Tag Archives: first hill streetcar

$410M price tag for downtown connector as First Hill Streetcar continues to stand alone

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The Seattle 1st Ave streetcar plan now known as the Cultural Connector might be permanently stalled

With a new $410 million price tag for a long-planned connection to the line, it looks like the First Hill Streetcar will remain a stub.

When service first began in February 2016 on the 10-station route connecting Capitol Hill’s Broadway through the International District to Pioneer Square after a multi-year, $133 million construction project to complete the line, there were hopes of extensions of the trolley and bikeway up Broadway and, eventually, across downtown to connect with the South Lake Union line.

The Aloha extension plan was axed long ago. Now the 1st Ave connection seems to be doomed. Continue reading →

With 1st Ave streetcar proposal still alive, First Hill Streetcar and South Lake Union lines headed for financial cliff

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Increased vandalism was cited as an issue adding costs to maintaining the streetcar system in 2020. (Image: CHS)

By Ryan Packer

As the City Council is scheduled Monday for a final vote on last tweaks to Seattle’s 2022 budget, one of the biggest financial questions for the city’s future will be pushed to the next administration.

Mayor Jenny Durkan’s final budget as mayor allocates funding to keep the proposal for a streetcar along 1st Ave connecting the two existing lines alive. Despite proposed amendments from councilmembers that would have diverted the $2.4 million currently allocated to get the Center City Connector back up-to-speed, next year the Seattle Department of Transportation will update cost assumptions that have changed since the project was put on hold in 2018, leaving any decision on fully-funding the project to a future city council and Mayor-elect Bruce Harrell.

It will be a difficult decision. The city’s most recent annual report on the performance of the existing streetcar lines reveals additional policy choices ahead even if the Center City Connector remains on hold: a budget gap to operate the streetcars that is expected to grow even as ridership slowly rebounds from the valleys seen during the height of the pandemic.

Even though the First Hill Streetcar is expected to see 2019 levels of ridership in 2023, well before the South Lake Union line, not expected to rebound until 2027, a coming budget cliff could impact the First Hill line even more than the line in South Lake Union. That’s in large part because Sound Transit’s annual $5 million contribution to operating the First Hill Streetcar is set to end after 2023.

The amount of extra city funding needed to keep the two streetcar lines operating could grow to nearly $15 million by 2026.

Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s *other* train — City says First Hill Streetcar ridership continues to grow

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Seattle saw a sizable increase in ridership for its streetcar lines in 2018 thanks to a 31% uptick on the First Hill Streetcar line, according to a new report submitted by the city’s Department of Transportation.

“2018 was a very positive year overall for streetcar operations,” SDOT Director Sam Zimbabwe said at a Seattle City Council committee this week.

System-wide ridership went up by 18% in 2018 and indications show another increase in early 2019 over the same period last year. All of that jump came from the First Hill line, a 2.5 mile route that connects major medical facilities, Seattle Central College, Seattle University, and mixed income communities to the King Street transportation hub.

The line, which first opened in January 2016, has seen ridership increase over each of its first three years. It also went up by nearly a quarter in the first three months of this year. Chris Eilerman, SDOT’s streetcar and transit corridors manager, added Tuesday that increases continued through at least May.

“The First Hill line continues to grow,” Eilerman said. “So far, the numbers are encouraging through the early part of 2019.” Continue reading →

City rolling out delayed changes on Broadway to speed up streetcar

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Fuchsia Streetcar

Bowing to local business pressure — and what it predicts will be a radically transformed transportation corridor thanks to the  $120 million, 2.3-mile Madison Bus Rapid Transit project — the Seattle Department of Transportation has updated its long-delayed plans for improvements to the First Hill Streetcar following pushback business owners and Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office. Despite complaints about the elimination of left-turns and the addition of red paint for a transit-only lane, SDOT still plans to alter traffic signals and implement a transit-only lane — eventually.

“Complex intersections where other vehicles might be making a left turn or otherwise blocking the intersection slows down the streetcar,” SDOT representative Ethan Bergerson said.

Last year, CHS reported on SDOT’s plans for potential changes to the First Hill Streetcar route to make the streets more efficient for the rail transit and, hopefully, boost ridership. But Capitol Hill businesses — led by the now-disolved Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce — and the mayor’s office pushed back on the proposals and the project has been stuck in neutral since.

SDOT officials say the department has since made changes to traffic signals and turns on Yesler in an effort to speed up that section of the First Hill Streetcar. Adjustments included restricting left turning vehicles from east and westbound directions during peak afternoon traffic times at Yesler and Boren, restricting left turning vehicles at Yesler and 12th, and synchronizing traffic signals at Yester and 14th.

