ST/SST 2040: A Green New Deal Proposal for Seattle and the Puget Sound

Today’s sky, image via James Taylor (@MinusPeach, Twitter)

Hi! Ace here.

Today, the sky is orange.

This is not normal.

But it will become what is normal if we do not act quickly to combat climate change, and luckily I have a few plans to get us there.

Let’s dig in!

What is Happening?

Well, through a number of anti-environmental actions the entire west coast is currently dealing with a number of large wildfires that have covered most of California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in smoke. The Air Quality Index (AQI) in most of these states is so bad that visibility is approaching zero, people are coughing indoors, and no one can go outside. (For reference, exposure to air should be extremely limited if the AQI passes 200 and no one should be outside at all if it is over 300. ) These actions include a number of things, but namely we as a society are creating too many greenhouse gasses (GHGs) and using too much oil and other carbon emitting fuel sources that are causing the planet to warm and increasing both the frequency as well as the intensity of things like wildfires, hurricanes, derechos, and more.

The concept that climate change was something that was going to happen in the far off future is no longer the case. The crisis is now and we have to act quickly.

Luckily House Cosmopolitan prides itself in being unapologetically optimistic in the face of high odds.

So what is the plan?

Well, it depends on where you are located but in Seattle the largest part of our emissions comes from the use of cars. In fact, car emissions account for more emissions in Washington state than all other means of emissions COMBINED.

It’s a lot.

So the plan is to get people out of their cars and do so by creating a massive transit system that gets built in 20 years.

The first part of that is ST 2040.

ST 2040

An image of proposed mass transit for Seattle as part of the Bogue Plan (via Google)

Building off of the success of Sound Transit ballot measures (1, 2, 3) I decided to start from a place of creating a full version of Link light rail. I had a specific set of guidelines to create the vision but the main items were this:

It must build off of the existing plans for the Link and it’s expansion
Connect major job centers
Connect as many cities in the three county (King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties) area that comprise the Sound Transit Service Area
Leave most of the system open outside of Seattle so those communities can have later influence
Every Seattleite must be able to get to a light rail station by traveling no less than one (1) mile.

Using those parameters, I then also did research on past plans and ideas for transit in the city. This included the Bogue Plan (shown left), Forward Thrust, Seattle Subway’s work, and any other fantasy map I could find online.

The final result is this:

Geographically accurate version can be found via Google Maps.

SST (Sustainable Seattle Transit) 2040

So from here, I thought: ok. But we need to create a system that is Seattle specific. One that recognizes that we are the jobs and housing center for the region and we need to develop in a way that allows more people to live in the city while also becoming more green. So what does that involved?

It involves:

Ensuring every Seattleite is within 10 minutes or .5 miles of some form of frequent transit
Building off of the 1 mile stops provided through the ST 2040 plan
Using streetcars to stitch together Link stations while also serving as a way to bring focus back on a road as a destination as opposed to one that would otherwise split neighborhoods in half
Using and building off the excellent bus system we have to provide unique cross-city connections and reach the furthest reaches of the city limits.

And that resulted in:

(Geographically correct version can be found via Google Maps.)

“But Ace, why did you take all the time to do these full system maps?”

Well, one of the challenges with proposing any type of mass transit is that it can be extremely difficult for citizens (who ultimately pay for these systems) to see the full picture on something that may not be coming for years. Arguments over who gets service and where can be quashed if a full system and plan is set out that holistically covers the entire region.

In addition, in light of ambitions such as the Green New Deal, it is absolutely imperative to have plans ready to go and implement on the first day funding can become available. We have to move quickly, so doing these kinds of exercises really push the ball forward and help us achieve our goals of both dependable transit service that everyone uses as well as a happy return to blue skies.

House Cosmopolitan prides itself in being optimistic, enthusiastic, and forward thinking. If this is what you’re looking for in an architect or urban designer, be sure to contact us today.

BONUS

Downloadable PDFs and high res images of both the ST 2040 map and SST 2040 map can be found here.