A Greater Seattle Area

Build a light rail station at N.E. 130th St.

Ideas I Have to Make the Greater Seattle Area a Better Place to Live and Visit.

by Bob Fleming

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My name is Bob Fleming, and I am very interested in seeing a greatly improved transportation system for Seattle and other improvements to make this area a better place to work, study, and get around.

What Is Meant By “Greater Seattle”?

The word “greater” can have several meanings, three of which could apply in “Greater Seattle.”

The usual meaning of Greater Seattle is the larger area centered on Seattle as a core. Greater Seattle includes Bellevue, Redmond, Renton, south King County, Shoreline, Kenmore, Bothell, Woodinville, Lake Forest Park, and south Snohomish County. By expanding the area a bit it could also include the Everett area and the Tacoma area. I am considering this whole expanded area in my visions.

Greater Seattle could also mean a better Seattle, and that is my dream in coming up with these ideas.

Finally, Greater Seattle could mean a more important Seattle, and I think that with the ideas I have, Seattle could become better known throughout the World because of better transportation systems, better facilities, and more world-famous events. It would become an even greater tourist destination than it is now. The Seattle area would attract more conventions and major sports and cultural events. More businesses would set up operations in this area.

What Are My Ideas For a Greater Seattle?

I can think of many things that could improve the area, but I am going to focus on just a few major things:

Waterfront Streetcar: For a number of years, old surplus streetcars (trams) from Melbourne, Australia ran along a track along the Seattle waterfront. A few years ago, In order to build a new facility, the Seattle Art Museum had to demolish the maintenance barn for the waterfront streetcars so they were removed from service and placed in storage. Various plans to restore the service have failed, and now there are efforts to sell the vintage streetcars. I am in favor of rebuilding the tracks and resuming service after the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Build the Green Line monorail: Reconsider the Green Line monorail, previously killed due to mismanagement and politics. The concept and design remain an excellent plan to provide mass transit to two parts of Seattle without as much cost and disruption as light rail would bring. I also suggest some improvements in the design and routing that would improve flexibility and shorten the route a bit. Click here for details.

Remodel the Seattle Center, renovate Key Arena, and more: Make a number of improvements to the Seattle Center, including remodeling Key Arena (and hopefully attract a new NBA team), modernize the Center House, upgrade and extend the monorail, and other improvements.

Modernize the Seattle Center Monorail: Replace the existing 1962 Seattle Center Monorail with a modern Hitachi mass transit monorail and extend it to Key Arena.

Build a Monorail Through Downtown to the Cruise Terminal: Build a modified version of the terminated Green Line project with a monorail from Safeco and Qwest Fields thorugh downtown Seattle, past the Seattle Center and to the Cruise Terminals at piers 90 and 91.

Host another Seattle World’s Fair: In 1909 Seattle had a world’s fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, that resulted in the creation of a new University of Washington campus. In 1962 the Seattle World’s Fair, or Century 21 Exposition, was not only profitable but was the beginning of what is now the Seattle Center. I think it is time to host another world’s fair that could bring more improvements to the Seattle Center and other areas, and fund monorail and other infrastructure construction.

New basketball arena There is a proposal to build a new sports arena in the Sodo District in an effort to lure a basketball team that would be a reincarnation of the late Seattle Supersonics.

The menu at the left provides a list of links to sites with my ideas.


Bob Fleming’s home page The Fleming Family home page

Contact me


©2007 Robert M. Fleming Jr.

This page was last updated on 21 May 2018.

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