You might see some of this if you attend the Northgate meeting tomorrow (er, today) but I thought it was still worth sharing for everybody who couldn’t make it. Richard Conlin has a post up about the effectiveness of investments in pedestrian and bike access to the future light rail station. It’s worth reading the whole thing but the fun table is below.
The great news is that the study shows that these investments offer a very good return. The bike/ped bridge across I-5 increases the number of walkers accessing the station by 13% and the number of bicyclers by 4%, while the cycle track on 1st Ave will increase bicycle access by 6%. All of the potential projects demonstrate benefits to bikers and walkers.
http://conlin.seattle.gov/2013/05/17/northgate-station-ped-bike-access-works/
| Table 1 | ||||||
|
Northgate Station Access Mode Share and Station Ridership Benefits (2030) |
||||||
|
Park-and-Ride |
Drop-off |
Feeder Bus |
Bicycle |
Walk |
TOTAL |
|
| Expected Mode Share |
20% |
11% |
28% |
4% |
37% |
100% |
| Weekday Boardings |
3,000 |
1,650 |
4,200 |
600 |
5,550 |
15,000 |
| Boarding Increase due to Ped/Bike Bridge |
25 |
740 |
||||
| Boarding Increase due to Other Improvements |
40 |
40 |
||||
| TOTAL Weekday Boardings Percent Change |
665 +11% |
6,330 +14% |
15,845 +6% |
|||
Sound Transit has posted these materials from the meeting:
http://www.soundtransit.org/Projects-and-Plans/Northgate-Link-Extension/Northgate-Link-Extension-document-archive
I’m curious about the study. I may be asking in the wrong place, but does anyone know if the numbers are based on current development, as opposed to future expected development. I could easily see how a new bridge could attract new apartment buildings on both sides of I-5. Those to the east could more easily walk (or work) to school and those to the west could more easily access the light rail.
As far as I know, it’s based on 2030 projections which includes the projected development. Though I don’t know what the zoning is like on the other side.