Our one-mile Alweg monorail has reliably shuttled between
downtown and Seattle Center for 38 years, so a city-wide monorail
system would work even better, right? Well, not quite.
Let’s debunk some myths. The profit-making monorail was
the myth that sold I-41, the 1997 monorail initiative. Sponsors
assured voters the private sector would build and operate their
expanded monorail system to earn profit.
But two years after I-41 passed, they discovered no private
investors would fund it! In reality, monorail is like light-rail transit:
it’s expensive, and revenues provide no profits for private investors.
I-53 mandates the world’s largest monorail system, 40 miles
long and costing $2 billion to $3 billion or more. And the only
identifiable funding source is Seattle taxpayers!
Another myth is that Seattleites will embrace overhead transit.
Whereas light-rail transit can be built elevated, at-grade, or
underground, depending on neighborhood conditions, monorail
is all elevated all the time. That won’t work in our city of views.
Supporters claim that modern monorails tracks are beautiful.
Pillars would be the size of telephone poles and beamways “no
larger than a highway guard rail.”
Unfortunately they can’t repeal the laws of physics. The reality
is that where new monorails are being built, mainly Japan and
Malaysia, they are just as ugly as our old Alweg. Monorail tracks
would block views throughout Seattle and blight 40 miles of city
streets.
Furthermore, the proposed system would have monorail trains
running every few minutes, 20 hours a day, just 25 to 50 feet away
from second-floor bedroom windows of thousands of homes and
apartments.
Another problem is that builders have their own patented
technologies. A Bombardier monorail train won’t fit on a Hitachi
track and vice versa. Buyers are locked into one technology without
competitive bidding.
In contrast, light-rail transit follows universal standards. With
many suppliers providing each element, no one enjoys monopoly
power.
Real transit solutions are coming. Seattle voters approved
Sound Transit’s program by a record 72%, and they break ground
next year on 23 miles of light-rail transit. And the City has a new
intermediate-capacity transit study under way that examines a
range of modes, without fixating on monorail alone.
If approved, I-53 would result in yet more proof that the private
sector can’t pay the costs, and clear evidence that neighborhoods
won’t tolerate monorail’s visual blight and social intrusion.
Vote NO on I-53 and save $6 million.