Seattle Press on Line - Belltown Bound

There From Here

Belltown Bound

By Tara Peattie

Jan 31, 2002 -- Here's a David and Goliath scenario; Noah Iliinsky, a Fremont computer programmer and a biking advocate, is working with local bike advocacy groups to get a bike lane heading north on Fourth Avenue downtown, to complement the existing bike lane on Second Avenue heading south. He's gotten the city's bicycling section of the Transportation Office to take a look at feasibility for the uphill, southern segment of Fourth from James to Spring, where he says it's needed most. An answer should be ready by this Spring. To contact him about the "North on Fourth" effort, e-mail him at noah@oz.net.

The Elevated Transportation Company and the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) are meeting collaboratively every other week to work on alignment and design issues for monorail downtown. The DSA expects to announce a preferred monorail alignment for downtown by March. DSA president Kate Joncas says that for the current discussion, station design and how the track interrelates to downtown buildings is at least as important as which street is chosen. Station size and design, as well as whether track should run down the center of the street or on the sidewalk, will be at issue. For instance, running along the sidewalk would be less desirable on a street with lots of apartments, condos and hotels, at least for those who live there. Monorail running down the street center must take into consideration whether the street is a major arterial for buses and if so, whether they could maneuver easily enough, since 52 percent of downtown employees ride the bus to work.

"One of our biggest concerns," said Joncas, "is what would happen if the viaduct, light rail and monorail all undergo construction at once." This would essentially maroon downtown, especially with the temporary loss of the bus tunnel. "So we're pushing for more cooperation between the agencies."

For centrality, Fourth Avenue looks like a good bet for the DSA's approval, especially since the Belltown Community Council would like to see it continue on Fifth Avenue within Belltown, an easy jog. Of course this is where the current monorail is, and where Belltown would have it stay.

Xander Batchelder, president of the Belltown Community Council, says that Fifth is the sweet spot in terms of satisfying current residents and serving projected business growth in the Denny Triangle. "At some point they'll need to tear down the existing monorail for seismic upgrade anyway." The current monorail has made it through more than 30 years and three earthquakes without a scratch, so the possibility exists that it won't be replaced at all, but incorporated into the new monorail.

Moving west, the current routes under consideration for lower Queen Anne are primarily:

* Elliott Ave. to Denny Way to Fifth Avenue,
* Elliott to W. Harrison, with a turn onto Warren and another turn onto Denny,
* Elliott to First Avenue.

The last choice is the poorest in terms of serving the 10 million annual visitors to Seattle Center, which is projected to become 17 million annually in the next 10 years. Also, if citywide monorail planning doesn't incorporate the existing monorail and it's left by itself, it could lose ridership and no longer be profitable for the city to run.

Tara Peattie can be reached at peattie@drizzle.com.

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kenny ma	Jul 01, 2004	2616 2nd AVE	sushi chef
i am the owner of U WA Kitchen (restrant). i would like to do classfiled with belltown news. plz contact us thank you!