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This was my web site promoting the Seattle Monorail Project, but
the project was cancelled in November 2005.
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Example Streets
Pick one of these streets that you know well, and imagine the difference between light rail and monorail:
by Bob Fleming
Did you pick a street? Good, now keep that street in mind and picture two scenarios:
MONORAIL: Holes are dug about every hundred feet, forms are put in place, and cement trucks fill the forms to form the underground foundations for the columns that will support the monorail. Then trucks bring in a column to each hole, the column is raised into position and fastened to the foundation. The hole is filled in and repaved. Then trucks bring in the beams that the trains will run on, and cranes raise them into place on top of the columns. During this time one or two lanes of traffic will be closed off at times, and when the columns and beams qre placed in position the street may be closed for a few hours. No homes or businesses are torn down except where stations are built.
LIGHT RAIL: Bulldozers and track hoes (big shovels) move in and tear down houses and business along the street. Lots of heavy equipment tears up the street, although this may be done in stages so that at least one lane is kept open in each direction. Two parellel railroad tracks are laid down the middle of the street, taking about twenty feet of width. The street is rebuilt, about twenty feet wider than before.
There is one street I did not put in the list above — Martin Luther King Way S. You don’t need to imagine about this street. You can go there and see for yourself, because light rail is currently under construction on this street from about S. Alaska St. to around S. Henderson St. Check out this stretch of Martin Luther King Way S. and compare with where the cureent monorail runs along Fifth Avenue.
Which would you rather have happen on the street you picked? Think about it carefully. Think about the homes and businesses along the street you picked. Do you want them saved or torn down? I think you will agree that a monorail line will cause far fewer problems for the neighborhood than light rail construction. If we don’t build a monorail, the alternative many want is light rail! Please vote "Yes!" on November 8th so we can begin work on the first part of the new monorail system.
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©2005 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last updated on 20 March 2013