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Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Seattle Monorail: Moving metaphor
The Seattle monorail has long been a symbol of the city's optimism and forward-looking spirit, but the tangled trains stuck atop the tracks now seem a metaphor for our transportation malaise.
We knew that a side effect of the voters' defeat of the Seattle Monorail Project was that taxpayers would be stuck with the estimated $100 million in postponed repair and upgrades for the 43-year-old system. That was before the serious damage inflicted by Saturday night's collision.
So where do we go from here? Do we spend the millions of dollars to repair the trains, upgrade and repair the system? If so, it will certainly be necessary to correct the tight track squeeze that apparently contributed to Saturday's crash. Although monorail officials had known since a modification in 1989 that two trains couldn't pass at that point on the track, most of us sure didn't. If there are other safety issues the public should know about, tell us now.
Is it time to cut our losses and close down the historic line?
Perhaps, but before it comes to that, it's important to recognize that the Seattle Monorail serves as more than a tourist ride. It's a people-moving system through one of the most dense and congested parts of the city for employees and shoppers.
There may be no obvious answers right now, but it's obvious that it's time to start asking -- and answering -- the questions.
Tell us what's on your mind.
 | |
| Should the 1962 Seattle Monorail system be repaired, rebuilt, extended or shut down? | |
 15.1%Repair |
6.1% Rebuild |
| 62.6% Extend |
16.2% Shut down |
| Total Votes: 278 | |
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