The Seattle Monorail Project was a proposed five-line

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

system to be constructed in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, US, as an extension of the existing

Seattle Center Monorail The Seattle Center Monorail is an elevated straddle-beam monorail line in Seattle, Washington, United States. The monorail runs along 5th Avenue between Seattle Center and Westlake Center in Downtown Seattle, making no intermediate stops. ...

. The , 17 station Green Line running from Ballard to

West Seattle West Seattle is a conglomeration of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington, United States. It comprises two of the thirteen districts, Delridge and Southwest, and encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. It was incorporated as an i ...

via

Seattle Center Seattle Center is an arts, educational, tourism and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington, United States. Spanning an area of 74 acres (30 ha), it was originally built for the 1962 World's Fair. Its landmark feature is the tall Space Needl ...

would have been the first of the five lines to be built. From 1997 to 2005 the monorail project was a highly contentious political issue in the Seattle area. In November 2005, following the fifth voter initiative on the monorail in eight years, the monorail authority agreed to dissolve itself after having spent $124.7 million in taxpayer funds without beginning any monorail construction.

History

Initiative 41 and ETC

The effort to extend the monorail began in 1997 with Initiative 41, passed by a 53%–47% vote by Seattle citizens. The initiative proposed a X-shaped monorail system extending the line constructed for the 1962

Seattle World's Fair The Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World's Fair) was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington, United States. By 2002, the ETC had developed the five-line system plan that came to be called the Seattle Monorail Project. This proposal was put before the voters as Citizens Petition #1 in November 2002 which would propose to dissolve the ETC, create a new monorail agency, construct the Green Line as the first part of the system, and enact an annual 1.4% motor-vehicle excise tax (MVET) on Seattle vehicles to fund the project. The 2002 petition drew opposition from groups who advanced the following arguments: * Green Line ridership would not be significantly different from that already achieved by Metro buses * Building an elevated line with deep concrete beams on Second Avenue in downtown would create a "wall" through the urban core * The monorail line should be built along the I-5 freeway corridor, among other complaints. Reflecting the increased opposition, Citizens Petition #1 narrowly passed in November 2002 by just 877 votes, 50.2% to 49.7%. With the passage of CP-1, construction was scheduled to begin in autumn 2005, and be completed in 2009. Just two years later in November 2004, a recall initiative, I-83, was put on the ballot seeking to halt the project by forcing the city to deny the monorail agency the right to use the air space above public city streets. This fourth initiative in seven years proved unpopular with Seattle voters however, and lost 64% to 36%.

Financial issues

The tax to fund the project began effective June 2003, and was levied annually on each car registered in the city based on the

MSRP The list price, also known as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), or the recommended retail price (RRP), or the suggested retail price (SRP) of a product is the price at which its manufacturer notionally recommends that a retailer ...

of the vehicle and a fixed depreciation table. In 2005, the average monorail tax per vehicle was $130 annually. The project soon fell under intense public scrutiny, as actual revenue from the motor vehicle excise tax came in 30% under projections while projected costs rose by 10%. To bridge the shortfall, the SMP initially proposed extending the tax and bond repayments over a 50-year time horizon, resulting in nearly $9 billion in interest paid on the $2 billion construction cost. The plan to extend the tax proved highly controversial and five days later the SMP withdrew its financial plan and the director and board chairman resigned under pressure.

Loss of city support and closure

Seattle Mayor

Greg Nickels Gregory J. Nickels (born August 7, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 51st mayor of Seattle, Washington. He took office on January 1, 2002 and was reelected to a second term in 2005. In August 2009, Nickels finished third in the p ...

gave the board an ultimatum to create a new financial plan or lose city support for the project. A new plan was not developed, and on September 16, 2005, Nickels withdrew city support for the project. While the city of Seattle could not officially stop the project, it could withhold permission to build on or above city land, as had been proposed under I-83 a year earlier. Nickels also called on the Seattle Monorail Project to put a measure on the November 2005 ballot to determine whether or not to continue with the project, marking the fifth time Seattleites would vote on the issue. This measure shortened the initial phase of the Green Line to with the remaining to be added later, and the SMP said it would dissolve itself if the measure failed. Proposition 1 was defeated, 65% to 35%, and in response the SMP reduced staff, terminated the annual motor vehicle excise tax on Seattle vehicles effective June 30, 2006 (three years after it was first implemented) and began liquidating properties already purchased for the Green Line. The Seattle Monorail Authority was formally dissolved on January 17, 2008, after liquidating all of its assets, repaying its debts, and transferring its remaining $425,963.07 to the King County Metro system. The monorail project ultimately cost Seattle taxpayers $124.7 million.

Design

The plan, as proposed by CP-1 (2002) proposed five distinct corridors based on the ''Intermediate Capacity Transit Study'' and prioritized the Green Line, a north–south route on the west side of the city, as the first of the five to be built. The other four lines included two additional north–south routes, in the center (Blue) and east (Gold) sides of the city, and two east-west connectors, one just north of the

Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately difference in w ...

(Purple) and the other near the southern city limits (Red). Two future extensions were proposed to the Green Line, one each on the north and south ends. By 2004, more formal Second Phase plans were developed; the Blue line was cut back and did not cross the Duwamish, but the Red line was extended west to meet a new branch of the Blue line running south from Delridge. In addition, an alternative central north–south Rainbow corridor was added, running from downtown to the University District and continuing on to Northgate and Lake City, approximately following the route of I-5.

Green Line

The proposed Green Line ran mostly north-south from Ballard through Magnolia, Queen Anne, Seattle Center, Downtown, Pioneer Square, Chinatown-International District, then turned west and terminated into West Seattle.

Planned expansion

Future extensions on the Green Line could have taken it east (from the north terminus at Crown Hill) to Northgate and south (from the south terminus at Morgan Junction) to the Vashon Island Ferry Terminal. These were later designated the Pink North and South Corridors, approximately , respectively. Additional planned lines included: * Gold: north–south, connecting Lake City, UW, Capitol Hill, Chinatown-International District, and Downtown. Multiple alignments and phases were studied. ** Alternative 1: 2nd & Madison to Montlake, ** Alternative 2: Chinatown–ID to Broadway & Roy, ** Alternative 3: Chinatown–ID to 23rd & Madison, ** Alternative 3A: Chinatown–ID to U-Village, ** Alternative 4: Chinatown–ID to Rainier, ** Alternative 5: Rainier Valley Center to Lake City, ** Alternative 5A: Rainier Valley Center to U-Village, * Purple: east–west, connecting Shilshole and Magnuson Park ** Purple Segment 1: Ballard to Children's Hospital, ** Purple Segment 2: Children's Hospital to Sandpoint, * Blue: north–south, connecting Greenwood, Fremont, Downtown, SODO, South Park, and Georgetown ** Blue North: Bitter Lake to downtown via Aurora ** Blue South (4th): South Park to downtown ** Blue South (Delridge): Westwood/Highland Park to Delridge (Green Line station) * Red: east–west, connecting South Park and the Rainier Valley (outside Seattle city limits; preliminary work only) * Rainbow: north–south, connecting downtown to the University District, with two potential extensions continuing on toward the north: ** Extension 1: U-District to Northgate ** Extension 2: U-District to Lake City

References

External links

Website
commemorating the defunct Seattle monorail project. * {{Puget Sound Transit Transportation in Seattle Cancelled monorails Proposed transportation infrastructure in the United States Cancelled projects in the United States