 |
| Future Tacoma Link stop at S. 11th |
The Tacoma City Council is slated to take an important step in the development of the Tacoma Link next Tuesday. Resolution 38106 would direct City Manager Eric Anderson to collaborate with Sound Transit to finalize the 11th/12th St. streetcar station proposal, seek approval from the Sound Transit Board, and then authorize him to move forward with securing funding, and construction of the project. After all is said and done, operations would start in March of 2011.
Kurtis Kingsolver from Public Works gave a presentation during the City Council study session on August 31st describing the scope, timeline, and cost of the infill stop project (previously covered on TacomaTomorrow). The stop will be composed of two stations on either side of the street, with the southbound stop being in front of the Tacoma School of the Arts and the northbound stop in adjacent to Chase Bank.
 |
| Engineering schematic of the new streetcar platforms. The Tacoma School of the Arts must be happy about this. |
Concerns and Comments
Vehicle headways on the Tacoma Link line are proposed to shift from 10 to 12 minutes using modified signal timing. Kurtis made a comment that in order to retain 10 minute headways that an additional streetcar would be necessary (although I question why signal preemption is not viable). The northbound stop will be limited to a 1-car train unless the driveway for the parking garage just to the south is removed in the future. Currently the design of the stations is at 60% and allows for a bus bay in front of SOTA, but it could be expanded to allow for a two-car train.
Practically all of the City Council had something to say about the stop during the study session. Councilmember Walker requested that additional lighting be included for the stops in that area. (Some bike racks would be good and how about some arrival time displays?) Councilmember Mello noted that this stop would help to address a desire of Davita, while furthering the "long term interests" of the City (as opposed to the Sauro site parking lot covered on Exit133). Mayor Strickland spoke a bit about how Pierce Transit is poised to shift bus operations away from Commerce instead to Pacific Avenue, reducing the traffic impact of the new stop.
Stakeholder Group Update
In other streetcar news, the City of Tacoma has released a final schedule for meetings of the Tacoma Link Extension (aka Streetcar Stakeholder) group. There are only four remaining before the group issues its final report to the City Council at the end of December. TacomaTomorrow will be attending each meeting to observe and provide comment. They will all be held at UW Tacoma, in one of two locations and are slated to run from 5pm to 7pm.
September 20, Room: MAT 352
October 18, Room: CP 103
November 15, Room: CP 103
December 13, Room: CP 103
Further information from City of Tacoma's Streetcar Page.