Jul

20

A 12th Ave Streetcar Gains Some Ground

Filed Under Uncategorized, Zoning 

Its been a few months now since I wrote a couple of posts about placing the new streetcar line from the ID to

Loop Map

Loop Map

Capitol Hill on 12th Ave instead of up on Broadway. Well, I am happy to report that the movement has only taken off since then:

  • A number of city council members have met with The 12th Ave Streetcar Group to walk and talk about the 12th Ave alignment. Richard Conlin said their arguments were “persuasive” and promised to make sure that the City Council was involved in choosing a route.
  • SDOT has also taken notice of 12th and has actually started using the 12th/Broadway Loop images in their presentations!
  • Lest we forget that 12th Ave is a critical cycling route, the International Bicycle Fund will be studying the route and hopefully giving us some great design ideas on how to make sure that cyclists and streetcar goers both have a happy commute.
  • The 12th Ave Streetcar Group has also joined the Seattle Streetcar Alliance and has been engaging various other neighborhood organizations to get more people on board. The group will be presenting to the 37th District Democrats in the very near future.

If you are interested in getting involved 12th Ave business owner Tri Nguyen has started a facebook group which now boasts over 100 members.

Also, if you are interested in learning more it looks like a number of neighborhood groups on Capitol Hill will be sponsoring a public form to explore the various alternatives. Dates are tentative but it looks like it will be in September.  So stay tuned!

Comments

7 Responses to “A 12th Ave Streetcar Gains Some Ground”

  1. eldan on July 21st, 2009 8:41 am

    It’s pretty much inevitable that any sensible streetcar route will coincide with roads that are well-used by cyclists, so I think the international bike fund approach is the right one: don’t try to avoid bike routes, but just design the tracks right so everyone can use it. I’m interested in what they come up with, but the main thing is really simple: just put the tracks in the centre of the road, where the faster traffic (i.e. cars that are passing cyclists) will be, instead of in the slow lanes like on Westlake.

  2. News Roundup: Link Reactions Everywhere - Seattle Transit Blog on July 22nd, 2009 2:14 am

    [...] The 12th Avenue streecar alignment has new friends. [...]

  3. Mickymse on July 22nd, 2009 1:01 pm

    The loop route presents an opportunity to do just that… Move the streetcar to the middle of the street — and out of traffic!

  4. Frank on July 22nd, 2009 9:04 pm

    regardless of route (and i love this loop alignment), it has to use the orca card, otherwise it’s useless like the slut

  5. Bill B on September 11th, 2009 4:34 pm

    LOOP!

  6. Bill B on September 11th, 2009 4:36 pm

    LOOP! The Central District is notably absent from any of the major transit investments. Yet it holds three different urban villages which are planned to receive density. Can anyone say concurrency (the City and developers sure can’t).

  7. Bill B on September 11th, 2009 4:37 pm

    (rest of the thought) The loop alignment solves a key transit issue – the Central District is notably absent from any of the major transit investments. Yet it holds three different urban villages which are planned to receive density. Can anyone say concurrency (the City and developers sure can’t).

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