Liberal Talk Radio

After all that fuss, a new plan is emerging for the troubled Seattle Monorail. The old, 13.6 mile proposal would have cost $11 billion, including financing, over 47 years. The new proposal shaves that down to under $4 billion, paid over 31 years. Construction costs drop from $2.1B to $1.7B.

It seems reasonable. We’re getting a decent start at a citywide rapid transit solution. My big gripe with the original plan was that it might have taken as long as 78 years to pay off, according to some, which would mean that financing the rest of the system couldn’t start until the 22nd Century. Which is absurd.

This, at the least, gets something built. It’s unfortunate that we won’t be serving Ballard, one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods, immediately. However, we’ll still be getting the start of the proposed “X” system that voters originally envisioned a decade ago. Add in Sound Transit’ Central Link light rail, and the “X” is almost complete. Or will be, by 2016 or so. The only real problem being the intermodal part. To get from Interbay to the Airport, you’ll have to get off the monorail at 2nd and Madison, walk a block to the Downtown tunnel, and hop the light rail to the Airport. This will add a good 10-15 minutes to the commute, I’m guessing, plus an added hassle that will make it less desirable than driving.

That said, you can’t build a transit system solely around getting people to the airport from all corners of the city. The fact is that the Airport’s far away, and we’re still most interested in an intracity rapid transit solution.

Of course, this may all be academic. Barring a major positive publicity campaign to sell this new, smaller system, it looks like it might go down in defeat this November.