon Way, across West Seattle Bridge to Highway 99, 3^rd Ave in Seattle, and Westlake Ave to South Lake Union.  Schedules typically show 20 minutes from Alaska Junction to 3^rd Ave & Seneca.  Late night and early morning intervals stretch from 20 minutes to hourly.  

Rapid Ride H runs on a similar schedule from Burien T/C to White Center along Delridge Way to West Seattle Bridge to Highway 99 and 3^rd Ave, taking 18 minutes from Myrtle St on Delridge to Madison St on 3^rd Ave.  KCM also provides Route 21 along 35^th Ave in West Seattle, again down Avalon Way, across bridge to Sodo and 1^st Ave into Seattle.  It’s routed from 4:40 am to 12:42 am, again on similar intervals. 

All three routes provide multiple stops for access in West Seattle and egress on 3^rdAve in Seattle and beyond.  Yet access to West Seattle light rail is limited to stations at Alaska Junction, Avalon, and Delridge and egress at Sodo.  There, commuters will need to transfer to Line 1, sharing its capacity into and out of the CID station. A dubious option at best as any potential transit time savings will be offset by the need to transfer

The bottom line is the Traffic Lab is the Seattle Times project that “comments on how transportation funds are spent”.  Yet the Sept 18^th article abets Sound Transit spending up to $7,100 million, presumably on the assumption thousands of West Seattle area commuters will choose light rail rather than bus routes into and out of Seattle.

The Traffic Lab and the new Megaproject delivery hire need to consider “Does West Seattle need Light Rail?”.