Monorail project rolls out its route; Seattle Center plan controversial

By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Related stories 'Eastside cities feel left out': Group again pushes countywide monorail

With no price tag but an ambitious goal to break ground within a year, the Seattle Monorail Project has unveiled its preferred route for the 14-mile Green Line, an alignment certain to displease some city political and business leaders.

Among the recommendations is a route through the Seattle Center grounds, which is opposed by Seattle City Council President Peter Steinbrueck, as well as such festival operators as Bumbershoot.

And the proposed route goes along the west side of Second Avenue downtown, against the wishes of Mayor Greg Nickels.

Further, parts of the monorail would be built on one track, including the route across the West Seattle Bridge, which project leaders say could save millions of dollars but critics say could cause headaches if the train were to break down with no other track available for a backup train. Critics also say single tracks compromise the vision of making the Green Line the trunk of a longer system.

"Today is the most important day since the election," said Joel Horn, executive director of the monorail project. "It's now decision time."

The monorail staffers will prepare a final recommendation for the Seattle Monorail Project board in January and, after analyzing an environmental-impact statement, the board will select a final alignment and station locations in March. Horn said the schedule calls for trains to begin running on a section of the Green Line in December 2007.

Horn said he has no cost estimates on the preferred Green Line route and said that's up to the companies expected to bid on the project, Canada-based Bombardier and the Japan-based Hitachi team. They probably will compete to win a $1.3(billion contract next year to design, construct and maintain the $1.7( billion system.

"We're not going to put out a cost estimate and get everyone's hopes up until we lock down a contractor," Horn said.

Bidding on fast track

Horn said the bidding process has been put on the fast track and there may be cost estimates as early as May or June. He said the route through Seattle Center — as opposed to going around it — would save at least $10(million and that a single track over the West Seattle Bridge would save another $10(million or more.

Those savings could help offset monorail-tax revenues that are coming in one-third below projections.

Included in the proposed Green Line alignment:

There would be a single track between Northwest 85th Street and Northwest Market Street in Ballard, changing to a horizontal double beam beginning north of Market Street and crossing the Ship Canal west of the Ballard Bridge. That would mean fewer business displacements, monorail officials said.

The monorail-operations center would be in Interbay on a seven-acre site west of 15th Avenue West and north of West Armory Way. Monorail officials had narrowed the choice to Interbay or the Sodo neighborhood, but picked Interbay because the land is cheaper and would require fewer business relocations.

The monorail would go through Seattle Center on a northwest route, following a paved path along the west end of Memorial Stadium, over the Fun Forest and through the Experience Music Project. The center's International Fountain would not be disturbed. The Seattle Center station would be at the site of the Northwest Rooms near KeyArena.

Center routes criticized

This has been one of the most contentious sections of the monorail route, with most of the theater groups and community organizations supporting a through-center route, while Steinbrueck as well as Bumbershoot and other festival groups want the monorail to go around the center.

While Nickels and Seattle Center director Virginia Anderson support a monorail through the center, Steinbrueck introduced a resolution opposing the route through the center because it would be disruptive to events. Other council members also have been lukewarm about the cross-center route.

Running the monorail through the Seattle Center would "despoil the parklike qualities" of the city's premier gathering spot, Steinbrueck said.

"It's very disruptive to the qualities of the center grounds, visually," he said. The sound and sight of trains running through the center every few minutes, he said, would detract from memorial observances held at the center, as well as stadium events.

Another contentious portion of the proposed Green Line is along Second Avenue, where the staff recommendation is for tracks on the west side of the street.

Last spring, Nickels wrote a letter to monorail planners asking them to study shifting the route to the east side of Second Avenue downtown.

While Nickels supports the route through the Seattle Center grounds, he said running the monorail along the west side of Second Avenue might adversely affect the development planned by Washington Mutual and the Seattle Art Museum. SAM is planning to expand in 2007 into a new building to be shared with Washington Mutual.

Museum seeks more details

As examination of the Second Avenue route goes forward, SAM officials want more information on the vibrations that would be felt from building and operating the monorail and what effect those vibrations might have on artwork on display and in storage.

Other concerns, said Chris Rogers, the museum's director of capital projects, include how the monorail would affect the museum's use of Second Avenue as an entrance, especially for school trips, and as a loading dock for artwork.

Nickels' spokeswoman, Marianne Bichsel, said the mayor continues to be concerned that putting the monorail on the west side of Second Avenue could have a greater impact on underground utilities.

But in defending the westside alignment, Horn said it would minimize the loss of views and that a track on the east side of the street would shade the public spaces along Second Avenue, such as the Garden of Remembrance veterans memorial and the Washington Mutual atrium.

The plan calls for a station at Fifth Avenue and Stewart Street with an elevated walkway to Westlake Center. It also includes two "turnback" stations, one near Seattle Center and one near the sports stadiums, where trains could turn around and head back the way they came. Although the turnbacks would add money to the cost of the project, Horn said this is crucial to handle traffic after big events, such as baseball games or concerts and festivals.

There would be a Safeco Field station and a single track along Third Avenue South, south of Safeco. There also would be a single track from Lander Street across the West Seattle Bridge. The monorail would end at the Morgan Junction Station, on the west side of California Avenue Southwest between Southwest Graham Street and Fauntleroy Way Southwest.

Beth Kaiman, Seattle Times staff reporter, contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company