Light Rail Across the Floating Bridge

The Washington State Department of Transportation (Prevent Trans, for short) has decided to close the express lanes of I-90 to replace the expansion joints.

Based on the news generated by the expansion joints for the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge this can’t be good. And it’s not. The express lanes will be closed most of May.

This will send all the busses and car pools into the “general Purpose” lanes. Oh the humanity! Predictions are that commuters will be backed up to Snoqualmie Pass waiting for their turn to cross the bridge. My advice: retire. No way to get to work, so why try?

There are cracks in the expansion joints. They can see daylight from underneath. OK, an expansion joint is just a controlled way of managing various dimensional fluctuations of the road due to temperature, load, wind and wave stresses.

So why is it a surprise that these expansion joints expand? That’s part of the purpose, right? The other part is to make that BZZZ sound when you run over one at 60 mph. And if it expands then we should expect to see daylight. After 20 years the people that built it have probably retired or been absorbed into the Obama administration. So the new people see a “crack” and panic.

“How in the world can we put light rail on a structure with so many cracks?” is probably what they’re asking themselves.

Well, “lighten up” is my response. Sure, a little daylight seeps in from above when an expansion joint expands. It’s not a crack. That’s how it works. I spose these same people go crying to their mechanic when the little gas pump lights up on their dashboards.

Meanwhile Bellevue has been over at the Galactic Headquarters of Sound Transit begging for a tunnel. Their point is that if the light rail project goes through downtown Bellevue on the surface it will disrupt traffic. They want the line to enter a vast serpentine tunnel and emerge again on the east side of I-405.

We probably pointed this out before but I think the Tunnel Boring Machine is going to be busy digging the Alaska Way Viaduct replacement. That’s an emergency that has to be completed by 2003 in case of another earthquake. We wish them luck.

The I-90 express lane closure is a dress rehearsal for a future time when they’ll close forever due to being taken over by Sound Transit. It’s interesting that DOT is all panicked over the May closure when others are so calmly suggesting permanent closure.

Is it really the only way or do we have an alternative plan that will make everything all right? Let’s explore.

One alternative would be to build yet another floating bridge over Lake Washington. This is a real gamble since we’ve had two sink and the WSDOT is pretty sure another one is ready to sink (SR 520). We only have four in this state (Hood Canal, Evergreen Point, Mercer Island/Seattle, Seattle/Mercer Island) and a sink rate of 50%. So how are we to be confident that any new ones have better odds of survival?

Another alternative is a Lake Washington Tunnel. That’s right, dig under the lake and send the trains down there. OK, this is kind of why we decided to use floating bridges on the lake 100 years ago: it’s damn deep. This is a serious lake that goes way down and also has a deep bed of mud, silt, and dead salmon. It’s almost impossible to tunnel under because the road would have a steep down and up slope. Too steep for hybrid cars. A suspension bridge would have to span the whole lake. If we had even a wimpy earthquake the amount of offset from shore to shore would be many feet.

Nobody around Lake Washington will accept a suspension bridge that interferes with the views. They’d rather swim.

A suspension bridge could end up in the drink. Kind of the same fate as a marginal floating bridge. So why go to the trouble of building a suspension bridge if it will also sink? But doing a floating bridge on the idea that it won’t have very far to sink is also kind of goofy.

Another alternative is a ferry. We could run the light rail trains to the water and load them on barges to float across the lake. That might work except most of our ferries are also in bad shape and in danger of sinking. So do we think any new ones would be any better? And SLOW! Every other city in America would laugh at our light snail rail.

Which brings us to the last alternative because after that it gets silly. Move all that dirt from Maple Valley up and finish the Mercer Island Fill Project. Just dump dirt into the lake until there’s a nice causeway. No worries about sinking.

One small issue might be that it would take 30 years and 100 billion truck loads to do the job which would require repaving the Maple Valley Highway every six months. Much greater cost than building a whole new floating bridge.

Now you know why they want to go with the existing bridge: so far we think it floats. And what better way to get people riding light rail than taking away their precious express lanes? What a great idea.

Al

Taxing Situation

Well here we are again right up against the due date for tax. April 15 is the time you get to figure out what percentage of expenses you get to deduct from 12 lines above based on your level of indigenous presumptions against the coefficient of unearned income from Tijuana turtle farmers. And then double it. Wait, I may have the tax booklet mixed up with something else. Let me look…

Nope, I had it right. And don’t forget to double it.

One reason we need to pay our taxes is to make sure the feds have money for the Sound Transit Light Rail East Link over the I-90 Bridge. Cause, that’s the plan. They want to run the tracks over the express lanes between Seattle and Bellevue. That takes the two reversible HOV lanes away from cars.

