dawsonct
In fact, Seattle’s hyper-deliberative process SAVED us from the monorail. Ask ANY transportation engineer (who doesn’t work for a company making monorails) and they will be happy to tell you what a debacle they are.
There are excellent reasons this “20th century” technology hasn’t swept the transportation world.
Just one example of the nightmare it would have been, if their had been a break-down on any of the numerous proposed single-track sections, THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS SHUT DOWN UNTIL THEY COULD CLEAR THE TRACKS. That means, if there is a breakdown anywhere on the system, they need to clear the track between the breakdown and the maintenance vehicle, and it remains closed until the train is completely cleared from the track.
You simply don’t have the same issues with a dual-track line. If a dual-track train breaks down, it can even be easily removed from the tracks, if necessary.
I am not a transportation engineer, but have a number of close family and friends in the field.
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I know the fantasy of monorail is fun, but you all can stop lamenting it, because the fiasco is fortunately NEVER going to be foisted on us. It would have been a funding black-hole, and an engineering nightmare for what would have inevitably been it’s too long life (we would have tried to make it work, and would have spent BILLIONS until we determined it was a white elephant and tear it down).
And remember, everyone wanted to live within a couple of blocks of the monorail, but no one wanted it zooming down THEIR street.
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Wouldn’t it be great to have a bus from W. Seattle to the Beacon Hill LR station? I would selfishly also like it to continue to the VA and Columbia City.
I frankly think we could make a far greater impact on trip mitigation in the city and region with some re-planning of transit routes and priorities. More E./W. routes, more free neighborhood shuttles.
As an example, it’s ridiculous that the most frequent and direct route from Ak. Jct. to Alki Beach requires a sometimes uncertain transfer and takes longer than it does to get downtown.
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Anyone else like to see regularly scheduled service to the mountain passes? Adding extra stops during the Summer at the trail-head exits would be a big bonus.