(click to enlarge photos)

Published in The Seattle Times online on Dec. 7, 2023
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Dec. 10, 2023

A controversial streetcar line — ‘Tramzilla’ vs. First Avenue?

By Jean Sherrard

Sometimes, as with this week’s “Then” photo, an image is worth at least a hundred words of caution, beginning with “been there, done that.”

Today the city is pondering a proposed $300+ million streetcar line to fill the center lanes of First Avenue. Catchily branded by its supporters as the “Culture Connector,” it would unite two long-dangling streetcar lines between Westlake and Pioneer Square.

Part of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s Downtown Activation Plan, the new line aims to be “a catalyst for economic vitality,” revitalizing arts and entertainment and improving access to museums, concert venues, galleries and businesses.

Unanswered questions linger, however. Several arise from our striking 1919 “Then” photo. Streetcars crowd First Avenue’s center lanes where they cross Pike Street while early automobiles jam into single lanes north and south.

As we pore over the old image, we hand today’s community talking stick to business owners such as Jim Harvey, proprietor of Pike Place Flowers in the Market, whose small shop delivers bouquets around the city. For Harvey, downtown congestion already is a huge concern. First Avenue reduced by half, he posits, inevitably would crowd other streets. “Delivery will become a traffic nightmare.”

The proposed 1.3-mile line also would eliminate most left-hand turns from First Avenue and remove 194 of 230 street parking spaces. What’s more, 29 commercial vehicle load zones would disappear.

That would leave Rob Thomas, vice president of the Showbox, Seattle’s iconic, oft-rescued concert venue, in a quandary. “Producing 180 shows per year, each with its own tour bus and trucks full of equipment, seems impossible without streetside parking,” he says. “This could put us out of business.”

A mile south in Pioneer Square, Phil Bevis of Arundel Books worries over the upheaval of a $300 million project so soon after completion of nearby waterfront redevelopment. “Three more years of construction,” he sighs. “We call it Tramzilla.”

Our bustling 1919 photo offers a deep lesson to longtime downtown developer Howard Anderson. “First Avenue has always been one of our most lively downtown streets then and now,” he says. “It’s a historic street, filled with thriving businesses and friendly locals, that connects two historic districts.”

Yet in 1941, the city’s last “antiquated” orange streetcar had been replaced with diesel buses and electric trackless trolleys. More than 230 miles of steel tracks were torn out and scrapped. Roads throughout the city were repaved for rubber-tired vehicles.

Anderson’s point is, simply, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. He nominates an alternative “culture connector,” comparatively inexpensive and more quickly achieved: “No streetcars needed. Just add buses.”