And that brings up a question I’m confused about. Some of the stuff I read about this issue claims that there has to be a cost associated with eliminating two freeway lanes that we’ve come to enjoy so much. And I-90 belongs to the feds and the turtle farmers, if I read it right. So who pays whom and how much? Maybe the state of Washington owns the part of I-90 that runs thru our state. If so does the state get paid by the Sound Transit people or is it the other way around? Or do we pay the feds? Who’s dumb idea was this anyway?

One thing we have is HOT Lanes. HOT stands for High Occupancy Toll. They take the standard diamond lanes and make them into HOT lanes. If you’re a qualifying car pool, bus, cattle truck, or turtle truck it’s the same old HOV lane. But if you’re rich and have one of my fancy fake transponders you can drive in the HOT lane all by yourself. If you have a real “Good-To-Go” transponder you have to pay to drive in that lane so my fakes should sell like hotcakes (or turtle steaks maybe). I can’t report the income from my fake transponders so don’t rat me out, please.

The point here is the WSDOT, washdot, was going to make the I-90 express HOV lanes into HOT lanes. Both the state and I would make a bundle. Well, if they put light rail on those lanes we all lose out.

Now the feds will have to stimulate Washington in several ways. Showing pictures of Eleanore Roosevelt may not do it. It takes money. Don’t get me wrong, she was a lovely human being, but not too good in front of a camera. As I was saying, in order to get our highways moving again we need to put about 120% of commuters into transit. This will take a huge effort.

In a few months the current project to link downtown Seattle with SeaTac Airport will open for business. It’s apparently going to run from Westlake to Tukwila this summer and then finally to SeaTac in December: http://www.soundtransit.org/Documents/pdf/projects/link/LinkQrtlyNews_2007-10.pdf
I’m going to ride that. You’ll get a first hand report of how well it went. I’m especially looking forward to the view high above SR 518 to Burien.

One thing Sound Transit has managed to avoid is Renton. The current link to SeaTac only makes it to Tukwila. The East Link and UW Link won’t get near Renton. I wonder if that’s on purpose. I know I try to avoid Renton but not as much as I’d like. For one thing Billie McHale’s is in Renton and you can’t miss that. Some of the best burgers in the Greater Newcastle area. Also there’s great food at the Gaslamp in Issaquah, so we have choices.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, money for these projects.

In the not too distant future we’ll have tolls on the SR 520 Bridge. We call it the Evergreen Point Bridge because we can’t remember the real name. It may be the Bill Gates Bridge, I don’t know. WSDOT thinks it’ll sink like a stone in a bad earthquake. That makes it an emergency replacement project because we don’t know how soon the earth will quake. WSDOT wants to postpone the quake until they get around to replacing the bridge.

To do that they need money, which means toll booths. We might get booths on both bridges. We also might get HOT lanes everywhere that require payment. We might even get other tolls on “heavy use” roadways to help pay for damage caused by studded tires. All this will bring in money to pay for new bridges and roads.

But it’ll all go to replacing the Alaska Way Viaduct. That’s our most visible disaster waiting to happen. If that comes down during a big shake we’ll have a death toll and nobody wants that. Since everyone who uses the SR 520 Bridge carries life jackets we don’t expect so much loss of life. You carry a life jacket, don’t you? I do.

The Viaduct is collapsible and it’s over dirt so life jackets won’t help. You’ll get squished. We don’t want that. Christine and the local boys promised us a tunnel that can withstand huge forces, such as HOT lane tolls. That kind of thing costs money. My advice is to make sure your turtle farmer calculations are correct and you don’t forget to double it. The result could be a disaster.

Did I get off track? I don’t know. Just don’t forget to file before April 15. And don’t forget to double it.

Al

Rome City, Indiana receives $2 Billion in Stimulus funds. Washington State Governor, Christine, was on hand at the ceremony mumbling something about how she was going to clean up voter fraud if it’s the last thing she ever does. She’s dedicated, that’s for sure.

Right now you’re probably wondering how a place you may never have heard of could get on the list. Don’t you have more important things to wonder about? Sheesh!

Well dig this: Rome City is a small town on Sylvan Lake in the northeast part of Indiana in a county called Noble. It would have to be.

Rome City got its name during the construction of the dam in the 1830s. The name had to do with construction workers and the US Mail. There was a dispute over who got the good work locations. One group got sedan chairs, steak and potatoes, and lived in plush tents next to their work site. The other crew had to walk five miles every day and lived on beans and franks. They had a clash and managers had to settle it.

