July 9, 2008

Eastside Rail Now Proposes Rail Extension to UW Bothell Campus

City dweller or blissful ‘burbanite, you need to keep up on all the latest commuting options because you can’t avoid it, you’ve got to figure in transportation into your housing decision, one way or another.  One proposal continuously under public scrutiny is the construction of an Eastside railway system. Imagine an Eastside rail system which would run through Kirkland, Redmond, and Woodinville, on its way to the University of Washington, Bothell/Cascadia Community College campus. This rail system would have stations near Kirkland’s downtown Google complex and the Redmond Microsoft campus, making it a viable option for corporate busy bees as well as the college bound. This last month Eastside Rail Now! (ERN) pitched the idea of a 1 mile extension to the currently proposed Eastside rail system to reach the UW campus, which would pass under the 405 freeway, over the Sammamish Slough and the 522 to a station near the UW campus. Though the proposals remain as mucked up in political gridlock as we are in traffic gridlock, there is always the hope that one day our city will actually get around to putting one of these plans into action.