Walking the light rail line
Some impressions on transit, development, and change in Seattle's Rainier Valley, Mossback's youthful stomping ground.
I spent some time recently prowling around the new Sound Transit light rail line in the Rainier Valley (service starts July 18) on foot and by car. I'm interested in the changes to this area. These are some of the stomping grounds of my youth and I still find the Valley one of the most fascinating parts of the city.
Larry Lange at PostGlobe has a good preview of the coming of rail (again) to the valley. One historical point worth remembering: the Valley was shaped by the original streetcar lines put in over a century ago. "Transit-oriented development" is nothing new. My old neighborhood, Mount Baker, was largely shaped by transit-oriented development, thankfully integrated with some of the Olmsted plan too. My family shopped at neighborhood grocers and attended local schools such as John Muir Elementary and Franklin High School that were the result of this development. The new light rail line will revive a tradition of rail shaping the city.
A few impressions:
The big, elevated Mount Baker station at the intersection of Martin Luther King Way and Rainier Avenue is attractive and surprisingly large, with lots of space underneath. On a hot summer day, it could make a nice shady street-level hangout assuming there are espresso stands and kiosks set up. On rainy days, it'll provide some shelter. Speaking of shelter, I've spotted homeless sleeping in the neighborhood, and that's not new. Even back in the '60s there were encampments in the woods along nearby Cheasty Blvd.
Despite crosswalks and a pedestrian overpass, the whole Valley is surprisingly pedestrian unfriendly and you can see why planners have it in their sights on re-development. There seems like a lot of room for new housing and mixed-use development along parts of Rainier and MLK here (though they'll have to work around the cluster of churches that are tucked in here), but a lot of basics are missing. The traffic volumes are high, there's evidence of crime and drug dealing nearby (e.g. in alleys), and some streets of the adjacent neighborhoods still don't have sidewalks.
The rail line runs at the surface level shortly before it meets Rainier Avenue, then elevates and parallels Rainier before turning West into the Beacon Hill tunnel near McClellan Street. I stood under the elevated tracks as a train went over and was impressed with how quiet it was. In fact, all the way along the line the trains seemed generally no louder than normal traffic. That's apparently not true everywhere: folks in Tukwila are complaining about screeching train wheels. But I couldn't hear anything like that. I happen to live within earshot of a highway and am used to the steady swooshing of urban traffic, but my sense is that noise won't be much of an issue along MLK.
I tried racing the trains along MLK to see who could make the best time. The trains did pretty well. They're still playing with the timing of the lights, and traffic volumes weren't too heavy when I was there. I was able to do the 35 mph speed limit much of the way, between stoplights. The train matched that and went faster on some stretches. I would pass it when it stopped, but it had a way of catching up. For people headed downtown, the clip seemed pretty good (granted, the train wasn't yet loading and unloading passengers). Fewer stations means it stops much less frequently than the buses running alongside on MLK.
The downside is that the rail stations are so far apart (between Othello Station and Columbia City, I clocked 1.5 miles, from Columbia City to Rainier Ave. it's 1.2 miles). In other cases, stations are a long walk from where most of the people live in the neighborhood being served (there's some concern, for example, about Columbia City station's lack of proximity to its business district).
Some people who live, say, between stations, will likely find rail not very convenient and will stick with the buses or bikes, which also make sense for shorter hops along the Valley. No extra parking at stations is being provided. So, while light rail has an appeal as a downtown shuttle, there will still be a need for taking the rubber-tire local. Hopping a bus for a short ride to the nearest station will work for some people, but many folks will not be willing to walk 3/4 of a mile or more to a station, and commuters will have to add their walking time into their commute calculations.
For all the talk about walkability and bike-friendliness, I was struck by one major thing about the corridor: how car-centric it is, and how few people are visibly walking or riding bikes. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to see many pedestrians on the streets along MLK, and few even in new, denser areas like New Holly. MLK is very car oriented: a drive-thru Starbucks, McDonalds, Safeway, car washes, auto body shops, gas stations. Next to the Rainier Ave. station: A Firestone Tire service center.
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Comments:
Posted Thu, Jul 9, 11:34 a.m. inappropriate
"The transit-oriented, high-density development will bring in people specifically hoping for a more rail-centric lifestyle. In other words, the corridor will eventually import many of its riders and enthusiasts"
I believe the word for that is "gentrification." It's been so painfully obvious from day one that's really what this project is about...
Posted Thu, Jul 9, 1:15 p.m. inappropriate
Very nice article. A small note: the early 20th century streetcar neighborhoods were often privately built as a unit, and those streetcar routes are sometimes called "Development-Oriented Transit" instead of "Transit-Oriented Development."