The settlement consisted of (to make a long boring story into a short boring story) allowing crews to bunk down near their work sites. They were allowed to eat all the crawdads they could catch. Thus different work crews bunked in different locations.

In those days workers were not as privileged as today so they accepted the new arrangement. They shrugged and said, “When in Rome…” They wrote to relatives jokingly that they were now working in “Rome.” So relatives began addressing their cards and letters to “Rome, Indiana.”
The US Mail got involved because there was already a town by that name in Indiana. So it got changed to Rome City. Never mess with the US Mail.

But why were grouchy people building a dam in northeast Indiana? Here’s why and it’s all true.
In the way early 1800s America decided to build a canal across New York State and they called it the Erie Canal. It was used to haul bulk goods and slow passengers between New York City and Lake Erie. Eventually the bulk would have wound up in the Bel-Red area.

Many rich business and political dudes thought the canal should continue from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan. Essentially from Toledo to Chicago. Check the map, its right there. That would connect the East Coast to the Great Midwest. Nothing makes New Yorkers happier than beef from the Chicago Stockyards.

The dam was completed (twice) and work on the ditch part was progressing. They had to use oxen and shovels so it was slow work. They also had to quit in the winter months because everything froze. Finally one winter the workers headed down to Fort Wayne and caught the new train for their trip back east.

Umm, wait a minute. They caught the train? Oops. Well, guess what? Suddenly the “Great Idea” to extend the Erie Canal all the way to Chicago was not so great. Railroads could carry everything and do it a lot faster. They could run all year whether the weather was dry, wet, or frozen. Chicago beef could reach New York before the moo evaporated.

The canal project was canceled. In those days government could figure out how to cancel a project that no longer had a purpose. Rome City got to keep the dam and Sylvan Lake. The railroad even built a station there and ran the line across the dam. Rome City became a lakeside resort town and has been somewhat that way ever since. It has a post office, unlike Newcastle.

Who cares? I do. I went to High School in Rome City. Yes, that’s right, High School in a resort town. Our mascot was the “Romans.” Everyone thought it was a reference to the old Roman legions with Caesar and Clavius. No, it was homage to the gangs that built the Sylvan Lake Dam. Our symbol was the shovel.

History is such fun when you don’t have to worry too much about accuracy. Speaking of history, the High School was closed and demolished a year after my class graduated. It is no more. If you Google “Rome City School” you get hundreds of hits on Rome, Georgia. It’s pathetic.

Rome City got on the stimulus list because of the canceled canal project. Somehow our federal government figured canceling the canal had an economic impact on Rome City and they needed to make up for it. But the good news is I’m still handsome. Accuracy is still optional.

Al

Bel-Red Area to Pilot Newcastle Development

Bel-Red Area looking toward downtown

Bellevue, or “Microsoft Office” as some call it, has an area east of the BNSF tracks they call “Bel-Red.” It’s sort of on the north side of the Bellevue Redmond Road. Northup Way is on the other side. It’s spelled that way because they ran out of “Rs” years ago. We have plenty now but nobody wants to change.

Some of the business in the Bel-Red area.

In the past the railroad carried heavy freight into the area which made it a good location for warehouse and bulk material businesses. If you had some capital and thought the world needed more bulk you bought 10 acres and set up a big bulk distribution center. Your bulk arrived in box cars along with the hobos and rats. The rats are still there. The hobos are now rich developers in Bellevue.

The Coca Cola Distribution Center

Coca Cola and Safeway had major bulk centers there. Coke still does. Safeway moved to a place with lower property tax. Turns out Safeway is part of the trend – lots of bulk businesses left. Coke can’t leave yet because the EPA would make them clean up. Its bulk is very sticky.

The railroad closed the track from Renton and put it up for sale. Whole nother story. The obvious reason for the rail closure is the enormous cost that would be required to make the grade crossings safe. BNSF couldn’t see going to all that expense because bulk cola comes by truck now.

Bulk Coke supplies come by truck now - but they have to sneak in.

Apparently grade crossing issue is not obvious to some people who’re trying to promote a commuter rail line along the corridor. Again, whole nother story. Good for laughs, though.
There are hundreds of low brow businesses and empty places around the Bel-Red area now. Metro has a bus parking area, for example. The Bellevue City Council thinks they should be able to collect more tax revenue so they want to change the look to high brow business.

Low brow type installations.

The concept is along the lines of the “Urban Village” with low rise combination structures. They want apartments, retail, and professional business. Also a library and several mattress stores. Mattress stores are everywhere.

