For all of us stuck in traffic purgatory, the expansion of light rail can’t come fast enough. The current system carries a small but growing number of passengers, but hope springs for a real shift when the system reaches more destinations. (The East Link line running across Lake Washington would add 10 stations and 14 miles to Sound Transit’s light rail system.)
The train is an alternative to the car/freeway, but also a means to something else: a more compact city, a grand scheme that began with growth management and now, perhaps, lies within reach. The more we choke on our own exhaust, the more attractive this alternative becomes.