Posted Thu, Jul 9, 3:47 p.m. inappropriate
This article points up the political realities of building rail transit. The first line typically does not go where transit economics would dictate (where there are a lot of commuters) but where political facts of life allow it to go. The decision to run light rail down Rainier Valley, as opposed to starting in the North End, where there are lots more commuters, or a direct route down Airport Way to the airport and the south-of-SeaTac commuters, was imposed by Mayor Norm Rice and City Councilmember Martha Choe, who understandably wanted to stimulate economic development in the neglected Rainier Valley. The hope was to have rail spur commercial development, putting more jobs near the stations, and to enable lower-income residents of the Valley to commute to jobs in the suburbs. This will take a long time. And putting the other ducks in a row (zoning at stations, etc.) usually does not happen, except in planners' dreams.
But it does, over the decades, gradually wearing down the opposition of residents near the new stations. The other thing that happens is that these first routes, even if not ideal for gaining many riders, make people like rail more than they thought they would. So the second and third lines, which now do go where the people and commuters are, are made possible. And then, due to high costs, the systems usually come to a halt, as happened in Los Angeles. Cheaper-to-build routes, as in Portland, are easier to keep expanding, even though (being light rail and on the surface) they are slow and low-capacity.
The good news in all this is that the change is gradual. Rainier Valley's affordability and funkiness will carry on for a long time.
Posted Thu, Jul 9, 10:24 p.m. inappropriate
@Knute: Thanks for the great, honest look at the area. It's important to take a long, hard stare right now, to have something to remember and contrast to later. By the way, did you get speedwalking lessons from Bill Nye? Trying to figure out how you were doing 35 mph while "walking the light rail line". ;) If you want to walk it for real, from start to finish, I'll join you.
@joshuadf: I hadn't heard "Development-Oriented Transit" before! Nice.
@David Brewster: The answer isn't cheap, for sure... at some point you have to go up or down to avoid knocking over bulidings. Tokyo has built three new transit lines in the last decade: elevated AGT, the Nippori Toneri Liner opened last year; a regular subway, the Fukutoshin (secondary city center?) line opened last year as well; and the ultra-deep Oedo subway line opened in 2000. I could stretch the truth and include the implicitely-elevated Tama monorail which opened in 1998, making it four. I suspect these lines got lots of national yen, though, evenly the privately held monorail. Fukutoshin provides a continuous link between two different companies' train lines, so they probably kicked in some cash. Nippori Toneri was meant to be low cost, and though it's not sexy may be a good lesson for us.
Posted Fri, Jul 10, 1:13 a.m. inappropriate
As a Lindbergh alum from the 70's, I know what you mean about the new Seattle skyline. But as a resident of Phoenix for the last 16 years, I have to tell you how it has changed things here.
Phoenix just opened its first line six months ago and you should see all the "towers" and new buildings going up around the stations.
Not only are construction jobs available for all the new buildings, but retail employers around the stations are seeing more customers and are hiring more help. There are also specialty companies related to the new train which have popped up. One shows riders all the businesses around the stations with a "Train Business Directory." The same directory is online for Seattle now...
Additionally, Phoenix has blown away the ridership expectations with 60% more riders than forcast. In April alone, we saw 1 million trips with an average day around 37,000 trips (it was estimated to be 26,000/day).
And lastly, I find it interesting that since the advent of the automobile, street cars disappeared - only to make a comeback a century later. Trains create a "new" community where people actually have an opportunity to relax and converse with one another while going on with their daily lives. And walking... well that's a good thing in a nation that is becoming obese and is seeing electric wheel chairs and scooter sales skyrocket.
It's no surprise when you realize the farthest people currently walk is from their couch to their car, then from their car to their office chair...
Posted Fri, Jul 10, 8:31 a.m. inappropriate
Rob K: Mossback's race-walking skills are the stuff of legend!
Posted Sun, Jul 12, 11:37 a.m. inappropriate
Brewster -
The idea of Rainier Valley, as in the north corridor, was to serve denser urban neighborhoods while reaching out BART style to the suburbs. I agree with you that the North Corridor should've been built first, but the decision to go south isn't attackable. Most likely the biggest factors in going South were the economic justice arguments of Rice and crowd, a south end resident and the desire to reach the airport - more so than the chance to redevelop the valley.
The eagerness to redevelop MLK into large housing projects seems risky and naive to me - most likely will end up with typical gang infested projects as soon as the bloom goes off the rose - say, ten years. They will still be a nice shade of green but those who fervently call for the spending of tax dollars on these projects will be long gone.
Building urban villages or whatever you want to call them takes human infrastructure as much as it does capital projects. First and foremost that's a business community that communicates with and respects its neighbors.
And it is definitely something quite intentionally **missing** from the ST 'planning' model.
-Douglas Tooley