Photo & Text Copyright 2009 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Many cities have subways, but Seattle is the only one I've experienced with bus tunnels under the city streets rather than trains. The Metro Bus Tunnel system has five stations and was completed in 1990 for use by gas and electric powered buses. It was renovated fifteen years later to accommodate joint use of buses and the new Link Light Rail system. It was re-dubbed the Seattle Transit Tunnel when it reopened two years ago. If you'd like to go on a ride through the tunnel from the comfort of your own screen, click this video!
4 comments:
You Seattlites are such innovative thinkers and problem solvers. This is a fine image, Kim.
Truly wonderful. I wish many more cities had systems like this. Buses and subways could run underground.
I hope you managed to avoid any encounters with over-zealous security guards on this photo walk!
Brattcat, I have to chuckle, because while very innovative and environmentally conscience people live in Seattle, we as a group of citizens seem to participate in our democratic discourse so much that we don't form decisions that we stick to for long and don't seem to get much accomplished on the big issues that face us in a timely manner. Our roadways and transit system infrastructure must be addressed and has been a fairly divisive issue since I've lived here this time around. When I was in college the freeway was never crowded and the great bus system to everywhere was fine. The population has grown so much, however, that the freeway makes LA traffic look GOOD, and rapid transit to neighborhoods and outlying communities is really needed. We have a major double deck hiway along the waterfront that was damaged in an earthquake 9 years ago this month, and which we've known since has to be replaced, but how to do that has become bogged down in contention, with decision making handed off from the voters saying they want a similar structure rebuilt to developers and foreward thinkers joining forces to recommend a replacement tunnel, to the decision being given to the Governor to make and a tunnel compromise being decided on, to now that we have a new mayor it all seems likely to be up in the air again. Everybody has an informed opinion, everybody gets to voice it, and usually it's put to the voters to decide. . .in some compromised form that no one seems to like at all. This seems to be a pattern of how we decide things. Or not :-).
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