Light rail delirium

So.   I hopped on the light rail at the U-District station earlier this afternoon, and rode downtown.

Frequent readers of my blog can sense it coming -- another meditation on rapid transit.  They have seen all too often my obsession with all forms of rail travel, from transcontinental railroad travel to short urban streetcar rides.

And they would be correct.  Until a month ago, I would have been unable to write that initial sentence, because until October 2, there was no functioning U-District station.  Sound Transit's one light rail line in King County -- recently renamed somewhat grandiosely the "One Line" -- I say "grandiosely" because so far the One Line is the only line -- extended only as far north as Husky Stadium on the southeast corner of the University of Washington campus.

But, after years of preparation, tunneling, and construction, the One Line has finally pushed 4.3 miles farther north to Northgate -- the site of the allegedly first indoor shopping center in the nation, and of North Seattle Community College.  Besides Northgate, the One Line has new stations in the U-District on Brooklyn Avenue just off N.E. 45th (a station that will be more convenient for most students at the UW than the one beside the stadium), and the Roosevelt station at 12th Avenue N.E. just off N.E. 65th.

The rail line goes underground at the Chinatown/International District station, just south of downtown, not to emerge until just before reaching Northgate.  Construction above ground -- both surface and elevated -- is far faster than tunneling underground, and the One Line will be extended another 8.5 miles above ground north to Lynnwood by 2024.  The extension will include two stations in Shoreline, and a station in Mountlake Terrace.

Needless to say, I wriggle with delight at these developments.  And I'm not even discussing the Two Line, whose initial route will also open in 2024, serving the eastern side of Lake Washington, with nine stations strung across east Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue, and southerm Redmond. 

The day the Northgate extension opened, I was on an early train from the station nearest my house (University of Washington station) to Northgate.  I milled about the new station with other enthusiasts, and followed the walkway and the new footbridge from the station across I-5 to the community college.  I then rode back as far as the new U-District station, from which it was an easy walk home.  (I knocked off the remaining Roosevelt station within a day or two later.)

Last month's extension, together with the 2024 Lynwood extension, is expected to serve a large number of commuters from north Seattle and its northern suburbs -- workers traveling to jobs in downtown Seattle, and students traveling to the UW. With the concurrent addition in 2024 of the line serving the east side of the Lake, the light rail system will reduce the burden on the existing highway system and allow travelers to skim right past (or under) traffic jams that have in recent years become almost constant.

Our light rail system still won't allow residents to get around to all parts of town as easily as New Yorkers do on their subway system, or even as folks in Boston can on their much smaller system.  As a consolation, I suppose, our cars are much cleaner, quieter, and more comfortable than those of either New York or Boston.

None of these extensions will be particularly useful to me as a practical matter.  The route as it existed before last month already permitted me to ride to my two primary destinations -- downtown and the airport.  But you can bet that I'll be riding the rails to each new station as it opens -- but strictly as the railroad tourist that I so obviously am.

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Photo:  Northgate Station on the first day it was open.