Seafair Weekend & Ballard Link Update

Seafair is happening Friday-Sunday at Genesee Park. Metro has a transit access page and area map. Route 50 goes to Genesee Park from Columbia City, Othello, and SODO Link stations. Columbia City station also has a shuttle bus between 9am and 6pm on festival days. The page has a list of Link P&Rs and how many parking spaces each one has. That in itself might be interesting to peruse if you’ve never seen all the parking space numbers together, as I never have. It’s missing a couple P&Rs: Tukwila Intl Blvd and Angle Lake.

Other neighborhood festivals are causing reroutes, as happens every summer weekend somewhere. Metro’s Weekend Update has the list. I see Issaquah Front Street Eatery, U-District Boba Fest, Lake City Summer Festival & Parade, Magnolia Summer Parade, and Cherry Hill’s Umoja Fest Parade.

Ballard Link update

Sound Transit says the rest of Ballard Link from Seattle Center to Market Street can be finished by 2042 if it achieves the following milestones:

1. identify $1 billion in cost savings or new revenue by 2030 to begin acquiring property.
2. Complete final design by 2032.
3. Get full funding by 2033.

For those keeping score, that’s 5 years late (2037 to 2042), comparable to the 2 Line.

Potential funding sources are longer-term bonds, a higher debt limit, station area value generation (leveraging growth from development), third-party funding, or permitting reform. I don’t know how growth from development is compatible with giving land for low-income housing as ST is required to try first.

Sound Transit, Seattle, and King County jointly released a South Downtown Hub framework report. This is a 99-page vision for the greater CID2 and Midtown station areas between Cherry Street, Royal Brougham, Alaskan Way, and I-5.

This is a Friday Roundtable and open thread.