Officials say SDOT now plans to make similar adjustments to the Broadway section of the streetcar, implementing changes as soon as this fall.  Continue reading →

SDOT rolling out revised plan in ‘coming weeks’ to speed up Broadway for First Hill Streetcar

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Last week, CHS reported on Seattle’s $286 million plan for a 1st Ave streetcar route (and lots of budget for infrastructure work along the way) linking the First Hill Streetcar to the South Lake Union Trolley via downtown.

We asked city officials about a much smaller $50,000 to $75,000 investment in the existing streetcar resources that has been held up at City Hall for more than a year and finally heard back — changes to speed up the streetcar on Broadway are coming… but we won’t know the details of the proposal for a few weeks. Continue reading →

Seattle has new $286M plan to connect First Hill Streetcar to the South Lake Union Trolley via 1st Ave

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1st Ave circa 2025

Like most things, the longer Seattle waits to build its downtown streetcar line, the more expensive it will get. Mayor Jenny Durkan put Seattle’s 1st Ave route back on track Thursday, announcing a new $286 million price tag for the planned Center City Connector to link the First Hill Streetcar and South Lake Union Trolley via 1st Ave. Meanwhile, there is still no word on planned optimization work for Broadway to speed up the route for the First Hill Streetcar as it shares the lanes with vehicular traffic.

When it finally goes into service in about six year, the 1st Ave streetcar shouldn’t face similar delays — it will have its own dedicated lane. Continue reading →

Seattle effort to return historic Benson Trolleys to service has Capitol Hill connection

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(Image: Friends of the Benson Trolleys)

With less than a week to go, backers of a community effort to raise funds to plan restoring Seattle’s historic Benson Trolleys for use on the city’s modern streetcar system are about halfway to their $28,000 goal. Though you’re unlikely to see Seattle’s two remaining 100-year-old trolleys on Capitol Hill’s tracks, the project has its roots in the neighborhood’s history.

“George and Evelyn Benson owned and operated Capitol Hill’s Mission Pharmacy at 19th and Aloha for 40 years,” Don Blakeney of Friends of the Benson Trolleys tells CHS. “Also, apparently they used to drive around the Hill delivering prescriptions to families in a van painted to look like a transit bus.” Continue reading →

SDOT plans summer ‘Broadway Corridor Streetcar Improvement Project’

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The Seattle Department of Transportation has a plan to optimize signals, eliminate turns, and add a “Business Access and Transit” lane to Broadway between Pine and Madison in an effort to make traffic flow more smoothly and to help speed the First Hill Streetcar through the area.

Here’s SDOT on the proposed “spot improvement” project being lined up for summer of 2018: Continue reading →

Wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit filed over First Hill Streetcar bike crashes

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The family of Desiree McCloud, who died in 2016 after crashing her bike on a track of the First Hill Streetcar, and a rider who survived her crash a year later at the same E Yesler trackway are joining forces to sue the City of Seattle.

“The Defendant City knew there were other bicycle crashes occurring when bike tire were caught in streetcar rail grooves before DESIREE’s injuries and death and SUZANNE GREENBERG’s injuries,” the lawsuit filed just before Christmas reads.

Suzanne Greenberg was injured when she crashed her bike near the spot at 13th and Yesler where McCloud had fallen a year after the deadly incident.

McCloud, 27, died following her May 2016 crash that led to calls for safety improvements near Seattle’s streetcar tracks. The city’s investigation was unable to determine if the First Hill Streetcar tracks had caused the fatal crash.

Their joint lawsuit reads like a project list any street, bicycling, and pedestrian planner would be familiar with in Seattle. Continue reading →

Long-term fix for First Hill Streetcar likely to take months, bill to be determined

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IMG_0702The First Hill Streetcar went back into operation at 5 AM on Monday after a sliding incident on March 1 took it out of service. Short-term fixes and precautions have been put in place until a long-term solution is ready, which could take months. And, while a bill for the 20-day outage and repairs is still being tabulated, officials told a City Council committee Tuesday afternoon that Seattle shouldn’t be on the hook for the costs.

“If we go the direction that we’ve kind of talked about, some of those components have to be specifically ordered and manufactured, and that’s a two month period just to get the components made in Germany,” Michael James, with the Seattle Department of Transportation said. “So we’re probably talking months not weeks.”

SDOT did not provide an estimated cost due to the service failure, but James said it appears to be manufacturer Inekon’s or its insurance company’s responsibility to cover costs from the service closure, which could include work to get the streetcar operating again and bus service provided during peak travel times on the route by King County Metro. Continue reading →