WorldCitizen
OK, now that all the cursory questions are out of the way, here’s my thinking for why there is little choice other than to add light rail to West Seattle.
1) The monorail option is not a good estimate for what we are talking about because it’s a different animal altogether. The totally grade separate light rail options can move at speeds of (extremely conservatively speaking) 25 mph. In cities like San Francisco, the BART travels regularly at speeds of 60+ mph on longer stretches. Knowing Seattle, the elevation change, and the turns needed, plus the shorter distance involved, it would probably be more like 20 mph on average. The distance between the Alaska/Fauntleroy intersection and Pike Place Market is roughly 5.5 miles. I would guess there would be 1-2 stops in between the two points, but for arguments sake lets just make it five stops. So travel time without stops at 20 mph is 16 minutes 30 seconds. Add one minute per stop for five stops (an extremely conservative estimate by any standard) and your travel time rises to a whopping 21 minutes 30 seconds. Just to be even more conservative, lets just round it up to 25 minutes for a one-way trip. This first point alone to me is worth the trouble and expense of financing a modern dedicated light-rail to West Seattle. But there’s more reasons…
2) Density is the order of the day here in Seattle. At 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW there is slated to be upward of 355 new apartments coming onto the market. At 3062 Avalon Way there is to be an estimated 107 new apartments. At 4724 California (the old Petco) there are to be 78 new units. At 5444 Delridge Way SW a proposed 66 units. There’s Nova at 36th and Snoqualmie with another 62 units. There’s 3078 SW Avalon Way with a proposed 117 units.
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture. Not only is this what is currently in the works, this is the trend for the future. We happen to live in a major metropolitan area where the ONLY answer is density, like it or not. With density comes challenges to infrastructure. Our West Seattle bridge can only handle so much. There is no choice but to add alternate means of transportation COMPLETELY SEPARATE from the roads which will alleviate a huge portion of that strain. Obviously not everyone will have the luxury of traveling by train to where they are going, but getting those that can travel that way off the roads makes those that do drive more productive by taking up less of their time stuck in traffic.
3) The cost of not dealing with this now will be higher than if we just get it over with. I’m sorry if you have been here for your entire life and hate to see the area change. I’m sorry if you don’t want to pay for the expense of living in a HUGELY popular major metropolitan area. The fact of the matter is the area is changing and growing. This is reality. This growth costs money. Lots of money. Turning your back on this fact of life in the city now will doom us to crippling costs in the future as we wonder why when we had the numbers in front of us we didn’t just deal with it.
Yes, it will be expensive. The cost-benefit analysis, if run on todays numbers, I’m sure would be ridiculous looking. But the problem is, we already know what the future is bringing us. Can’t we agree to just accept that?
Look, this is a no-brainer. We have to stop living in the past. Seattle (Including West Seattle) is a place where people want to be. They’re coming weather you like it or not. We can either accept that and make it beter for us all sooner, or we can all bitch together in the future about how in 2012 it only used to take 30 minutes to get downtown in rush hour traffic, but now it’s an hour on a good day.