Sound Transit plan could shake—and break—UW research

Panoramic view of the intersection of 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Pacific Street shows the portion of campus that would be affected by Sound Transit Board’s “locally preferred alternative.”

University officials say the Sound Transit Board’s path for light rail in this area will upset sensitive science equipment, jeopardize personal safety, and undoubtedly clog already crowded area streets with more pedestrians.

Last week, the Sound Transit Board voted on a “locally preferred alternative” for the path of the light rail system, which calls for a tunnel underneath Portage Bay and then a line up 15^th Avenue Northeast. The tunnel would be about 200 feet deep, and stations would be located at Northeast Pacific Street and at Northeast 45^th Street.

“Although the University is a strong supporter and advocate for light rail service near the campus, we believe there are some critical issues that must be addressed before final decisions about station locations and alignment in the University District can be made,” said Weldon Ihrig, executive vice president.

The University’s concerns include vibration and electromagnetic interference with sensitive research equipment and the increased congestion in the University District if the transit system ends at Northeast 45^th Street. Officials also worry about safety and personal security in deep stations, only accessible by elevator.

University officials—faculty as well as administrators—have been meeting with Sound Transit staff for the past two years. These meetings have focused on both the challenges and opportunities presented by light rail. However, information provided recently by Sound Transit indicates the University’s concerns have not been addressed, Ihrig said.

Vibration from the trains and electromagnetic interference caused by the electrical currents flowing to the trains’ motors could affect research being conducted in Physics/Astronomy and also in the Life Sciences buildings being planned just south of Pacific Street on 15^th Avenue Northeast. While a solution may be at hand for electromagnetic interference, University officials have expressed no such confidence with regard to vibration.

The University learned in mid-December that vibration impacts would be 100 times greater than the goal proposed in the University’s Scoping Comments, which were sent to Sound Transit in January 1998. The UW report set out the questions and goals for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, according to Steve Ellis, chair of the Physics Department. The document specified upper levels for the impact of the light rail system in electromagnetic interference and vibrations.

“A major strength of the Department of Physics lies in the ability of its faculty to perform ever more accurate measurements of the quantities that characterize our understanding of the physical world, at both the smallest and largest scales,” Ellis wrote in a response to Sound Transit’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The best known examples of precise measurements are being performed by Professor Hans Dehmelt, as part of his ongoing research that led to the Nobel Prize in 1989.

Ellis, along with other members of the Physics faculty, has been involved in discussions with Sound Transit to deal with problems of vibration and electromagnetic interference. Together, they have identified a design for conductor configuration and magnetic fields that would provide the necessary mitigation, if it is followed. However, Ellis describes the existing study of the vibration problem as “inadequate.” After a year of discussions Sound Transit has yet to provide the promised detailed studies of the expected vibration levels and plans for mitigation, he said.

“Our greatest concern is for the future of experimental physics at the UW,” according to Ellis. Failure to meet the goals described in the 1998 UW Scoping Comments “will not only impact current experiments but also seriously compromise our ability to pursue future, inevitably more precise experimental programs. Similar comments also apply to the future occupants of the planned Life Sciences buildings II and III, which are likely to be even closer to the tunnels than the Physics/Astronomy Building.”

The Department of Bioengineering is planning to move into one of the new life sciences buildings, and its work could be affected dramatically by the proximity of the light rail tunnel, said Francis Spelman, professor of bioengineering.

“Equipment such as scanning electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes is very sensitive to low-frequency vibration,” he said. “The instruments that we are using look at the surfaces of materials, to find out what molecules are present. Our work will lead to materials that allow devices to be implanted within human subjects, to alleviate disease—devices such as pacemakers, artificial eyes and ears. The work will be compromised if we can’t examine surfaces with the precision that we need. This is just one area. Other researchers are studying the way muscles work by making precise measurements of the chemicals that are critical to the way muscle contracts. Potentially, this research could lead to new ways of helping the heart recover from infarction. And this work, too, would be compromised by nearby vibration.

“Moving away from campus to do this work is not desirable, because we won’t be able to interact with students, neither medical students nor our own bioengineering students,” Spelman added. “I think we need to look at all proposed routes, not just this one route, together with Sound Transit, and ask ourselves who will be affected by each option and which route will provide the greatest benefit at the least cost.”

Another major concern is with the depth of the stations. For the past several years, UW faculty, students and officials have worked with the community and Sound Transit to identify alignments and station locations.

Broad agreement on aligning the rail path with 15^th Avenue Northeast was based upon the belief that the transit stations would be near the surface in a number of locations, both on campus and in the business district. The original concept would have had a tunnel and stations at between 80 and 110 feet deep, a conventional depth for light rail.

