King County Metro has shared an updated high-level design of the RapidRide R Line and is asking the community for feedback. The R Line will travel between Rainier Beach station and downtown Seattle on Rainier Ave when it opens in 2032. First envisioned in the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle, work on this route was paused for a few years due to budget constraints. RapidRide R will replace Route 7, the second busiest bus route in Washington (behind the E Line).

The recent update outlines the expected stop locations and areas of focus for speed and reliability improvements and for transit access improvements (sidewalks, curb ramps, lighting, etc). Throughout the route, reliability improvements have been identified near many intersections. These will likely take the form of transit signal priority.

Segment 1: Downtown to Judkins Park Station

Continue reading “RapidRide R Line Project Update” | 62 comments

Why the DC Streetcar failed. (Climate and Transit)

Why small studio apartments are proliferating. Seattle is mentioned twice. (Stewart Hicks)

Musical interlude: Crazy Downtown by Allan Sherman, 1965.

This is an open thread.

2 comments

The eastern half of Bellevue Transit Center is closed for Stride S1 and S2 construction, so several bus stops are relocated to adjacent streets. The current phase will last until October. Then the western half of the transit center will close until January. Currently three temporary bus stops have been established on adjacent streets:

• Westbound 520 routes: 271, 556. On NE 6th St east of 110th Ave NE, in front of Meydenbauer Center.
• Southbound/eastbound I-90 and local routes: 271, 550, 556, 560, 566. On 110th Ave NE south of NE 6th St. Also arrivals on the 532, 535, and 908 at the end of their route.
• Nortbound 405 and local routes: 249, 532, 535, 908. On 110th Ave NE south of NE 6th Street, in front of the Link station. Also arrivals on the 550 near the end of its route (it makes one more stop at the Bellevue Library).

Sound Transit has a map of the bus stops and routes.

I’m surprised such a major closure at the Eastside’s biggest transit hub hasn’t gotten more publicity and hasn’t been mentioned in the STB comments. People may have encountered it and assumed everyone else knew about it.

I discovered the closure last week when I went to Bellevue Square for the first time since Crosslake Link opened. I intended to transfer from Link to the 550 or 271 if they were coming in a few minutes. But the eastern half of the transit center was fenced off and those stops were relocated. Rather than looking for them and possibly finding they weren’t coming anyway, I walked to the Square. That wouldn’t have been an option if I’d been going several more miles or had only a couple minutes to transfer, so anyone who will be in that situation should determine their temporary stop beforehand or leave several minutes to find it.

The NE 6th Street walkway looks more pleasant than the last time I used it between 108th and 106th, so it seems to have been renovated. After my shopping trip I decided not to walk to the transit center or take the 550 eastbound. Instead I went to the 550 westbound stop at NE 4th & Bellevue Way, which has a shelter to wait at. I took the 550 to South Bellevue station and transferred to Link. In the restructure later this month, the 556 will replace the 550 in that role.

64 comments

Preliminary first-count results released yesterday. Coverage by KUOW, by The Urbanist, by The Stranger, by The Seattle Times ($), and by the Northwest Progressive Institute.

King County’s results are here (PDF); statewide results are accessible here. First-drop preliminary results represent about half of ballots cast; later counts typically trend very progressive in the Puget Sound region.

Seattle Transit Blog has not yet issued endorsements for this year’s elections.

Selected Primary Elections (top two proceed to the November General Election):

• Seattle City Council D5: Nilu Jenks (49.69%); Julie Kang (36.67%)
• King County Council D2: Rebecca Saldaña (51.94%); Toshiko Grace Hasegawa (38.66%)
  • Mriam Mboya (8.70%)
• King County Council D8: Teresa Mosqueda (62.78%); Nick Duda (27.49%)
  • Mia Jacobson (9.27%)
• State Leg. D43 Senator: Jamie Pedersen (71.06%); Hannah Sabio-Howell (17.86%)
• State Leg. D46 Pos. 1: Gerry Pollet (54.34%); Will Dreher (30.69%)
  • Ron Davis (13.69%)
• US Congress D9: Adam Smith (50.94%); Doug Basler (23.79%)
  • Kshama Sawant (12.56%); Melissa Chaudhry (11.42%); Jacob Perasso (1.13%)

Selected levies and other elections:

• Seattle Prop. 1 (Library Levy): Yes (71.71%)
• Tacoma Prop 1 (Connect Tacoma: Safe Streets and Sidewalks Levy): Yes (57.51%)
• Spokane Public Transportation Benefit Area Prop 1: Yes (50.38%)

We are tracking a few elections of interest and will share relevant updates as ballots are counted. Results are from August 4, 2026.

Comments may discuss any election result relevant to transit or land use improvement. Uncivil comments will be moderated.

8 comments

First-drop election results after the headlines.

