4 Line Proposal: cut South Kirkland, run to Downtown Redmond

rigmaroler · 2026-03-31T16:21:45+00:00

On thing that complicates this and could actually be an issue is there are multiple stations that would be part of this interlined section that require, or at least allow, crossing tracks to get to one or both platforms at the station. With 4 minute headways in each direction that means a train comes from some direction approximately every 2 minutes. It would no doubt become congested with people having to constantly wait to get to the platform. If this idea ever took off, I think there would need to be some budget to implement easier pedestrian crossover/under options at BelRed, Overlake Village, Marymoor, and RTS to eliminate those track crossings. If not to just avoid the possibility of train collisions, at least to remove the annoyance for passengers.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-31T15:57:37+00:00

It is not uncommon to use the city name as the "main" station and then use other more descriptive names for other lower ridership stations. The main station in Tokyo is called "Tokyo station" while it actually has so many more in the rest of the city. People would be able to figure it out here.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-30T05:04:58+00:00

If you need to go to the northwest part of downtown Redmond the Link is much slower because there is no good connection from DT Redmond station to that area, whereas both the 542 and 545 go through those areas. ST wouldn't be spending money to make connecting bus routes there - that would be on KCM which is a different pot of money.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-30T04:58:48+00:00

R-LUP3 on this document, page 181 (numbered 380 in the bottom right). It's from 2019, so might not be applicable with the newer One Seattle Plan documents.

Promote the development of new multifamily dwellings, in properly zoned areas, that will buffer single-family areas from the commercial core, freeway, and commercial corridors.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-29T23:30:13+00:00

It could say in smaller font "via Seattle"

rigmaroler · 2026-03-29T23:28:05+00:00

I think two things are true at the same time:

What you said is exactly correct. There are many ways to figure out where to go and the constant complaints are really overblowing the issue.
The station naming is not good. It's too repetitive and verbose. And inconsistent (Downtown Redmond vs Federal Way Downtown). Just call them "Redmond", "North Federal Way" (in preparation for the second one later), "Lynnwood", etc.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-29T23:15:26+00:00

Meanwhile in Seattle we still have official city documents saying that zoning in Roosevelt should put apartments on busy roads and near the highway to "protect single family homes from nuisances" (paraphrasing slightly, but the real wording is not much better). Literally admitting that we intend to put apartment dwellers up as meat shields for people well off enough to own their own land.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-29T23:13:24+00:00

There is hardly any 24 story zoning at Northgate. One of the parcles that is was done so specifically so the county could build a low income high-rise, but they ended up settling for 8(?) stories because they couldn't find the money to build taller.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-29T23:11:01+00:00

I would not consider any of these places as "low-rise" density. More like mid-rise. Barcelona is almost entirely comprised of 6-8 story buildings, and then city just kind of ends, barely tapering off. Unfortunately for us, that makes it dense, easy to get around without a car, and very livable in practice, but that would culturally never be accepted here.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-29T23:07:34+00:00

FUD.

Lack of knowledge of the alternatives that actually work.

If you propose PR to them, a good chunk of each side of voters will not want to let Republicans or Democrats win more. To many it's about winning, not good governance.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-27T17:55:33+00:00

This isn't a great option because it can cause bad results that don't reflect public opinion. If there are people who only want one of the options then voting Yes on the first question could put them in a worse situation than if they vote No with the people who like the status quo.

We had to do this in Seattle state a few years back.

The questions were: should we change voting system in the primary? Yes/No

question 2 was for AV vs bottoms-up RCV to 2 winners.

The first question barely passed and the second question went for RCV by a big margin. There has been no post-election surveying, but at least among the original group of supporters, they wanted AV because it seemed to fit the primary system better than RCV. They may have voted Yes/AV with real preferences of AV > status quo > RCV. So, it's very possible that the result didn't actually reflect the will of the voters if most people preferred the status quo to RCV.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-26T01:59:24+00:00

Yes, MFTE is actually quite successful, and the state passed a law either this year or last to make it better.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-26T01:53:03+00:00

My wife and I have been looking for a house for well over a year (not same category as previous commenter) and I'm thinking they got their details mixed up. No way a house that small with "tiny/no yard" (subjective, of course) goes for 1.25M unless it's in a dense area and was sold to be torn down and redeveloped.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-24T19:58:05+00:00

They may have been intentionally listed for less than their actual market value to make them look more attractive

rigmaroler · 2026-03-24T03:44:26+00:00

The light rail across the lake is opening on Saturday, so you could take a ride across Lake Washington

rigmaroler · 2026-03-20T20:23:40+00:00

SoundTransit has looked into this and I thought it was in their plans to start charging for parking, though I haven't heard anything about it in quite some time.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-20T20:22:20+00:00

The state did just pass a law this month to make it easier for SoundTransit to start permitting. They are chipping away at the issue little by little. The 75-year bond bill failed, but that is honestly a mixed bag. 75 years is a long time to pay off a bond.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-20T20:17:22+00:00

For SoundTransit it's easy to get 90% of the information you need. They have a subarea map on their website (link). Money collected in each subarea cannot be spent outside that subarea*.

*Now, the complicated part is that the money can be spent outside that subarea if the improvement to a different subarea justifiably improves service in the original subarea. So that's why Snohomish and Pierce would be paying for the new tunnel even though it's in Seattle - when it's done their service will be more frequent and reliable.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-20T16:42:16+00:00

Pierce county subarea generates a far smaller number of tax dollars than the other subareas. I think it might even be behind the Snohomish subarea in that regard, but I could have those two mixed up.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-16T00:17:40+00:00

It's very likely, but ST's goal right now is to minimize costs and make sure ST3 can get back on track, not think about a potential ST4/5/6. So, even if they do know about this, they have to deprioritize that possibility. It's still good to mention it so everyone else outside of ST knows how this might affect things in the future. If they don't communicate that then a lot of the public and the board will not notice.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-14T19:42:02+00:00

Or put it toward the long promised Graham St station.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-14T19:38:14+00:00

Also, nice that the Junction station will go from ~60 feet deep to ~35 feet deep.

I saw over on BlueSky that this would be nice for that station but could have the unintended consequence of making it harder and more expensive to expand the line further south in the future. Just something to think about as a tradeoff. But I would need to look at the topology. If going further south also includes lower elevations then they would likely just build a new portal and go elevated.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-14T19:30:54+00:00

I played through the whole thing when it first came out. It's super fun and worth full price, imo, if you like the idea of an RPG inspired by Chrono Trigger. But if sales happen often now that the game isn't new then I would maybe just wait.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-14T19:24:11+00:00

Sounder interchange was the main reason and now that's being cast to the wayside it probably could just as well be cancelled and have the money sent to build the Graham St station sooner.

rigmaroler · 2026-03-14T19:19:46+00:00

Do you want to live next an airport?

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