[rtpg]

Seattle should be ashamed at giving themselves 10 years just for planning + design. This isn't the linear shinkansen, you're not even crossing state lines! It is a train. We know how to do this.

There are obviously considerations to optimise for but how do you need 5 years for planning, _then another 5 years for design_?

[rcme]

Modern civil engineering is extremely inefficient. In a software system, for instance, you design largely by “instinct.” You’re given a problem, you consider a the pros and cons of a few possible solutions, and then commit to one based on these considerations. Civil engineering doesn’t work like that. For something like a road or a railway, they’ll split it into pieces and then consider every possible way of construction along each segment, including studying things like environmental impact. It takes a ridiculous amount of time and effort. Part of the reason for this is so that when people sue to block construction they can say they considered all the other alternatives.

[panda888888]

I agree that they should do it more quickly, but they aren't just building this line, they're building light rail lines throughout all of Seattle and the suburbs. There's a giant master plan that goes 25+ years all the way out to 2050ish.

[cornercasechase]

It’s been a lot longer than 10 years. The empty, massive, underground bus/train “depot” that sits under the downtown has multiple track gauges running through it from all the failed projects.

[c22]

Are you talking about the old convention place station?