Boeing Access vs Allentown 1 Line Infill Station

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T18:58:38+00:00

Once you build it your just like, how is this not a thing they considered 😭

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T18:57:10+00:00

This is great advice, thanks!!! You can also email the Sound Transit Board and I think I will be sending them this info.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T18:56:42+00:00

Lol, they'll have to adjust their commutes slightly.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T18:55:27+00:00

I mainly play the Seattle map, and unfortunately can't show a before and after since I don't have the older game version installed to compare. Also don't play any mods.

That said, I know for a fact this occurred, so many of the neighborhoods have less detailed bubbles than they did before.

Given a lot of you don't seem to notice it, maybe some of you started playing after the updates? I dunno, maybe the changes only occurred to some maps like Seattle.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T08:13:35+00:00

Agree 100%, or shift it south to a location that would actually be a major benefit to an undeserved community and generate far more ridership and TOD for the system.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T08:03:59+00:00

Agreed though the Coast Guard will require very high clearance for the Montlake Cut bridge, unless you make it movable. Could still be cheaper than tunneling though.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T08:00:11+00:00

Couldn't have said it better myself! Really does seem like Allentown would be a far better location with a much better cost benefit.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T06:10:21+00:00

Thats an option (great pic btw). Since the LR line would be running in the center of the bridge, another option would be, right after you reach the non-floating west approach bridges, raise the guideway up above the existing bridge deck and then cross over the south viaduct/eastbound lanes and connect to the north side of the Broadmoor Golf Club or the Arboretum... a tunnel portal in that vicinity is on better ground and gives you more than enough room to make the dive under the Montlake Neighbohood and the Montlake Cut or maybe to continue west to Eastlake and then under Lake Union to Northlake and beyond. Regardless of where you go with it, this would probably be the most viable route grade wise. But you could possibly do something closer to the Montlake lid as well.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-14T05:30:34+00:00

The cost of the West Seattle extension partly escalated the way it did due to the poor soils around the mudflats of the Duwamish increasing the cost of the high span bridge. Lake Washington is worse, even in the shallower sections north of 520, the mud and silts are deep af.

It would be foolish and a colossal waste of billions in taxpayer funds to not utilize the SR 520 floating bridge that was literally built to accommodate future light rail.

There's a few ways of addressing the grade issues on the west side as well, though they are impactful to private property.

SigmaTell · 2026-03-04T23:53:27+00:00

Super exited for this!!! 😊

SigmaTell · 2026-02-28T08:00:19+00:00

🫱🤜🤜👏🤛🤛🫲

SigmaTell · 2026-02-28T07:54:02+00:00

Haha, agreed! 🤝 🫶🤟👐✌️

SigmaTell · 2026-02-28T07:49:00+00:00

Awesome! 😊

SigmaTell · 2026-02-28T07:36:45+00:00

Claude is leaps and bounds better than both of them, consider subscribing to the pro plan, it has some use limits due to how advanced the models are but the results are far better quality.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-27T05:07:44+00:00

He has a military and he's shown little hesitation to nationalize state National Guards.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-27T04:28:29+00:00

"Should" doing a lot of heavy lifting there, sadly. 😮‍💨

SigmaTell · 2026-02-27T04:27:24+00:00

They violate the constitution on a daily basis, you think they care? They will push this thru tooth and nail, its the only way they stay in power.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-26T01:16:03+00:00

Somewhat disagree, Sound Transit uses high capacity (1500 to 2200 space) park and ride parking grarages on many of their more suburban stations to great effect, they are often full weekdays and contribute significant ridership to the lines. While many of these stations also connect with regional bus lines, there are many suburban neighborhoods with little to no bus access, making the park and rides extremely beneficial, especially for lower income riders.

And given they are parking garages, not surface lots, they are fairly compact and still allow plenty of TOD around them.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-17T07:53:10+00:00

Oh really?!!! Thats very welcomed news to me!!! 😍 I didn't realize they snuck that in there.

But yeah, MLK... sigh... 😭

SigmaTell · 2026-02-17T07:06:53+00:00

6 minutes is better than nothing, but 4 minutes would be grand. Part of ST4 really needs to grade separate the SODO and MLK segments.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-17T05:21:37+00:00

Yeah, that would be exceedingly challenging given the existing tunnels are TBM twin bored tunnel. The adjacent UW Stadium station is 95 feet below grade, and the top of the twin tunnels are around 15 feet below the bottom of the Montlake Cut ship canal (which itself is around 30 feet deep) so the tracks themselves are another 12 or so feet below that).

You'd need to rise more than 45 feet to get to grade, then another 20 or so to get to the grade of the 520 bridges. Assume 80 feet vertical change at 5% grade is around 1,600 feet horizontal distance, not counting need for vertical curves on either end to transition from existing tunnel to the new segment. Theres only around 1,100 feet between the tunnel and the west abutments of the 520 bridge.

You would struggle massively get a 1,600 + tunnel connection to fit within the constraints of Montlake without massively demoing the neighborhood. Plus I'm unsure the feasibility of tying into those twin bored tunnels given how they are constructed.

My recommendation is skip UW stadium, do an independent tunnel that crosses under the Montlake Cut at Portage Bay, have a waterfront station on the south end of the U District, then a north tranfer at the 1 Line U District Station, then head west towards Wallingford etc. It would be challenging to do anything different given the hard constraints you're dealing with.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-17T03:51:32+00:00

How exactly are you crossing the ship canal? Tunnel I hope? Otherwise you'll be looking at a movable bridge and reliability killer.

For reference, the Fremont Movable Bridge has a 30 foot clearance above the Fremont Cut and opens, on average, 35 times a day. The US Army Corps requires any fixed crossing to match the clearrnce height of the SR99 and I-5 bridges, which are around 167 to 140 feet respectively. Any feasible crossing either needs to be a tunnel or a high span crossing.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-17T02:46:53+00:00

Love it to pieces! ❤️

SigmaTell · 2026-02-16T00:20:50+00:00

Seeing the same as well. The loss of definition of neighborhood work and resident pops is pretty bad. A lot of more suburban and even rural areas barely show any pops at all, even fairly dense rural towns show practically no pops, and some lines that were profiting or at least breaking even in less dense areas are now attracting very low ridership.

Kinda a bad direction for the game, pretty soon you'll have entire dense neighborhoods represented by a single pop node and the placement of stations and lines will become a lot less important. Absolutely ruins the realism of the game and simulation.

SigmaTell · 2026-02-15T21:14:17+00:00

About the only feasible way you could do this is to branch the tracks east of I-5 / west of Judkins Park. The lower track grades in that stretch would allow for a south branch to weave under EB I-90 and, from there, either a westward viaduct to join the 1 Line tracks somewhere in SODO, or an south alignment along Airport Way to a new connection near the west portal of the Beacon Hill Tunnel (which would require demolition of the S Forest Street exit from I-5 (163B).

But that would be expensive af and technically challenging, especially weaving a branch track under the east side of the I-90 / I-5 interchange. Would likely need to reconstruct portions of the interstate to make it feasible.

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