They want this because after years of runaway high rise development by the downtown hobos it’s not “Bellevue” any more. You might as well be in Cleveland.

This place - Don't go over 5 MPH while exercising.

Last November voters approved the light rail branch to the east side of Lake Washington. Bellevue thinks it’s naturally going to run through the Bel-Red area.

Bellevue City Council has the wind in its sails after finally reaching an agreement on the Bel-Red area development plan so they jumped into picking a specific route for the East Link. They picked a tunnel for the downtown segment. Apparently they failed to realize the tunnel boring machine will be busy in Seattle replacing the Alaska Way Viaduct.

Not a real high tech area.

The East Link route is tentatively planned for the I-90 bridge/tunnel/cutoff on what we now use for reversible diamond lanes. Won’t need those any more. Next year the DOT will put toll booths on both floating bridges so traffic will drop way off. Everyone will go around. They are hoping it will force more riders onto the transit systems.

The alleged Bellevue route will catch the line coming off I-90 from Mercer Island (those people again). It’ll bump and rattle up Bellevue Way and into the new tunnel (proposed) under downtown. It’ll kind of twist and turn under several high rise office buildings and head east again.

That’s where it pops up above ground smack into the Bel-Red area. Then it runs along a new street in the Urban Village before heading to the main Microsoft campus. By the time its complete Windows will be relocated to Kansas or Nebraska and Microsoft will be a mere shadow of what it is today. Hearst will use the buildings for its electronic newspaper business.

Leaving Microsoft the rail line will end up in Redmond. Maybe. I doubt anyone will notice during the year 2100 parties.

A similar Urban Village concept has already been approved for Newcastle and the Lake Boren area. They will watch closely to spot the surprise problems as they come up. Once the whole Bel-Red plan falls through in Bellevue the Newcastle City Council launch a much better plan.

Newcastle City Council solution to the fencing question.

Newcastle is the natural location for the East Side Transit Station. People going to Seattle from the East Side will catch hundreds of busses and trolleys headed for Newcastle. Once there they’ll transfer to the East Link Light Rail and rocket over the lake at about 200 MPH. Why not?

The East Side Transit Station overlooking Lake Boren will set the American standard (plumbing reference). It’ll combine city offices, library, post office, car wash, and 900 residential units. And no parking. There could be a major new shopping mall attached.

There will be huge windows so everyone will get a great view of Lake Boren. World Class dining and a 2000 unit hotel could be part of the package.

They will call it the “West Lake Boren Transit Center” so as to differentiate it from the East Lake Boren area. And everything needs to be called “center” for some reason.

Al

Seattle Transit Tour

Seattle from the I-90 Bus lane.

Glen the Lake Boren Carp (short for carpool) was telling me about the transit system and how you can get everywhere. He said the busses and carpools get to use the diamond lanes. Sounded interesting. So I decided to give it a try.

Years ago, before diamond lanes, I rode the bus to work in Everett. The project I was working on went to mandatory overtime. That bus was a special that got you to work at starting time and left for Bellevue at quitting time. No overtime bus so I had to quit riding. Within a month my knees stopped hurting.

Eastgate Park and Ride in Bellevue.

All those oldies have been replaced due to scientific advancements. Now they use a diesel engine rather than steam. The driver doesn’t have to crank it to start. The wood spoke wheels have been updated.

Busses to Seattle come in two flavors. Express and even slower. The express stops fewer times.
We left the Eastgate Park and Ride and entered the diamond lane on I-90 at the fish ladder. These fish are bronze.

Eastgate Fish Ladder Salmon

It was express and we stopped at Mercer Island. Did you know people live there? I was amazed. They even have a Park and Ride. I thought it was just land fill but apparently some folks built houses on it. Scary.

We got back on I-90 for the white knuckle ride on the floating bridge diamond lane. It’s sandwiched between the east and west lanes of I-90 and reverses every morning and afternoon.
After the open sky of the bridge we dove into the Mt. Baker Tunnel. It’s nowhere near Mt. Baker but people call it that. Makes you think there’s a mountain above. Nobody was fooled.

Once on the Seattle side of Lake Washington (man, people really live on Mercer Island – I can’t get over it) we leave the freeway and use a special bus diamond lane into the downtown transit tunnel. You have to get on the right bus to get the tunnel ride. Selecting the right bus is among the challenges of bus riding. You don’t want to risk accidently going to Renton!

The bus tunnel is a nasty piece of work. When you enter there’s a very tight kink in the roadway that tests the hinge in the middle of the bus. It’s at this same point that the tracks for the Link Light Rail enter the tunnel. All very ceremonial.

