Recently, on STB, some comments about transit reminded me of my feelings about about quitting smoking- maybe tomorrow, definitely, “soon”, but not today.
The comments came up when I suggested that it would cost only a little more to build a light-rail line to Georgetown than it would to replace the bridge to South Park. This bridge, obsolete the day it was opened in 1931, was intended to serve development on the south side of the river, and opening to allow river traffic to go upstream. Obviously, none of this ever happened, and for 78 years the bridge has served as an archetypal “bridge to nowhere”.
But we so love our cars and trucks that commenters were aghast at the idea of not replacing it. It was described as an essential link in regional transportation, which, even if you’ve never used the bridge, can be seen as obviously untrue by looking at a map. One commenter though spending $130 million (the real replacement cost) would be worth it to preserve a bus route. Another made a heart-tugging appeal on the basis of the niceness and affordability of the South Park neighborhood, as though a new bridge and improved access weren’t the most obvious and proven threats to that halcyon state of affairs. Another weighed in with the time-tested “maintain our infrastructure” meme.
And all of this is why, while the money would buy miles of light-rail line, we’ll probably get a new bridge instead, that will funnel increasing volumes of container-truck traffic through what was once a nice residential neighborhood. We’re just not ready to change. Let’s hope we get ready before it’s too late.
I always thought that it would be great to have a line run from West Seattle to Fauntleroy to White Center to South Park to the Museum of Flight to Georgetown and then come up for air just south of Stadium station where there are three tracks and a lot of space right now …
that or have it run in a tunnel under 1st ave continuing north
Or just run a line south on 4th to E Marginal and then out to the Museum of Flight. This would eventually have good ridership as Georgetown develops.
This is ridiculous. You say that it’s obvious that the bridge is pointless by looking at a map, but the facts say that 20,000 vehicles cross the bridge per day, far more than $90m (or even your weird $130m figure) worth of light rail would get per day.
Just one thing you’re overlooking here- those 20,000 vehicles are an expense, not a benefit.
The “weird $130m figure” is the amount reported in one of the dailies as the total cost of the replacement project.