18 May New Streetcar Line coming into Pioneer Square

Residents, business owners, and other stakeholders in the Pioneer Square neighborhood have been lobbying for the past few months to bring the streetcar line a few extra blocks from the International District down into our neighborhood.

Two weeks ago, the “Pioneer Square loop” was approved by the Seattle City Council. According to a DJC article last week, two stations will likely be located at 2nd Ave S and S Main Street (near the Cadillac Hotel). The streetcar will enter and exit the neighborhood on S Jackson St. I’ve created two quick maps to show the route:

Ethan Melone, SDOT’s streetcar project manager, will brief the Pioneer Square Preservation Board on the route at 9am this Wednesday (5/19). It is possible that the new streetcar will follow the same tracks as the old waterfront streetcar on Main Street.

Although they have already planned out the two stops in Pioneer Square, SDOT will make specific station platform decisions after more design work and public input. And unlike the SLUS (South Lake Union Streetcar), each station will “reflect the identity of each neighborhood.”

The streetcar line will cost ~ $133 million, and is expected to be under construction from next year until 2013.

I’m hoping that once we get the first loop into our neighborhood, it’s just another step closer to seeing the dream of the waterfront streetcar revived and of a streetcar connection to the SLUS. Until that happens, however, we can use the visualization done by Gehl Architects and the International Sustainability Institute of a streetcar on 1st Ave in Pioneer Square:

For more general streetcar information, check out the Seattle Streetcar: First Hill Line website.