Friday news drop from Sound Transit. 3 months ago @transportreform.bsky.social and I recommended this and @saveballardrail.bsky.social push the agency to do it. Thursday before Labor Day they issue, wait 1.5 weeks to publicize, give 30 days to respond www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-...

Nice video on Madrid metro following up on earlier essay published in works in progress m.youtube.com/watch?v=utt-...

How Madrid Built the World's Best Metro

YouTube video by Hoog

m.youtube.com

The lessons from CAHSR are broadly applicable to *all transit (and renewables projects)* no reason to keep learning the same lessons.

Californians for Electric Rail@calelectricrail.org · 2w ago

You often hear that if only CAHSR had let the French take over, it would be built by now. They're on the team now, but what did SNCF actually say back in 2010? We did a deep dive into the French HSR operator's original proposal to set the record straight. 🧵 calelectricrail.org/the-true-sto...

Today @sound-transit.bsky.social published a Request for Information to solicit ideas for saving money on the Ballard link extension. Good right? Their approach is deeply flawed. Only 30 days to prepare responses, no industry day to answer respondents, to name a few docsend.com/v/2zkp2/rfi

DocSend - Simple, intelligent, modern content sending

DocSend helps you communicate more effectively by telling you what happens to content after you send them and letting you keep control in real time.

docsend.com

Interesting side benefit. Beyond the clear safety benefit. Likely allows smaller tunnel. Reducing cost and improving constructability

Marco Chitti@chittimarco.bsky.social · last mo.

If you think about it, evacuating people from the end of a stranded open-gangway train into a 1.3 m track bed is obviously more effective than sending them in a single line over an elevated 70- 80 cm walkway with no railing. But somehow we convinced ourselves the opposite is true

This piece asks a lot of good technical questions of design, engineering and program management practice.

Effective Transit Alliance@etany.org · 4w ago

A 125 St subway should be a slam dunk. But at $7.7B for 1.25 miles, and with stations deep underground, current plans would not only build the most expensive subway in the the world, but would cost riders valuable minutes every single trip. It's not too late, however: www.etany.org/reports/digg...

Meanwhile, the US was the only country in the world to oppose a recent UN declaration about the need to reduce crash deaths. The vote was 162 to 1.

Look Both Ways with David & Wes@lookbothwayspod.bsky.social · 4w ago

In the new episode, @davidzipper.bsky.social noted that the US is so uniquely bad at road safety that the OECD now calculates global crash trends without including US data. That prevents America's struggles from overshadowing other countries' progress.

Golden campaign opportunity for an ambitious Sound Transit Board Member or Seattle official, light rail deserves this treatment. Great to see a candidate bringing infrastructure delivery into the mainstream

Nithya Raman@nithyaforthecity.bsky.social · 4w ago

It’s moving, but where are the people? This project was supposed to open over three years ago and is almost $1 billion over budget. What went wrong?

Cities were built through many temporary disruptions so that they could be improved. It’s exceedingly ahistorical to demand that transit investments never be disruptive and must have astronomical costs heaped on them to avoid offending a small number of weirdos

Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · 4w ago

The MTA could halve the $7.7 billion price tag for the planned subway extension along 125th Street — but only if its leaders have the will to use “cut-and-cover” techniques to build shallower and smaller stations more in line with peer cities. buff.ly/sH1eo4b

How can you tell the board knew West Seattle was already delayed prior to their big vote in May and the shovel ready rah rah BS. Not a single board member has publicly expressed any disappointment or anger. The public is getting played

@mclindblom.bsky.social · last mo.

The "shovel ready" remark of April 1 (voiced by eager transit-board members Mosqueda and Wilson, new to megaprojects) actually means clearing some property and preparing for utility relocations. The timeline lends itself to spin and exaggeration, as we reported: www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

@mclindblom.bsky.social did anyone at ST explain why the schedule is slipping another 3 years? Also did they just learn this in the last 2 months? Or was “WS is shovel ready and any questions will delay it further” all theater? www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Light rail arrival in West Seattle delayed again

The original target to open a new Sodo-to-West Seattle line was 2030, but inflation and previously overlooked challenges added time and costs.

seattletimes.com

Sounder investments could transform mobility for the region more stations and frequency, give it the Caltrain electrification treatment, too! www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-give-b...

Op-Ed: Give Ballard a Sounder Stop While It Waits for Light Rail

With Sound Transit's failure to deliver light rail to Ballard by 2035 as originally promised, now is the moment for Sound Transit and Seattle to build a no-frills, quick-build station near the Ballard...

theurbanist.org

And the Boeing Access Rd connection to Link!

Posted without a hint of self-awareness or acknowledgment that they spent 12 months gaslighting people.

Sound Transit@sound-transit.bsky.social · last mo.

🚈 West Seattle Link is moving forward. Under the updated ST3 System Plan, it remains fully funded and is advancing toward construction. Service is now anticipated to begin in 2035. Learn more on the Platform blog: https://www.soundtransit.org/blog/platform/summer-update-west-seattle-link-extension

The 2032 date being a fiction was knowable from publicly available materials. It is not credible this was unknown internally - why was it not disclosed before the May vote? www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-sound-...

