Residents were split across the board at last night’s Downtown Bellevue Light Rail open house, hosted by Sound Transit to discuss the recently studied alignments, including a still over-budget, but cheaper, tunnel option. Representatives from the Surrey Downs Community Club, who are apparently staples at these events (and have a really terrible website), handed out Tootsie Pops with their preferred alignments (B7 and C14E—in short, the vision line) taped to the wrapper, with a note that said “‘Sweet’ Light Rail Alignments For Bellevue’s Downtown and Neighborhoods.” But that alignment along I-405 would skirt downtown, and cut ridership by 2,500 people a day.
Mostly, though, people wanted the tunnel. “It has to be a tunnel,” said Joyce, another resident, “It has to be at the Bellevue Transit Center.” Bernard Van de Kamp, Regional Project Manager for the City of Bellevue, heard the same concerns—”a lot of support for the tunnel,” he said, as well as “how to make the tunnel work from a funding perspective.” Unfortunately, even the new, cheaper tunnel option being studied is still $185-285 million over-budget.
A brief Powerpoint presentation in the City Council chambers included details for each alignments, including potential noise, cost, parking accommodations, and access to hospitals (.pdf via Seattle Transit Blog).
Outside of downtown routes, folks were concerned how routes through South Bellevue would affect the Mercer Slough, a nature park near downtown Bellevue. How could Sound Transit protect wetlands while still providing access to the South Bellevue Park & Ride? Since this was a downtown workshop, however, those concerns weren’t addressed with statistics and graphs.
“I’m very concerned for any option that could hurt the slough,” countered another Bellevue resident, adding that “whatever option gets chosen, it has to serve the ridership… any option that won’t get us downtown is ridiculous.”
I asked Don Davidson, Mayor of Bellevue, what the biggest concern he’s been hearing is. He responded, “Not in my backyard!”
“By the time you construct it,” an older gentleman named Jay told me, “the people that said ‘not in my neighborhood’ will dead and buried. “I’ll be dead before they even start it!” added Susie, who was there with him.
“Just do it,” said Susie, “Enough delay.”
I’m looking out the window at the Mercer Slough right now. I wouldn’t mind light rail to commute on, here, but of course Kirkland isn’t even on the drawing board of any transit option that I’ve heard.
The Eastside needs a light rail system much more than the Seattle corridor ever did. Metro bus service on our side of the Lake is so infrequent and poorly run that Microsoft had to just come up with their own bus service for their employees.
The people that are older are mostly thinking about what Bellevue and the Eastside used to be, not what they will be during the operation lifetime of this light rail line.
Build it without the tunnel and have Microsoft co-sponsor some stations near their properties (e.g. donate the land and get a cool sign in return).
Wow, I’m really encouraged to hear that there’s such a groundswell of support in Bellevue for a downtown tunnel. A lot of that support may be for all the wrong reasons–get it out of the way and out of sight–but you’d be hard-pressed to find any city in the world that regretted building a dedicated, unimpeded transit right-of-way through its downtown.
Now, if only Bellevue and Sound Transit and whoever else can partner and figure out a way to pay for the damn thing.
Microsoft leases all of the office space it occupies in downtown Bellevue, so it couldn’t just exchange land for a cool sign, which it would never do anyway. Also, plenty of right of way already exists.
I think either a tunnel under 110th or surface along 108th (where the most high rises are clustered) would work fine, and both would stop at the existing Bellevue transit center, which is essential. As for Kemper Freeman, there’s no need for Link to serve his mall. Rail needs to go where people now work (and will increasingly live and shop), which is a few blocks east between 108th and 112th.
I asked Don Davidson, Mayor of Bellevue, what the biggest concern he’s been hearing is. He responded, “Not in my backyard!”
Now that’s candor.
I hate to say it, but those Surrey Downs residents who are so determined to keep light rail out of their backyard know full well that every other alternative out there is a big-time loss for light rail and Bellevue as a whole and the region as a whole. They’re perfectly happy to believe that a small perceived loss for them outweighs an enormous gain for the rest of us–and to see this region waste billions of taxpayer dollars on a gerrymandered, crippled light rail route.
Note though that I say perceived loss. History has shown that neighborhoods like Surrey Downs who only get dragged kicking and screaming into getting a mass transit station end up benefiting enormously from the very thing they thought would be a blight.
@4 – it could buy the land.
They have BILLIONS. TENS OF BILLIONS.
For that, they could literally buy every property in the City of Seattle and turn the entire city into a giant amusement park.
Cressona @5, you’ve nailed it. This is about constipated old types who won’t let go of their notion of Bellevue as a quaint bedroom community, vs. the reality of Bellevue, which is a city with an increasingly dense, urban downtown. As someone who lives in Seattle but has commuted to the east side on and off for 17 years, I’ve seen the transformation myself.
Also Will, just say no to drugs.
bellevue only needs a tunnel because its residents don’t want the trains in the way of their cars.
@7 – chocolate cake is not a drug.
It’s pretty simple, really. Either way, there are NIMBYs. Surrey Downs has the most vocal ones, but there are NIMBYs who oppose all of the options.
But the B7/C14E/[Lack of] Vision option is the worst of the four options.
So, ignore the NIMBYs, and pick one of the two high-performing options. One of those options requires money to build a tunnel. The other doesn’t. Come up with the money for a tunnel from Bellevue residents, or accept the C11A option.
That’s where this is going to end up. Kemper Freeman has pull but in the end he doesn’t have either Sound Transit or the public on his side. Thankfully.