Sound Transit seeks two light-rail stations in South Lake Union, only five blocks apartOriginally published March 25, 2018 at 7:00 am Updated March 25, 2018 at 11:12 am
Early route maps show the stations five blocks apart, or three blocks as the crow flies. Businesses, politicians and transit advocate say a single station couldn’t handle future ridership demand in the booming neighborhood.
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By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times transportation reporter
At first glance, the plan looks like a no-brainer.
Sound Transit has promised a pair of subway stations for South Lake Union, one of the nation’s fastest-growing neighborhoods and home to thousands of transit-riding w
New York City has several examples of stations five short blocks apart. Important because a ten car train of sixty-foot B-indivsion (IND-BMT) of eight of 75-foot cars is almost two short blocks long itself. On Sixth Avenue, for example, there is the 47-50th Street station and then 42nd street. The 5th Avenue Station of the 7 IRT line is two medium blocks from its Grand Central Station, both Park and Lexington Avenues. There should not be any hard-and-fast rule about station spacing, but it should depend on purposes and area served.
I am going to assume that five blocks in this situation is approximately one-half of a mile. For light rail in a built-up area, this would be a reasonable distance between stations. It wouldn’t be too bad for rapid transit, either.