Op-Ed: Sound Transit’s Board is About to Vote on a Fantasy

Given obstacles from the Trump administration, West Seattle Link will not break ground anytime soon. Before any vote overhauling the Sound Transit 3 plan, the board owes the region revised, evidence-b...

theurbanist.org

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social · last mo.

West Seattle Link's projected opening date has slipped to 2035, Sound Transit's Acting Chief Capital Delivery Officer just told board members at today's system expansion committee meeting.

South Carolina is now the first state in the nation for the Democratic Primary and this just ran in The State, the newspaper of Columbia, South Carolina. Come out to the rally and lobby day next week in Sac and help get our legislators to undo the cuts! actionnetwork.org/events/emerg...

Transit projects next!

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 2mo ago

We're working with @metroabundance.bsky.social to collect cost drivers in California building codes and standards above and beyond national model codes/standards. See here for more – please circulate among architects, engineers, etc. in the state! admin.centerforbuilding.org/wp-content/u...

To my fellow Seattleites - Ballard Link is alive and well. I can assure you I’ve been a good patient. At my age, doctor’s orders are not just a recommendation. We’ve done every test and multiple studies and trust, I am healthy. As much as this frustrates me, process takes time. - XOXO, BLE

Back in April @transportreform.bsky.social and I forecast 2059. This was a very simple exercise. This is not a 3.5 month exercise. People need to be less credulous of sound transit when they avoid answering questions or dissemble.

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Sound Transit: "If the region does not secure additional savings or financial capacity and must wait for existing revenues to accumulate, Link service to Smith Cove, Interbay, and Market Street could be delayed until around 2060." www.soundtransit.org/blog/platfor...

Having $18.1B in identified funding ($2.3B per mile) and it not being enough is the issue. Skytrain's Broadway Extension opening in '27 is delivering 6 underground stations over 3.5 miles (3.1 tunneled, .4 elevated) for $~600M per mile (US). www.broadwaysubway.ca

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Sound Transit: "If the region does not secure additional savings or financial capacity and must wait for existing revenues to accumulate, Link service to Smith Cove, Interbay, and Market Street could be delayed until around 2060." www.soundtransit.org/blog/platfor...

I wrote a piece in May estimating the impacts of these delays on West Seattle, given the faster approval and more generous (20-60% grant coverage) than typical assumptions by Sound Transit, we need updates on how these delays impact ST3 program delivery. www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-sound-...

Op-Ed: Sound Transit’s Board is About to Vote on a Fantasy

Given obstacles from the Trump administration, West Seattle Link will not break ground anytime soon. Before any vote overhauling the Sound Transit 3 plan, the board owes the region revised, evidence-b...

theurbanist.org

Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 2mo ago

Congress appropriated billions of dollars for new transit projects. Why is the Trump administration spending none of it? Why are even transit projects in red states going unfounded? New reporting in @nytimes.com (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/u...

The disconnect between voters and politicians on transit issues is pretty incredible: - Voters usually back funding and expansion, whereas politicians often could not care (particularly in states viewed as hostile to transit, like Texas) - Riders care *much much* more about service than fares.

This report is done by consultants, but it's notable just how heavy the agency's hand was shaping the end result: "The chief criterion established by the MCTA for the Modernization Program is the reduction in travel time for all passengers" (pg V-3) -- s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

Nolan Hicks@ndhapple.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Transit coffee talk: A two platform Jamaica Transfer, discuss amongst yourselves

Great comparison of traditional operations and the train length needed (450') versus Sepulveda's automated train length (280') SkyTrain's new Mark V are 280' Why in dismissing @skubly.bsky.social and my proposal did Sound Transit reference the oddly short 135' Canada Line versus common lengths?

Nick Andert@nickandert.bsky.social · 2mo ago

No mention of the construction defects from bad project management that resulted in 3 years of delay Defects discovered in '19 and hid from the board until '22 usa.streetsblog.org/2026/07/15/d... Sound Transit Memo - www.soundtransit.org/sites/defaul...

Doing Big Things: How Seattle Put Light Rail On A Floating Bridge  — Streetsblog USA

An innovative project and a three-pronged approach got this job done.

usa.streetsblog.org

Crossover tracks are an upgrade that a board of frequent transit riders would have grabbed by the horns at least five years ago.

shorter and more frequent trains are the future. @skubly.bsky.social and my proposal assumed 90 seconds and would deliver 65% more capacity and able to support any ridership scenario

Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 3mo ago

Rennes, France will increase frequencies on its Metro A Line to every 60 seconds (down from every 80 seconds), perhaps making it the most frequent metro in the world. The automated light metro line has 140,000 daily riders, in a city with a population of 230,000 (Line B carries ~80,000/day).

Incredible: Sound Transit's monthly system expansion status report (out today) now states that the Ballard Link DEIS is not expected until *QUARTER FOUR* of this year. There was a time not that long ago when Sound Transit had hoped to get a record of decision by that time.

5.5 miles (4.3 underground, 1.2 elevated) and 6 stations for €1.35B or $340M per mile 2036 open Copenhagen keeps delivering Better is possible metroselskabet.dk/en/contact-a...

Major milestone for upcoming metro line: M5 construction contracts put out to tender

Copenhagen is developing, and with M5 the Danish capital will gain a new metro line that will strengthen connections between existing neighbourhoods, new urban development areas and the wider metro ne...

metroselskabet.dk