Sound Transit built the last two miles of Pierce County’s Link light rail spine decades ago in the downtown core of Tacoma. The rail line along Commerce Street, Pacific Avenue and 25th Street exists as the southern Link terminus of, and starter line to, a growing regional network that
The transit system of the Tacoma area is at a critical juncture. As I have documented in previous articles, should long-range plans advance unmodified, ours will become a degraded transit network at a cost rising into the billions. Major transportation investments will either miss our key centers and corridors, which
Planned transit bypasses downtown and threatens investments across the city. It is not too late for a reset. By virtually all metrics, a 15-minute stroll from 11th and Pacific in central Tacoma accesses the dominant administrative, economic, cultural, residential, and transportation core of Pierce County. Today, this area is served
Pierce Transit’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) line remains in the design phase, the first line of a system in Pierce County called Stream. The agency is aware that one line is not much of a system and has directed consultants to conduct a planning study of the next
My initial Central Tacoma Link Extension (CTLE) surface alignment proposal stirred a large debate regarding how Link light rail should properly serve Tacoma over a decade from now. Among commentators, there was broad agreement that terminating light rail service at Tacoma Dome Station was deeply unsatisfactory, with most agreeing that
Let’s consider the lunacy of the journey foisted on public transit users: after riding at least 80 minutes from Capitol Hill or Downtown Seattle in order to reach Tacoma, riders must disembark Link light rail and await an untimed transfer with the T streetcar line — for an additional 15