Sediment studies along the proposed alignment, however, suggest that a deeper tunnel avoids a layer of porous material about 100 feet wide under Portage Bay that makes tunneling difficult.

But station platforms at 200 feet below grade could be served only by elevators.

This poses potential problems of safety and security, according to Jeffrey Ochsner, chair of the UW Department of Architecture.

“Because elevators are closed compartments, they violate the standard of open surveillance which is fundamental to safety and security in the public urban space,” Ochsner wrote in response to Sound Transit’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. “Even with high speed elevators a rider is effectively trapped in the elevator compartment for the duration of the trip; anything can happen in that time and there is little that the rider can do about it.”

Security problems likely will not be great during the day when the number of users is high, Ochsner said. “However, after dark and into the evening, when patronage will be lower, the deep Sound Transit stations will be particularly vulnerable. Using the deep stations at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. or later, when there are fewer patrons and one’s sense of vulnerability will be heightened, will be a frightening experience. In fact, if the system is built as proposed it will probably go unused in late evening due to the inherent safety and security problems.”

“Effectively,” he added, “the UW is being asked to trade safety and security for students, faculty and staff, as well as support for University Avenue businesses, because Sound Transit faces a difficult tunneling task of about 100 to 150 feet in length. This trade-off is absurd and reflects Sound Transit’s policy of putting engineering issues ahead of serving the people who will use the system in the future.”

Funding problems for Sound Transit may dictate that the light rail system terminate at Northeast 45^th Street for now. University officials have said that this will likely lead to “intolerable” traffic congestion, which will be compounded by the plan for deep stations, eliminating the chance of better pedestrian connections to the business district.

In a Feb. 24 memo to the Sound Transit Board, Bob White, Sound Transit’s executive director, acknowledged that “our Draft Environmental Impact Statement concludes that there will not be a major increase in traffic with an interim terminus at Northeast 45^th Street.”

UW officials say that everyone entering or leaving this final light rail station will have to cross either 15^th Avenue Northeast or Northeast 45^th Street in order to leave or enter the station, creating many more auto-pedestrian conflicts at the already busy intersection, and inevitably resulting in greater congestion.

University officials are not the only ones concerned about Sound Transit’s preferred route and deep tunneling.

“We are seriously disappointed with the deep station at Northeast 45^th Street, which will be served only by elevators,” said Fred Hart, owner of La Tienda on the Ave, who has been involved in discussions with Sound Transit. “It makes the transit system much less user friendly. We had visualized a station with an open mezzanine for dispersing pedestrian traffic, with access to the Ave. This will make that vision harder to accomplish.”

Hans Aschenbach of the Roosevelt Neighbors Alliance said his group is concerned about the traffic at what is likely to be the northern terminus for light rail.

“We have urged Sound Transit to begin construction on the portion of the tunnel from 45^th to 75^th streets as part of Phase One,” he said. “This will avoid the congestion caused by re-initiating construction and is likely to save time overall, minimizing the amount of time that the U District is the end of the line, and perhaps saving money as well. We believe that the Alliance, the Chamber of Commerce and the UW can continue to work together, as we have for the past 10 years, and present a reasonable, unified picture to Sound Transit and other decision makers.”

“The University is deeply concerned with the impact that Sound Transit will have on the surrounding community,” said Bridgett Chandler, director of community affairs. “The ‘locally preferred alternative’ may not have the positive effects that we had hoped for, and indeed will have many negative impacts. The UW has a big stake in promoting a healthy neighborhood near campus, both for businesses and residents, and we intend to work hard to ensure that light rail enhances the quality of life.”

“Given all these concerns,” Ihrig said, “we do not believe that Sound Transit’s preferred route near campus is viable. Solving the inherent security problems by finding an engineering solution to the deep tunnels will only exacerbate the vibration problems. We believe that Sound Transit should look at alternatives now, and incorporate those in its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).”

The FEIS is due to be issued in August.

The University expects to be considering light rail alignments other than along 15^th Avenue Northeast—for example, under Rainier Vista. If you are using equipment that might be adversely affected by such an alignment, please contact Janet Donelson, who is chairing the UW Working Group on Sound Transit, janetd@u.washington.edu. For more details about the implications for Physics (and elsewhere) contact Steve Ellis, ellis@phys.washington.edu. If you have other questions, comments or concerns about Sound Transit’s plans, please contact the Office of Community Affairs, 221-4246, or e-mail connect@u.washington.edu. More information about Sound Transit is available at the Office of Community Affairs Web page: http://www.washington.edu/community/. The page also contains a link to a response form you can use to submit comments about the plans. ¶

Bob Roseth, News & Information