Waterfront Streetcar

The Waterfront Streetcar, officially the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line, was a 1.6-mile-long streetcar line run by Metro Transit in Seattle, Washington, so named because much of its route was along Alaskan Way on the Elliott Bay waterfront. Service began on May 29, 1982, which was the first streetcar run in Seattle since April 13, 1941.

The streetcar halted operation November 19, 2005, when the maintenance barn and Broad Street station were demolished to make room for the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park. A new maintenance barn was proposed to be built at Occidental Park to allow the resumption of operations. However, the new maintenance barn has still yet to be approved and portions of the track have already been paved over. Because of these outstanding issues, it is unknown if the streetcar will ever return to service. Currently, the streetcars are being replaced by Metro bus Route 99 with buses that are externally painted to look like the streetcars. The streetcars are currently stored at an unknown Metro Transit warehouse in the SoDo district.

History

Service began on May 29, 1982, which was the first streetcar run in Seattle since April 13, 1941. The first two streetcars had been brought to Seattle from Melbourne byGeorge Benson (1919-2004), a former pharmacist, who was a Seattle City Councilman from 1973 to 1993. Three more Melbourne streetcars were acquired between 1990 and 1993. All were W2 class trams that had originally been built in the late 1930s.

The route was named by National Geographic Society as one of the 10 Great Streetcar routes [cite news|url = http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/289399 | first = Christopher | last = Hume | coauthors = Kalinowski, Tess | publisher = Toronto Star | date = 2007-12-29 |title = Toronto streetcar named among world's best | accessdate = 2008-07-24] along with:

* Berlin (Berlin Straßenbahn) Tram 68
* Lisbon's Companhia de Carris de Ferro de Lisboa (Carris) 28 Tram
* Toronto's 501 Queen (TTC)
* New Orleans Regional Transit Authority St. Charles Streetcar Tour
* Hong Kong Tramways
* San Francisco Municipal Railway Streetcar F

Route

The line ran mostly northwest-southeast along Alaskan Way on abandoned Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway trackage. From S. Main Street in Pioneer Square east to 5th Avenue S. it ran in the center median, with its last block on the west side of 5th Avenue between S. Main and S. Jackson Streets. The line originally ended at Broad Street, but because construction of the Olympic Sculpture Park led to the closing and demolition of the maintenance barn and the station stop located there, last station stop is located at Vine Street, which would more than likely be the end of the line should service ever resume. However, the tracks still extend as far as Broad Street allowing for the possibility of a future station stop to be built across the street from the former station on the corner of Broad Street and Alaskan Way.

Stations

*Along Alaskan Way
** Broad Street: Myrtle Edwards Park, Seattle Center NOTE: This station was demolished along with the maintenance barn when the line shut down.
** Vine Street: Port of Seattle headquarters, Victoria Clipper
** Bell Street: Belltown, Bell Street Pier
** Pike Street: Pike Place Market, Seattle Aquarium
** University Street: Downtown, Seattle Art Museum
** Madison Street: Washington State Ferries' Colman Dock
** Washington Street
* Occidental Park (S. Main Street and Occidental Avenue S.): Pioneer Square, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
* Jackson Street (S. Jackson Street and 5th Avenue S.): International District, Safeco Field, Qwest Field, King Street Station, Uwajimaya

All of the stations (with the exception of the Occidental Park and Jackson Street stations) along the Alaskan Way were originally painted brown when the line first opened. In 2004, all of these stations were repainted in Marine Blue and refurbished. The Occidental and Jackson stations were designed to reflect the surrounding architecture along the streets when the line was extended in the 1990's. The Jackson Street stop featured an Asian Pagoda style station while Occidental park had a vintage style station.

External links

* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/wfsc/waterfront_streetcar.html Official site]
* [http://transit.metrokc.gov/cftemplates/show_map.cfm?BUS_ROUTE=099&DAY_NAV=WSU Route Map]

References

*cite web | title=Waterfront Streetcar gets a new home | work=King County Metro | url=http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/wsc_newhome.html | accessdate=2005-12-23
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7121 Benson, George (1919-2004), Father of the Seattle Waterfront Streetcar]