Tunneling to Work For the First Time in Two Years

Taking the bus tunnel in to work this morning was pretty cool. Our commute was probably all of four minutes shorter than it's been for the past two years while the tunnel's been closed, but we got to walk a little more and we enjoyed the validity that the undergroundness of it brought to our home>to>work experience (that part might be the Chicago talking...it ain't a commute if you're not underground).

It looks exactly the same as we remember it. They may as well have let it sit dark for the past 23 months and then swept up a little in August while they hung a few new signs. Yeah, yeah, they lowered the road bed and installed a bunch of new rail. It's great, don't get us wrong. It was a necessary project that was completed on time and it's going to bring light rail downtown, and that's all fantastic, not to mention the fact that its closure proved that automobile traffic on 3rd was superfluous. It just looks the same. Same old bus tunnel. Who knows what we were expecting.

Speaking of delusional expectations and transportation, what's up with the Sierra Club? Ok, they want you to vote against Roads and Transit. We can respect that. We'll probably vote for it, but we can see a case against voting for a transportation package that includes so much highway funding. On Friday they absolutely blew our minds, though, by coming out against expanding light rail from the airport to Tacoma. Those transit dollars can be spent elsewhere, they said, which makes us wonder what it is exactly they do want. We're not getting the monorail, guys. It's over. Light rail is what we've got. Let's build it out.

The most exciting part about the new and improved bus tunnel is all the light rail signage they have hung. "Coming in 2009!" That's when we'll really know that the bus tunnel project was a success, actually. When the first light rail car takes on passengers in the bus tunnel, with no further modifications or closures between now and then, we'll admit that this was a project well done. Not before!

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By Dan in News on September 24, 2007 10:55 AM

Comments [rss]

guest

Good lord, have we descended so far that we simply repeat what we read as the truth? The Sierra Club supports Sound Transit, and would endorse a package consisting of light rail without the CO2-spewing highways attached. Yes, it criticized part of the ST package- it's a long way from perfect, and there are more effective ways to spend the money, rather than a light rail line to the car dealerships in Fife (I know, how DARE they criticize that). The whole package is stuffed with pork, this is just one of many examples of that. The Club's actual opposition, however, is based entirely in the incredibly detrimental greenhouse gas effects of building more roads.

For more info on the Club's actual position, see: http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/04/our_distinguisehd_and_right_on_local_cha and nortid.org

guest

MOST of Chicago's rail transit infrastructure, however, is aboveground -- it's only a portion downtown that's below ground.

Audrey

Not in its entirety. The El is above or below street level, depending on the line and the segment of the line you're on.

sciencevsromance

that part might be the Chicago talking...it ain't a commute if you're not underground

... isn't the train in Chicago ELevated?

Jason Josephes

It's funny -- I keep hearing about how the lowered path now puts the bus' mirror at the height of people's heads, but at six foot three I always had that problem in the tunnel. Maybe now it will just potentially graze my shoulder.