Light rail and downtown Bellevue is a thorny issue these days. Sound Transit (ST) has a preferred routing through town, Bellevue citizens have a variety of preferences, a tunnel routing under downtown is expensive and unfunded, and now a new council and mayor have their own variations of what’s best for Bellevue.
The ST board would like to nail this decision down early this year and move on to design and construction. As I don’t live in the area anymore, my only “dog in this hunt” is a long-standing desire to see passenger rail along the now defunct BNSF rail line between Renton and Woodinville. More on that in a bit.
My interest peaked in this a couple of month’s age when Councilman Kevin Wallace proposed a “Vision Line” routing, running roughly along I-90 and I-405 using mostly BNSF tracks. Stations would be at the Wilburton P/R, Downtown Bellevue near NE Sixth, and Overlake Hospital.
The part that intrigued me the most were the $160 million savings in cost, a more direct and faster routing through Bellevue and no traffic impacts to downtown.
The preferred ST route calls for tracks running along city streets with 400-foot trains competing with cars for precious intersection time, along with disruptions to business during a multi-year construction effort.
Putting the light rail line underground would solve the congestion problem but create another.
ST has basically said, “Bellevue, come up with the extra half billion dollars to build it, and we’re all in.” So that’s about an extra $8,800 per household in local taxes in addition to your current ST taxes. The Vision Line is looking better all the time, as it saves money according to their website.
One of the biggest objections raised to date over the Vision Line is its distance away from the current Transit Center, or about three blocks east. That’s less distance than the current light rail station at SeaTac is away from the ticket counters, which is working fine. Even better, the Vision Line proposes a covered moving sidewalk connecting the two (like the ones we ride in airports today), essentially cutting that distance in half. As Bellevue continues to grow up and east of I-405, an additional “skyway” would be added connecting those points.
The thing that really excited me was this. The Vision Line is designed to accommodate future light rail along BNSF corridor, now owned by King County (that’s us!). Initially, self-propelled light rail type cars could run between Woodinville and north Renton, with six stops along the way. They would share three stations in Bellevue, making transfers from the N/S line to the E/W line very convenient.
Finally, Woodinville, Kirkland, Newcastle and Renton would be plugged into the “Transit Spine” everyone has been paying for since 1996. Future extensions to Snohomish, Lynnwood, Tukwila and Burien would really get the Eastside connected.
The savings of building the Vision Line, combined with $50 million set aside for this purpose in the recent ST tax increase could pay for most of a startup line using the BNSF corridor, which fulfills a long sought hope of mine. It’s a well thought out proposal, and one worthy of your consideration prior to letting the door close on this unique opportunity.
Mike Skehan, Lummi Island
Skehan is a former member of WSDOT Public Transit Advisor Committee, co-founder of Transportation Choices, a retired Metro employee and on the board of All Aboard Washington.
