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How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

washingtonpost.com

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Re: How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

#11

Post by toast0 »

peatmoss wrote: post #3

“Celebrated replacement”? I mean, I just walked through the new tunnel for it’s public opening as a curiosity, but I’m not sure it’s celebrated per se. Don’t get me wrong, I am delighted to see the viaduct go, but I’m not sure the replacement is needed, or really a replacement. I also think that they’re essentially building a surface level highway along the waterfront, which to me diminishes what could have been a tr…

What I've seen on my commute (ferry terminal to South Lake Union) is that with the viaduct closed, there were much fewer trips (the ferries were very empty), but a lot more congestion on surface streets.

It's always hard to say what's needed, but I suspect the tunnel will be well used.

Re: How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

#12

Post by DaniloDias »

maxsilver wrote: post #4

I'm really glad to see some cities still invest in unified, balanced public transportation infrastructure like this. Seattle is a great example of what all cities should be striving for.

Leave Seattle at 1pm. It takes 5-10 minutes to get to 90/I5. Leave at 5pm, it takes an hour.

It is definitely a great example, but no one should strive to emulate it.

Re: How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

#14

Post by FPGAhacker »

DaniloDias wrote: post #12
maxsilver wrote: post #4

I'm really glad to see some cities still invest in unified, balanced public transportation infrastructure like this. Seattle is a great example of what all cities should be striving for.

Leave Seattle at 1pm. It takes 5-10 minutes to get to 90/I5. Leave at 5pm, it takes an hour. It is definitely a great example, but no one should strive to emulate it.

No kidding. Seattle should be an example of how not to plan a city. Traffic is astonishingly bad given the population.

Re: How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

#16

Post by tjr225 »

FPGAhacker wrote: post #14
DaniloDias wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leave Seattle at 1pm. It takes 5-10 minutes to get to 90/I5. Leave at 5pm, it takes an hour. It is definitely a great example, but no one should strive to emulate it.

No kidding. Seattle should be an example of how not to plan a city. Traffic is astonishingly bad given the population.

The Seattle metro is a unique situation that exists outside of just city planning...we are trapped between various lakes, mountains ranges, and massive bodies of saltwater - and I don't say this in the regions defense - I have suffered an insane commute here before choosing to make the sacrifices necessary to live and afford to live in the city. At the same time the things that make commuting in this place difficult are what make it precious.

Hopefully ST3 comes to fruition as there simply aren't many more places to put highways.

Re: How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

#17

Post by jlj »

The new tunnel is a downtown bypass route. The viaduct had a couple downtown exits, but the tunnel starts by the stadiums South of downtown, and ends by South Lake Union, with no downtown exits. All of the into-downtown traffic will be pushed to surface streets. Tunnel tolling will kick in soon too. The viaduct had no tolling.

The city is pushing a one-time tax bill called a "local improvement district" to property owners in downtown for the benefit of better views and higher property values once the viaduct is gone. There is speculation of pulling a second LID for improvements in the area of Key Arena to coindide with the new NHL team http://mynorthwest.com/1242618/dori-rob-johnson-seattle-nhl/

The tunnel may be necessary but it's not all rosy as the WaPo article makes it out to be.

Re: How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

#18

Post by m741 »

jaggederest wrote: post #7
metildaa wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alaskan Way was a busy 4 lane road prior to the seawall replacement project and SR-99 construction, the two addes lanes are dedicated for busses. Really wish we had kept rail along this alignment (rather than letting Seattle Art Museum destroy the waterfront trolley), but short of that we are stuck with making busses fast and reliable. Wrt cutting this down to 1 lane in either direction for regular cars, in the conte…

Portland also entirely replaced our waterfront highway with an enormous park, probably not the precedent you're looking for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Drive

Out of curiosity, why is this not a good precedent? Were the results bad, or because it's Portland?

Re: How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel

#20

Post by icelancer »

maxsilver wrote: post #4

I'm really glad to see some cities still invest in unified, balanced public transportation infrastructure like this. Seattle is a great example of what all cities should be striving for.

You should read more about the shitshow that was Bertha and the Seattle tunnel. Lot of lawsuits and complete stupidity went into this project.
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