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Seattle gives green light to streetcar project
Smart, lucky people in that city.
This line will be a great addition to our city’s transportation mix. It will also serve some major medical facilities. First Hill is not called “Pill Hill” for nothing!
wasn’t this the approximate route of the yesler st. cable-car line, abandoned 1941? how are they going to avoid the hills, especially in winter? i used to ride the B=geary line in san francisco, which had one block of 17% but no snow. -arturo
I couldn’t find a map of the old cable car line handy but as for snow, even the South Lake Union streetcar line (which is basically flat) has shut down when the tracks were covered in ice and snow. In recent years, snow and ice events have become more rare and hopefully won’t cause too many shutdowns of the line.
Will this line interconnect to any of the new carlines recently built in Seattle? As for the steep grades: Maybe they could lay a rack between the rails for additional adhesion in snow/ice conditions, otherwise the locals will be very upset from all the sand laid down for added traction. As for the cost of the line, by the time the unions, lawyers, & other interested parties get thruwith it the cost will be overrun by a factor of 4 or 5.