King Street Station (Seattle)

[Devil's Advocate]

The voters send "communists" to the city council over and over again.

Why would communists bother to purchase property from a private owner? You'd think they'd just nationalize the structure and kick the prior owner out.

 

[NeueAmtrakCalifornia]

The most recent study was done in 2019 and considered three scenarios on PDF pages 36-41: https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/defa...Analysis-Full-Report-with-Appendices-2019.pdf
Scenario No. 1 routes the line through a hypothetical station in downtown Seattle and Nos. 2 and 3 route the line east of Seattle through hypothetical stations in Bellevue-Redmond and Tukwila. (All three put stations in Tacoma and Everett.) In that section, some figures name “Seattle King Street Station” as the downtown Seattle stop. Union Station was not mentioned.
The study’s purpose was to make the case for Cascadia HSR, so it didn’t get into detailed alignments or station locations. Under its recommended next steps, it mentioned “developing conceptual alignment options for further study” as an additional activity to evaluate depending on available funding, and “develop specific alignment alternatives” as an activity currently unfunded. It appears those recommendations will be addressed in the next study, due on Dec. 1: https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/business/c...d-transportation-study-governance-development
Yesterday was the application deadline to head the $895,000 study. Did you submit your name? [emoji6]

Having the trains go through Downtown Seattle will be the best option. It may be more expensive, sure, but it will get far more riders than having it go through Bellevue and Redmond, as Alon Levy shows. Also Union Station lies right next to King Street, so I think both stations can just be unified under one station complex.

Why would communists bother to purchase property from a private owner? You'd think they'd just nationalize the structure and kick the prior owner out.

Apparently government ownership automatically means communism to the average American, thanks to decades of red-baiting.

 

[Pere Flyer]

Having the trains go through Downtown Seattle will be the best option. It may be more expensive, sure, but it will get far more riders than having it go through Bellevue and Redmond, as Alon Levy shows. Also Union Station lies right next to King Street, so I think both stations can just be unified under one station complex.

Yes, I agree that the downtown routing would be preferable. (I’m also a big fan of Alon Levy.) So far I have yet to see anything regarding the use of Union Station from City of Seattle or WSDOT. We will hopefully see an outline of proposals for specific alignments and station locations when the next study comes out after Dec. 1.

 

[zephyr17]

Still doubt they'd use Union. If they decide to move away from King Street the game becomes entirely open, no need to limit the alternatives to a rail station not used as such since 1971 with no rail infrastructure. They could put it anywhere that makes sense from an engineering and access perspective. In any case case right now HSR is just barely out of fantasy stage, NeueCalifornia's decision on alignments notwithstanding. It is a minimum of 7-10 years before they could even break ground. There will be lawsuits and all sorts of political dithering and studies all along any proposed routing of the entire corridor, not just DT Seattle.

It was determined that the Alaskan Way Viaduct was in danger of failure if another earthquake hit after the Nisqually Quake of 2001 and its replacement was finally opened in 2019. And that was to replace something in danger of failure that would kill potentially hundreds of people. Building big infrastructure projects do not move fast here.

So any potential shift from King Street is decades away. Shall we return the discussion to King Street Station within the current decade? Like getting food from something other than a vending machine?