Will light rail matter to UWT?
by Karie Anderson

Amidst all of the construction and light rail dialogue in the community, the question still remains if such a project like the Tacoma Link will have an impact on what many residents care about – traffic.

“I haven’t seen any big picture to this thing,” said local resident Tanner Houghton. “It is not coming together like it could be. We need to have more people backing these ideas, because it will fix all of the problems. Not only the traffic problems but it will reduce the amount of resources we are using.”

The Tacoma Link light rail system, projected to begin service in the fall, will run a 1.6-mile route that includes five stops. Starting at the Tacoma Dome the trains will give Tacoma residents and visitors access to the Broadway Theater District, downtown offices, UWT and all of the many new businesses opening up around Pacific Avenue. How will this affect traffic?

With more people parking at the Tacoma Dome Station before they get into town, city traffic is expected to decrease. Depending on how many commuters decide to use the Sound Transit options and connect to the Tacoma Link, the reduction of freeway and highway traffic is unknown.

“Unfortunately, I can’t say exactly how it will affect students here at UWT,” said Iris Marx, employee transportation coordinator for the campus. “The Tacoma Link, which will run every 10 minutes, will provide students with another option to get to campus, although currently, this service is provided by the free Downtown Connector – the light rail will also be free. While the speed of the train will not exceed the posted vehicular speed limits in Tacoma, the light rail will have priority over the traffic signals, so I suppose it is possible that students may get to class a little faster since they don’t have to sit through the lights.”

Currently there is a free solution for commuters to travel into downtown Tacoma. The Downtown Connector bus leaves the Tacoma Dome Station throughout the day, leaving about every 15 minutes, starting at 5:45 a.m. until 8:41 p.m. on weekdays and makes frequent stops in the area. The Downtown Connector will be replaced with the Link light rail. Many students are not aware of the service and are arriving at campus and commuting at different times of the day. Afternoon and night commuters can sometimes get caught up in the evening traffic.

“Unfortunately, the Tacoma Link is proposed to run only until 8:30 p.m. during the week, so our evening students will not be able to take full advantage of this service.”

Although Sound Transit has the Sounder Commuter rail in place, the service only runs north in the morning and south in the evening – preventing Tacoma commuters to utilize it.

“A light rail system is a great idea,” said Houghton. “Only if there is a well-organized comprehensive plan to connect the entire Puget Sound area not just the South Sound or Tacoma.”

Included in the transportation agencies’ Pierce Subarea Projects are an Auburn to Tacoma route and a Tacoma to Lakewood route. With tracks and signals to construct, finalization of these projects may not be completed until 2009.

In order for the light rail to make a local impact commuters would need to utilize other services from Sound Transit. ST Express provides a limited stop two-way bus ride to destinations throughout the region.

“I personally do not think that there will be any major impact to parking around our campus unless the Tacoma Link attracts folks in and of itself just because, as I said before, this service is being provided by the Downtown Connector,” said Marx. “How many students take advantage of that now?”

The light rail is intended to serve as an aesthetic as well as a resource. During a period of restoration of Tacoma, the light rail was included in the plan known as Destination Downtown. Through funding from Sound Transit, the City of Tacoma recently adopted the proposal that includes a new zoning code to revitalize its downtown.

“The plan encourages property development around the light rail line, which can boost transit rider-ship and lead to the expansion of the rail system,” said Marx. “Other improvements along the route include new sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, street trees, benches, bike racks, community kiosks and changes to side streets to improve pedestrian access to the stations. All this will hopefully reduce traffic and parking issues in the downtown area.”

According to Sound Transit, the ideas and comments from community members helped in the design of each station. Artwork is expected to also be a large part of each station. Stations will be common and recognizable in design, but all five Tacoma Link stations will be unique – intending to reflect the character of the neighborhoods the trains pass through.

The nationally and internationally popular light rail systems are a more environmentally sound and affordable way to solve transportation problems. The Non-Profit Light Rail Transit Association, an organization advocating better public transport since 1937, claims light rail enhances the environment with no emissions at street level, is safe, speedy, avoids traffic, affordable, reliable and versatile.

Light rail is adaptable because it can run at street level or through tunnels and it can expand with increasing demand.

“Trains in general are more energy efficient per capita as long as they have enough people using them. They put less CO2 in the atmosphere per person than even cars or even carpools do,” said Cheryl Greengrove, associate professor of Geoscience & Environmental Science Coordinator here.

Included in the route plan of the Tacoma Link is an extended service on days when Sound Transit is notified in advance of any planned events that would require significant transit service between the Tacoma Dome and downtown Tacoma beyond normal service hours. The guarantee of this service depends upon availability of staff, equipment and special event requirements.

Trains are composed of single cars and were projected to meet demand and planned levels of service with a comfortable ride to all passengers with few standees other than during post-event surges. The 60-foot cars seat 30 passengers with 26 standing passengers for a total capacity of 56 riders.

For more information about Sound Transit transportation projects visit the agency at www.soundtransit.org.