Renderings show roughly what Sound Transit's 122 new light rail cars will look like when they start arriving for testing in 2019. The transit agency announced the $554 million order Thursday. New cars will have more space for luggage, bikes and people as light rail expands north, south and east as Sound Transit 2 is built out.
Courtesy Sound Transit
May 19, 1970 was not one of the region's best days. On that day, King County voters opted to reject four bond issues that would've included storm water control, community centers, a new County public health and safety facilities, and a regional rail transit system.
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It was an initiative by the Forward Thrust effort to get light rail in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and which never quite grabbed the voters the way organizers wanted.
Though the transit system would have been heavily subsidized by the federal government with 500 miles of bus routes and 49 miles of rail, the package first failed in 1968.
If local bonds had passed in 1970, $900 million in local funding would've covered all but 1/4 of the total system's costs ($1.321 billion, at the time); $80 million for storm water control; $55.3 million for new community centers; and $40.2 million for new County jails, police stations, and public health centers.
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All four failed to secure 60% of the vote, with only 46% of voters approving the initiative.
Seattle is a city that's booming, but there's an alternate version of this city with a lot more...let's say interesting projects already in the works. Here are some of the proposed versions of Seattle that failed to pass.
Before Vulcan and Amazon transformed South Lake Union with offices and condos, there was Paul Allen's vision in '90s of a giant urban park called the ''Seattle Commons.'' Supporters dreamed of NYC's Central Park in Seattle; opponents worried Allen would just get richer.
What South Lake Union might have looked like had voters approved Seattle Commons. Instead, they killed it twice, the last time in 1996.
(Image is from 1995).
Seattle Center jelly bean: This concept emerged in a 2012 contest for dreamy ideas for when Memorial Stadium is demolished. The floating ''jelly bean'' was envisioned as a cloud that manufactures fog, rain, shade and light. It didn't win.
A 1960 proposal for a swimming pool at Golden Gardens. Would have been cool.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
Seward Park-to-Mercer Island bridge: Before there was the I-90 floating bridge, there was this 1927 proposal for a bridge or underwater tunnel. Imagine the traffic in 300-acre Seward Park.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
This 1970 design for a waterfront park in Seattle could have been the inspiration for Blokus.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
This idea for a hanging tube of a monorail was proposed in 1958 for the World's Fair, and rejected.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
What if Seattle's famous ''ramps to nowhere'' had gone somewhere? These dead-end ramps in the Arboretum were part of the R.H. Thomson Expressway, which, had it been fully built, would have looked like …
Good thing the R.H. Thomson freeway never went through. Where would summer swimmers jump from in the Arboretum?
But Seattle's ramps to nowhere were to be torn down by 2016, as part of an major improvement project (though some bits still linger).
Another sketch of the R.H. Thomson Expressway, scrapped in 1971, after neighborhood outcry. Pictured is the planned Madison Street interchange, which would have ruined the Central District.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
...this. Pictured is the proposed Arboretum interchange in 1960 for the thwarted R.H. Thomson Expressway.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
This grim-looking model called for high-rises at the Pike Place Market, as part of a 1968 urban renewal plan. Or, as Flickr user fnarf described it: ''Pretty interesting architecture, actually, in a Death Star kind of way.''
Speaking of people movers: Here's what Ballard might have looked like, if the embattled Green Line monorail had succeeded. The plan – originally for a 14-mile, West Seatte-to-Ballard line - died in 2005, after financing problems surfaced. Taxpayers paid nearly $125 million for a project that never happened.
(Image from 2003).
So was this 1958 idea for a people-mover on Westlake Ave. called the ''Carveyor.'' It was envisioned to go to Interbay and turn around in a merry-go-round-looking terminal.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
Floating stadium: Another idea that fizzled. King County officials actually supported this 1963 plan, which called for a floating pro-sports, retractable-roof stadium on Elliott Bay. You could get there by ferry, rail, bus, seaplane and monorail, the designers envisioned.
The wackiness died, and instead we got the …Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
Here's an idea that never made it: An underwater tunnel in Union Bay.
Proposed in 1961, it was part of the R.H. Thomson Expressway that was never built. The view is from Laurelhurst looking south.Seattle Municipal Archives, Flickr
The Forward Thrust initiative was dismantled, and the federal money was passed to Atlanta's MARTA system, according to History Link.
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Of course, transportation wouldn't stall there forever. Two years later, voters would approve the all-bus Metro system. And in 1996, Sound Transit finally secured $3.9 billion for their system.
Now, the region is all-in on the Sound Transit 3 package, which is working to provide 62 miles of light rail, linking Everett and Tacoma with Seattle, Ballard, West Seattle, the Eastside, and beyond. In total, ST3 will connect 16 cities with Link light rail.
RELATED: What to know about ST3:
This map, included in the draft Sound Transit 3 proposal, shows existing and planned transit lines around the region.
Courtesy Sound Transit
Sound Transit 3 posters are scattered on the ground at The Crocodile during a watch party for the mass transit proposition on election night last Nov. 8.
Voters approved the plan, which would build 62 miles of light rail, among other projects, with 53.9 percent of the vote.
GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI.COM
A view of Husky Stadium from inside the new University of Washington light rail station, which opened March 2016. The stop was part of the 1996 transit plan, Sound Move.
It was the first of the voter-approved initiatives that would give the green light to light rail service between Sea-Tac Airport and the UW.
GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
The exterior of the new Capitol Hill light rail station, which opened in March 2016.
The stop was part of the 1996 transit plan, Sound Move. It was the first of the voter-approved initiatives that would give the green light to light rail service between Sea-Tac Airport and the UW.
GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Renderings show roughly what Sound Transit's 122 new light rail cars will look like when they start arriving for testing in 2019. New cars will have more space for luggage, bikes and people as light rail expands north, south and east as Sound Transit 2 is built out.
Courtesy Sound Transit
New cars will have more space for luggage, bikes and people as light rail expands when Sound Transit 2 – which extended light rail service north to Lynnwood, east to the Overlake area and south past Sea-Tac Airport – is built out.
Courtesy Sound Transit
The ST3 Plan also responds to the region's rising population, which Sound Transit projects to grow by 800,000 people by 2040.
Courtesy Sound Transit
Funding sources for ST3 (total $53.8 billion):
New local taxes: $27.7 billion
Federal grants: $4.7 billion
Existing Sound Transit taxes: $8.6 billion
Fares and other revenues: $1.5...
Courtesy Sound Transit
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Still, it's understandable that Puget Sound residents — particularly those feeling the growing pains of the "great squeeze" or losing their HOV lanes — might feel a bit of resentment about the infrastructure that could've been.
