Thursday, July 9, 2009

Nine Days to Seattle Light Rail

Seattle light rail opens in 9 days, with an initial line connecting downtown to Tukwila. An additional extension to Sea-Tac airport is scheduled to open in December, ahead of the 2010 winter Olympics just to the north in BC.

Great that Seattle's finally getting a train, but it's already created Queen Anne, Ballard, West Seattle, Capitol Hill, U-District, and Fremont - all lively, walkable neighborhoods filled with local merchants - without any type of rail transit. Moreover, these places are authentic, not the P.F. Changs and Whole Foods-filled "Transit Oriented Developments" that have popped up here in the DC area as well as in Portland.

Seattle will become more convenient as its light rail line gets built out, but I doubt it will get any more interesting as a city.

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