Seattle Center City Connector (Cultural Connector) Streetcar

https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/ ... -connector

Seattle Streetcar/Culture Connector

What's Happening Now?

In late 2023, we completed the Culture Connector Delivery Assessment. The goal of the assessment was to confirm and update assumptions from the 2018 design, address changing conditions and requirements, and map out a new timeline and cost estimate for the project. A ridership analysis [link to ridership memo] was also conducted to provide an updated travel forecast for the Seattle Streetcar network with the inclusion of the Culture Connector line.

Culture Connector

The Culture Connector streetcar is uniquely poised to be a catalyst for economic vitality in Downtown. This project was formerly called the Center City Connector. The name-change reflects how this new line could connect people from Downtown to Seattle’s cultural offerings in surrounding neighborhoods. Destinations like restaurants, bars, museums, entertainment venues, retail spaces, services, and diverse places to live would be even more accessible. And it would empower locals and visitors to explore our city without a car.



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More: TheUrbanist.org

First Avenue Streetcar Cost Estimates Soar to $410 Million

Connecting Seattle’s two existing streetcar lines could cost the City $410 million dollars and take a full seven years, according to a newly released consultant’s report on the long-dormant Center City Connector project, rebranded the Cultural Connector. That new cost estimate represents a 43% increase compared to the previous estimate of $286 million the City produced in 2019. With no funding identified for most of the project’s costs, the new report paints a dire picture for the future of the project, which has been moving forward in fits and starts since 2012.
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The Culture Connector streetcar is uniquely poised to be a catalyst for economic vitality in Downtown

I fail to see how a Streetcar can do what dozens and dozens of bus lines can't do, not to mention a light rail line, a monorail, a generally pedestrian friendly street grid, bike share, scooters...

I do know one thing that will uniquely pose as a catalyst for economic vitality for downtown Seattle.

Get rid of the mentally ill and the drug-addicted that have taken over downtown. Clean up the city. Make it welcoming to visitors who don't feel like they need armed bodyguards. Nobody should be screamed at just for walking down the sidewalk minding their own business. Businesses should not have to pay the social cost of vandalism - repeated vandalism.

The Streetcar was a dumb idea Seattle did "because Portland had one" and now cities are seeing the mistakes Portland has made over and over. Not to mention having permanently lost so much transit ridership and goodwill, but beating motor vehicle use records every single month - post-pandemic beating pre-pandemic records. TriMet's great idea? Pouring $150 million into a light rail line serving THE Airport in all of North America with the slowest post-pandemic rebound and isn't predicted to return to its glory for many, many, many years.

Enough "fad" ideas. Do what works. Not "The Urbanist's" and "StreetBlogs" idea wheel of the day.