Service changes are coming at the end of August! Summary articles are in the works.

Headlines:

• Op-Ed: Federal Transportation Policy Is Growing Unhinged Under Trump (The Urbanist)
• Full Ballard Link Line Could Take Until 2060 To Build, Sound Transit Says (The Urbanist); Seattle Subway’s response.
• The Builder’s Remedy Looks To Be Coming to Bainbridge Island (The Urbanist)
• Seattle Council Reins In Growth Plan Appeals in Narrow Vote (The Urbanist)
• Impending Metro Service Changes See Last-Minute Pushback in Lake Forest Park (The Urbanist).
• PubliCola introduces new comparison commentary column “Greater Seattle” (PubliCola)
• In California, Some Cities Are Done With Drive-Throughs (The New York Times, gift link)
• Seattle office building turns into apartments. Here’s how it looks (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL)
• Bellevue adds “Bellevue Light Rail Shuttle” on top of its existing BellHop app-taxi shuttle (Visit Bellevue). Coverage by The Seattle Times ($)
• “August Adventures” accessible via Community Transit (CT News)
• Pierce Transit to run a special express service to the Washington State Fair, Sept. 4-27 (What’s New)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: August Adventures” | 73 comments

Sound Transit’s expanded night-owl bus service is starting on August 29 with service between Redmond-Seattle and Lakewood-Seattle. In 2025, the agency originally proposed three night-owl routes that would provide service to most Link stations while trains are not running. While two of these routes will start this month, the north route to Everett has been delayed until 2027. Sound Transit declined to share the cause for the delay, stating: “We are continuing to work with our partners to expand ST Night Bus service but do not have specific updates about Everett to Seattle service to share at this time”.

Sound Transit contracts ST Express route operations to King County Metro, Pierce Transit, and Community Transit. These three agencies generally, but not always, operate the routes that serve their counties (King, Pierce, and Snohomish, respectively). For the night-owl routes, Metro will operate the route to Redmond and Pierce Transit will operate the route to Lakewood. Sound Transit is expected to contract the Everett route to Community Transit, though negotiations between the two agencies may be taking longer than expected.

Continue reading “Sound Transit expands night-owl service to Lakewood, Redmond – not Everett” | 57 comments

Update: Normal service on the 1 Line and 2 Line resumed shortly after 2pm on Sunday.

Late last night, an empty Link train derailed while turning around using the pocket track at International District/Chinatown station. The train was on its way to Stadium station to help ease the crowds of Ed Sheeran fans waiting for a train home. It appears the train derailed at the switch and may have damaged the overhead wire. As of this morning, the train has been removed from the station and crews are inspecting the tracks and overhead wires. Sound Transit has not responded to our request for comment.

Continue reading “Derailed train shuts down Link service downtown” | 98 comments

In 2019 Amsterdam committed to removing 10,000 street parking spaces in 5 years to make a more liveable city, repurposing the space for sidewalks, bike lanes, and transit. Local residents were enthusiastic after they were removed. Now Amsterdam is removing 10,000 more spaces by 2030. (Not Just Bikes)

This is an open thread.

41 comments

Seafair is happening Friday-Sunday at Genesee Park. Metro has a transit access page and area map. Route 50 goes to Genesee Park from Columbia City, Othello, and SODO Link stations. Columbia City station also has a shuttle bus between 9am and 6pm on festival days. The page has a list of Link P&Rs and how many parking spaces each one has. That in itself might be interesting to peruse if you’ve never seen all the parking space numbers together, as I never have. It’s missing a couple P&Rs: Tukwila Intl Blvd and Angle Lake.

Other neighborhood festivals are causing reroutes, as happens every summer weekend somewhere. Metro’s Weekend Update has the list. I see Issaquah Front Street Eatery, U-District Boba Fest, Lake City Summer Festival & Parade, Magnolia Summer Parade, and Cherry Hill’s Umoja Fest Parade.

Ballard Link update

Sound Transit says the rest of Ballard Link from Seattle Center to Market Street can be finished by 2042 if it achieves the following milestones:

1. Identify $1 billion in cost savings or new revenue by 2030 to begin acquiring property.
2. Complete final design by 2032.
3. Get full funding by 2033.

For those keeping score, that’s 5 years late (2037 to 2042), comparable to the 2 Line.

Potential funding sources are longer-term bonds, a higher debt limit, station area value generation (leveraging growth from development), third-party funding, or permitting reform. I don’t know how growth from development is compatible with giving land for low-income housing as ST is required to try first.

Sound Transit, Seattle, and King County jointly released a South Downtown Hub framework report. This is a 99-page vision for the greater CID2 and Midtown station areas between Cherry Street, Royal Brougham, Alaskan Way, and I-5.

This is a Friday Roundtable and open thread.

52 comments