Partial Project List

Partial Project List:

Coal Creek Parkway:
Phase 3 and Phase 2 are proceeding even in the middle of this rainy winter holiday season. The May Creek Bridge support is half done.

Duvall Avenue:
Renton is calling for bids and work is supposed to begin very soon. It will join the Coal Creek Parkway project making a four/five lane anti-freeway as a bypass for I-405. Before it’s finished the pain will be excruciating.

Building Bellevue:
The Bellevue crane forest is giving way to the Bellevue hi rise forest. In the middle is the transit center where everyone is supposed to pass through in order to mitigate traffic on Bellevue streets.

Sound Transit Light Rail Link:
Right now they’ve about got the main structure installed from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport. The overhead electricity is being installed now as well as work on the stations.

South Lake Union Streetcar (SLUT):
Encountered heavy seas and ran aground. Or just about. An SUV ran a red light and hit one of the huge brightly colored units. And the other day the power interfered with some other power and sparks flew.

Downtown Seattle Bus Tunnel:
The bus tunnel, where Sound Transit will be running light rail, has been hit with a series of system failures. These are apparently caused by local news reporters who in turn blame the computers.

Alaska Way Viaduct:
An emergency replacement order was issued several years ago after an earthquake damaged the supports. Everyone promised immediate action, and then, as a man, fell asleep.

Evergreen Point Floating Bridge:
The state DOT predicts this will sink in approximately 1995 and we better get right to work replacing it. The snoring is growing louder.

The Sounder Commuter Train:
In a cooperative agreement with AMTRAK and BNSF we have a relatively fast passenger train that runs north and south carrying people to work and play. It takes about 12 cars off the freeways at any given time which helps reduce traffic. But whenever anything happens on the track they suspend service for 48 hours because they want to make sure its safe.

East Side Rail Corridor:
This one is complex. King County wants to trade their airport for the rail corridor and make it into a bike trail. The Port of Seattle is who they want to trade with. BNSF owns it right now so they’d have to sell it to King County? But Boeing uses it to bring airplane bodies to its Renton plant. And throughout Renton the track is being refurbished so that part is closed. Which means the airplane bodies are coming south from Snohomish. Mixed up Yet? Wait. The track runs across I-405 (another project) just south of downtown Bellevue. The WSDOT wants to work on I-405 and they would very much like to do it without having to keep the rail line open for trains. So they want the Renton refurb completed so the Boeing airplane bodies can use that route and the cross I-405 section can be torn out. But King County is very anxious to get hold of the line and build a trail. And part of that is a plan to remove the historic old trestle. Then, to keep things from getting too simple some other folks are proposing that we use the existing tracks for commuter rail. Why not? It’s carried freight and dinner trains for years so you don’t have to do much. They think it would only cost $40 million not counting trains and stations to get passenger service going. And I just love it.

Cedar River Bike Trail:
You can get on a bike on the shore of Lake Washington beside the Boeing plant in Renton and ride way out to Ravensdale. Along the way you pass several Renton parks where maintenance employees busily prevent anyone from playing ball or walking on their precious grass. Oh, and keeping the “No bikes allowed” signs polished. This isn’t part of the Greater Newcastle Transit Plan, but I don’t care for that kind of attitude so I mention it regularly.

I-405 Widening Project:
I-405, our venerable old I-5 bypass was built undersized in the 1950’s. They used money earmarked for the Alaska Way Viaduct supports. Since then the DOT has been continuously trying to make it bigger. So after 60 years we have three lanes instead of two. Nice work!

Downtown Newcastle Evolution:
Newcastle has determined that the core area should take on the Urban Village look with work, shopping, services, and residential all mingling. They are hoping to get a library and city hall built before long. The dream is to convince the Postal Service to build a post office and give Newcastle a zip code of its own. Right now Newcastle is served by its neighbors: Bellevue fire; Renton and Issaquah schools, King County police, Renton mail, and everywhere else for libraries. Its two biggest employers are grocery stores.

Lake Boren Rapid Transit Center:
The current plan is to build a world class station overlooking the shore of Lake Boren where people from all over the area will congregate. We hope to have several lines converging in the Newcastle area with major transfer facilities in the station. Possibly including a library, city hall, post office, and auto body shop in one massive structure. It will be reminiscent of both old world cathedrals and Las Vegas casinos.

Glen, the Lake Boren Carp:
There are a lot of legends around the world such as Yeti, Sasquatch, Loch Ness monster, and the Beast of Busco. These are all backed by numerous eyewitness sightings, photos, footprints, and possibly one or two elected officials being actual beasts. Glen is one such legendary beast and I regularly converse with him. His main responsibility is to keep the level of Lake Boren even. But this doesn’t take much of his time so he take trips to many places and otherwise hangs out at the lake. He is only a danger to members of the Newcastle City Council. And he only insults them.

The purpose of this report is to keep you informed about these and more projects as the weeks go by. But most of all it’s to stay in touch. So I welcome replies, email, and other nonsense. Don’t be shy.

Al