Eastside Trail Advocates

About Eastside Trail Advocates (ETA)

We are a group of eastside residents promoting the best appropriate use of the BNSF corridor that runs north / south on the east side of Lake Washington, for the benefit of the entire metro area. We support immediate expansion of commuter bus service through deployment of additional direct bus routes and increased bus frequencies that serve all commuters. We also support well-planned expansion of commuter light-rail that connects seamlessly with the light-rail currently under construction but that is not blight to established residential neighborhoods.

ETA Opposes

Circumventing the public process.
Rushing or shortening the public process.
Using and accepting that a few narrow interest groups guide all the hugely expensive and publicly financed studies regarding the best potential uses of the BNSF corridor.
Essentially gifting and subsidizing a public asset to narrow business interests of some companies with hidden real-estate development goals.
Decisions based on studies that exclude many other valuable USES and BENEFITS for the Eastside community and that do not reflect the real TOTAL cost of each major option.
Adding transportation corridors, Park & Ride parking areas, noise, and pollution in urban areas near the already existing I-405 transportation corridor, without seamlessly and conveniently connecting them to a master regional transportation network.
The staggering upfront start-up cost of a limited train service and the subsidy required for the maintenance of the BNSF corridor in the foreseeable future. We are opposed, because we believe they will NOT reduce traffic congestion, and WILL reduce capital resources to substantially and quickly mitigate the problem, while other long-term solutions are being worked on.

What ETA Favors

We are in favor of commuter trains that make clear, net, economic sense and unambiguously maximize the livability for the largest number of residents on the Eastside.
We encourage the exploration of ALL possible alternative uses of the corridor by multiple, impartial, and less expensive organizations, such as relevant local university departments and impartial urban design and business audit experts, before any train 'solution' is implemented.
We support the earliest possible implementation of the recommendation of the $800,000 Puget Sound Regional Council Report (May 2007). That is, that the Rail Corridor, from Renton to Woodinville, be developed and used in the short term (next 10 years) as 'a regional multi-purpose trail. Then, while maintaining the multi-use character of the corridor, consider the addition of a high-capacity, transit solution in that corridor as defined by state law and federal rail-banking designation.
We favor improving first the downtown transportation system (such as trolleys, buses, moving walkways, bicycles, etc.) that eliminate or minimize the need for cars in downtown areas.
We favor the use of a cheaper, frequent, more flexible, and easier/faster to implement point-to-point bus system from Everett to Renton if/when/where the need exists at this time and in the future.
We also favor the consideration of the slow and steady construction of an underground metro network starting, say from Bellevue, to future, designated, high-density areas.

ETA’s Values

The advantages of bike and pedestrian trails, at least for the next 10-20 years for the health, safety, and connection of residents in local communities/neighborhoods.
The need for recreation areas in which people can live and work, without the need to drive to them.
The beneficial effect of increasing residential density along the corridor, close to 4 major Eastside downtowns without coercion. (This is a goal that ST seeks because it may eventually make trains or trolleys truly viable for local people.)
The beneficial economic impact of a trail on the local Eastside communities by safely and conveniently connecting and improving large public parks from Renton to Woodinville.

Ask Your Officials

What would Seattle and cities around Lakes Washington and Sammamish look like if they had planned and developed their shorelines for public pedestrian areas? Or, what would they look like if they had boulevards connecting at least their major parks, instead of having multiple, stamp-sized parks requiring some kind of transportation to get to them? We are all for further development of our regional transportation infrastructure, but the BNSF corridor is not even close to being today’s solution.