Other Sites of Mine

On April 2, 2015, Expedia, the Internet travel company, currently based in Bellevue, Washington, announced their plans to move from their present location to a new location across Lake Washington, in Seattle. The new location is the property being vacated by Amgen, a pharmaceutical company. The location is just west of the intersection of Elliott Avenue West and West Galer Street, at the south end of the Interbay district, a low area between Magnolia Hill and Queen Anne Hill.

Expedia has about 3,000 employees, and one of the concerns is the increased traffic resulting from that many people commuting to that site. It is also anticipated that Expedia will add new buildings and new jobs, and therefore more employees, and that there will also be futher development of new business and residential facilities in the area, further exasperating the traffic problems.

The proposed Green Line monorail would go along Elliott Ave. W. and a station at W. Galer would provide good rapid transit service for Expedia employees and also for expected increased development around that area.

A road branching off from W. Galer St. leads a few hundred feet to the cruise ship terminal, so this station would also be convenient for cruise ship passengers, especially with a shuttle service between the ship terminal and the monorail station.

A major problem in this area, and one that will rapidly increase in the near future, is that traffic to the north, into Ballard, is hampered by the Ballard Bridge, a draw bridge that must open at times to permit boats to pass through. There should be a high-level bridge to span the water (Salmon Bay) to permit faster and uninterrupted traffic flow. If this project can be combined with the monorail project, so that both monorail and automobile traffic can use the same bridge, the cost will be shared between the monorail project and the Seattle Department of Transportation, meaning lower cost for each agency.