1 month ago
Your assertion that aerial gondola systems don’t “offer sufficient capacity or expandability to meet West Seattle’s needs long-term” is inaccurate. At 4500 passengers per hour, SkyLink will offer more than twice as much capacity as Sound Transit predicts West Seattle will need by 2040. Also, aerial systems are easily expandable, as they offer different system capacities for different throughput requirements. The SkyLink 3S system could be expanded from the Junction area station to link with the Admiral business district and the WS Water Taxi. And/or an expansion could run from the Delridge node to mid-Delridge or Westwood, and/or over the hill from mid-Delridge to Morgan Junction, or from the Alaska Junction area to Morgan Junction. All at 80%-90% less cost than extending light rail. Increased passenger requirements could be carried by BRT.
RossB says:
So I guess it comes down to how long our 2nd tunnel is a stub. I’d wager it’s no more than 10 years, likely closer to a 5 year lag between the LQA and Ballard stations opening. If, for whatever reason, the 2nd tunnel is bus-only for >15 years before Ballard opens, then yeah starting it as a bus tunnel is probably good. That would be very similar to our use of the DSTT, which was bus-only for 15 years before closing for conversion.
Fair enough. If you think the stub (in whatever form) is only around for a few years, then it makes sense to go that way. It is likely a bit cheaper (as I mentioned) to just focus on rail.