Seattle monorail route approved

[G W North]

My comments: they've said that frequency in the future could be as great as 3 minutes. If the single-rail sections force frequencies of no better than 5 or 6 minutes (initially it's to be 8 minutes), they've really missed the boat, as that is inadequate IMO.

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Monorail board OKs route for Green Line

By Mike Lindblom

Seattle Times staff reporter

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A station-by-station look at the Green Line route

After weighing the opinions of hundreds of citizens and businesses, monorail officials last night voted to approve a final route for the 14-mile Green Line.

The alignment features a winding section near the International Fountain at Seattle Center and stations at the Nucor Steel mill in West Seattle and near Safeco Field bleachers. The Seattle Monorail Project board also voted for a nine-foot buffer between trains and Second Avenue buildings.

The decision is a milestone for the $1.75 billion project. Construction could begin late this year, monorail Chairman Tom Weeks said.

The plan goes to the City Council for permits. The city could require changes, but council President Jan Drago considers the alignment "95 percent" settled.

[Guest donaltopablo]

The expansion is good news, and the 8 minutes is better than many of the mass transit systems for a city of Seattle's size. Question, is this an expansion of the existing system, or do they intersect somewhere. Hate to be the one to say I don't know, but I'm not familar with the actual route of the Seattle monorail system. If it isn't an expansion, but an entire new line (which by the green line designation the article seems to imply it's entirely new), does it intersect with the existing line at all?

[G W North]

Part of this route covers the current route. The old monorail will be taken down and dismantled to make way for this. There was an article in yesterday's times saying that the old monorail may be reconstructed along the Bremerton (a suburb) waterfront. Personally, I cannot see this happening.

The current route goes from "7" to about a block south of "9".

Personally, I think every subway/monorail line should at least allow for frequencies of no more than 3 minutes. Even Vancouver's SkyTrain has 90 second frequencies at rush hour.

[monsoon]

[G W North]

Hmmm....I do know that Toronto and Vancouver have peak-hour frequencies under 2 minutes. I figured many other cities would have very high frequencies like this. In Toronto, even with a 1000-seat subway car every 90 seconds, the stations are so overcrowded at peak times, that one standing at the back of the crowd waiting for the train often has to let one or two trains pass before they're even able to work there way to the front of the crowd so they can get on the next train.

Frequencies here though are less in off-hours, probably 5 minuts or so.

[monsoon]

[bobliocatt]

That's a pretty expensive system! Where is the funding coming from? We have a small 3 mile monorail system in Jacksonville, that needs to be expanded, so I'm interested to here more about this Seattle project.

[Allan]

Great news for Seattle!! This is going to cost a lot, but it will be very benificial to the city once it's completed.