|
There is a plan to build a new arena for NBA basketball in the Sodo district of Seattle, but fears of traffic interfering with port and industrial traffic appear to have defeated this project. But I have a solution: |
|
Monorail Promotion by Bob Fleming Image courtesy of the late Seattle Monorail Project |
The purpose of this site is to promote construction of a monorail system in the Seattle area. |
|
Why Monorail? A monorail is not just a fun ride at Disneyland. Larger versions are often better than light rail for urban rapid transit. Click here for details. |
We are not the Seattle Center Monorail, which has the domain name seattlemonorail.com, that’s .com, NOT .org!.
If you were trying to reach the Seattle Center Monorail, click here. The Seattle Center Monorail is the one built during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and still operates for about one mile from Westlake Center to the Seattle Center. |
Learn More! The best source to learn about monorails is The Monorail Society. There are also some DVDs available. Read the book Rise Above it All by Dick Falkenbury. |
Sound Transit plans to build a light rail line that would run from Downtown Seattle to West Seattle in one direction, and to Ballard in the other direction, but there are major concerns with high cost and damage to neighborhoods. So let’s build
Monorail instead of light rail for West Seattle to Ballard corridor
The Seattle Center Monorail needs to expand capacity and convenience to encourage more ridership to Key Arena and the Seattle Center in general, and also to better serve the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.
Click here to see ideas for a better Seattle Center Monorail
|
|
There is a plan to build a new arena for NBA basketball in the Sodo district of Seattle, but fears of traffic interfering with port and industrial traffic appear to have defeated this project. But I have a solution: |
My name is Bob Fleming and I would like to see monorail utilized in Seattle-area rapid transit. I believe that in many situations monorail has distinct advantages over other means of transportation. My main interest is to build a modified version of the former Green Line project.
|
About the Seattle Center Monorail
Seattle Center Monorail web site
Proposed Eastside Corridor monorail
Advantages of monorail
My opinions about Seattle area Monorail
Obstacles to monorail promotion
Former Seattle Monorail Project
Arguments against monorail and my responses
Maglev Trains
My ideas for monorail system design
(PRT) Personal Rapid Transit
Vocabulary
Frequently asked questions
Links to other monorail sites
Contact me
Other Sites of Mine A Greater Seattle My mobility web site My transportation web site My mass transit web site The Fleming Family home page Bob Fleming’s home page |
A Brief History of Seattle Area Monorail Seattle has one of the World’s first modern monorails. It was built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, and still operates today as the The Seattle Center Monorail. It runs only a little over a mile from downtown Seattle to the Seattle Center, on the site of the former World’s Fair, but it is a very popular attraction and is a working example of a modern monorail. It demonstrates how monorail can be an alternative to subways or commuter railways for urban rapid transit. Since then there have been various efforts to build monorail lines in Seattle and the surrounding area. In a city-wide election on 6 November 2002 the citizens of Seattle approved a new 14-mile long monorail to be built in Seattle. This line was named the Green Line, and would have been the first of several lines in a city-wide system of monorails. However, in the Summer of 2005 there were financing problems coupled with politics, and in an election on 8 November 2005, the majority of Seattle voters voted to cancel the monorail project.
A more detailed history of plans for monorail in the Seattle area. The Current Situation The Seattle Center Monorail is still operating and will probably continue to operate far into the future. There was proposal in the November general election to build a monorail from Ballard to West Seattle via the Seattle Waterfront, however this measure was soundly defeated. This ballot issue is the result of an initative campaign by Century Transportation Authority (CTA or CenTran). For more information, click here. Local Monorail News MONORAIL BALLOT MEASURE FAILS (November 4, 2014) — The monorail initiative put forth by the Century Transportation Authority (CTA) failed badly in today’s election in Seattle. The initiative got less that 20% yes votes. My Opinions In my opinion the cancelled monorail Green Line was an excellent project from the standpoint of design and importance as a key transportation system, but was shot down due to insufficient funding, some management errors, and politics. I believe it to still be the best solution for rapid mass transit in the western parts of Seattle. I believe there should be a new effort to build the Green Line . For my ideas about possible new monorail projects in the Seattle area, please click here. For my opinions about replacing the existing Seattle Center Monorail with a new, modern, and extended line, and for improvements to Key Arena, keeping the Sonics, and a new Monorail Museum, click here. For my opinions regarding the recent Seattle Monorail Project demise and future possibilities, please click here. Click here to read my opinions about the Seattle Monorail Project and other Seattle-Area monorail plans. As for my opinions about the CTA plan, click here. |
Seattle-area voters have approved a Sound Transit’s proposed ST3, a major expansion of light rail in the region. Sound Transit is going ahead with Sound Transit 3 (ST3), a major project to extend light rail in the region. Part of the expansion will be light rail between Downtown Seattle and Ballard and also to West Seattle. I believe that monorail would be cheaper and better for these two routes, in fact the proposal roughly duplicates the Green Line monorail project that never quite got under way For details. click here. Expedia Plans to Move from Bellevue to a Seattle Site Near the Green Line The compamy plans to move its headquarters from Bellevue to a new location near Elliott Ave. W. and W. Galer St., at the south end of the Interbay district. One of the concerns is increased traffic in the area. The proposed Green Line monorail goes right past this location. So if the Green Line can be built it will provide rapid transit service to Expedia and expected development around the site. For details. click here. Why not a a monorail linking Downtown, Seattle Center, and the Cruise Terminal? Click here for more! Link light rail trains are now running—what if there were a monorail instead? Click here for ongoing news! We still need the Green Line, more than ever! Click here for more! How can we get a new monorail built? Click here for more! |
||
We recommend our web hosting company, 1&1 Internet!
©2007 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last updated on 14 June 2020.