I bet Rasmussen and Burgess are pissed. If McGinn can he should get Fed cash for the UW extension they want to kill for "cost" reasons.

To Roy Street and beyond!

This is good news. Big thanks to the Community Council for spearheading the effort, and to the Chamber of Commerce and others who endorsed their proposal (Broadway alignment past the park, north to Aloha, and reclaim the street with a cycle track) almost immediately and pushed to make it a reality.

Sweet! Sorry cab drivers, but I'm going to use the f*ck out of this streetcar. Right now I take either 2 buses from Pioneer Square to Capitol Hill, or I walk so far to the bus stop that I might as well keep walking to my destination. Cabs if the weather is terrible or late at night.

I'm excited about the cycle track too.

This is excellent news! Expanding high capacity transit into this part of Capitol Hill, with all of that density in both residential and, to a lesser extent, retail, makes a ton of sense, and is a smart investment in Seattle.

Now if only there was a way to improve East-West connectivity north of Ship Canal, and better connect CH with SLU to Lower QA/Belltown area.

@5 don't forget east-west south of the stadiums or access from West Seattle into downtown. It's not any better down here.

This is so awesome! I can't wait to ride and cycle this thing. Let's hope the city keeps the motivation going and keeps building more of these lines.

So I can train from CC to ID, streetcar to the hill? Please run this until 1 am like light rail and I will visit the hill a lot more. Sorry in advance.

Um, not quite:

"Mayor Mike McGinn is expected to announce today that the planned half-mile north Broadway streetcar extension will receive $1.75 million in federal grants. When a planned $1.25 million in city funds are added, the $3 million total should be enough to fully design a potential $25 million track project."

This is design, only. There is still the small matter of securing funds for building it.

@6 - Touche, although when it comes to transit into major economic centers, I think that Southeast Seattle does kind of have it badass with the light rail, that goes through SODO and into Downtown. Georgetown is sort of in the shitter, along with West Seattle but...well...fuck West Seattle. :-)

@9: Correct. I've updated the post to reflect this.

Soshlyzm! Seattle tyranny over Eastern Washington! Partition now! http://www.economist.com/node/3706026

@1 and @12 tied for the win.

@10 at least they're Seattle.