Looking out the window you can see all kinds of utility conduits and bare cement, fences, and barricades. They don’t want anybody without a bus in there and they don’t care how it looks.
The first station in the tunnel is all artsy and fixed up. They have fancy tile and big wide walkways with artwork on the walls. Not at all like the entry. This is where some people get off. Maybe those people who live on Mercer Island.

Sign at Entrance to Westlake Center from Bus Tunnel.

This pattern repeats; utility tunnel all dirty and narrow followed by another station all artsy and tiled. Maybe they don’t think anyone looks out the window while the bus is moving.

After several stops the bus reaches Westlake Center and lots of us leftovers get off. About half the people have iPod buds in their ears. I don’t blame them.

Westlake Center is not by a lake. It’s in the midst of the city. When you get out there are several ways to exit the station that usually get you into the lower part of shopping venues. For example you can go into Macy’s or Coldwater Creek. I went to Westlake Center which has many shops.

The first thing you notice is one of the escalators is all torn apart and a couple of guys in work overalls are talking about how many weeks it’ll be before the repair parts arrive. Downtown Seattle requires a good pair of shoes and a willingness to take the stairs.

South Lake Union from Space Needle.

Westlake Center has a food court on level three. Also level three is where you can catch the Monorail. The plaza outside is humming with activity. People want you to give them money, sign petitions, and listen to their conversations with imaginary pals on the other end of the phone. I saw a few who didn’t have a phone or headset but were still managing to have a conversation with some unseen entity.

SLUT Arrives at Downtown Stop.

Outside on 5th Avenue level you can cross a couple streets and find the South Lake Union Streetcar (SLUT) stop. I carefully read the instructions for getting a ticket and then figured out where to stand. I got on and sat down but nobody asked to see a ticket. I think they have a hole in their fare collection system.

This is how you buy a ticket for the trolley. Takes a bit of investigation.

The SLUT runs on the street and uses an overhead wire for power. It’s fairly quiet except when the recorded message announces the stop. It also announces who sponsors the stop. What? The stops have sponsors? Wow.

Not real crowded on the SLUT.

Paul Allen and the gang are making a real impact on the area with several square blocks under construction. It was impressive. Mostly digging at this point. Someday the area will be very nice (according to the information graciously provided by the same people who are paying for all the work).

The SLUT makes its final stop at the Fred Hutchinson Medical Center. The “Hutch,” as it’s called, is by Lake Union near where the old Ford plant is. They used to build Model T’s, or was it Model A’s? I don’t know. The building is still there and it’s been used for many things over the years but they still call it the old Ford plant.

The SLUT returns to Westlake Center. Some people on board seem to be transit and train buffs. I talked to a retired transit person from Bellingham.


The Blue Monorail arrives at Westlake Center.

Back at Westlake I found my way to level three and boarded the Monorail. It’s a museum train from 1962 when Seattle had the World’s Fair. It’s still the same route and still the same trainsets as back then. Several years before I was born. Umm, well anyway a long time ago.

The Blue Monorail arrives at Seattle Center emerging from EMP.

The site of the Fair is now called Seattle Center. It’s not in the “center” of Seattle, kind of like Westlake is not by a lake. The Space Needle sits there along with the Pacific Science Center and the Experience Music Project. Lots of places in Seattle get the name “Center.” And they don’t seem to care if it’s the center of anything.

Base of the Space Needle.

Since this was a transportation day I took the elevator to the top of the Space Needle. The elevator is open on one side and as you ride to the top seagulls and crows fly up and beg for handouts.

Space Needle from ground level.

The observation deck provides views of many mountains, including Mt. Baker of tunnel fame. Today the Olympics and Mt. Rainier were shining in the distance. Many days in Seattle you can barely see across the street so this was good.

Experience Music Project from above.

Amazingly you can see Mercer Island from there. It’s huge. Maybe it really is big enough for people to live on. Hard to imagine.

After that I rode the Monorail back to Westlake Center – it runs Center to Center (?). The escalator was still broken so I took the stairs back down to the bus tunnel. I wonder if they’ve named it yet. “The West Lake Boren Transit Tunnel Center” seems like a good name.

The diamond lane return trip to the Eastgate Park and Ride took longer because of that “getting on the wrong bus” thing. Gotta be careful. I ended up in downtown Bellevue and had to find a bus heading for Eastgate. It took some back streets and at one point it looked like Renton might be in the plan. But we avoided that disaster and made it to Eastgate OK. I’ve never seen the gate its east of but at least it’s not called Eastgate Center.

Al