Waterfront Streetcar

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Heading toward Broad Street, on S. Main Street between 1st and Occidental Avenues S.

The Waterfront Streetcar, officially the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line, is a 1.6-mile-long streetcar line run by Metro Transit in Seattle, Washington, so named because much of its route is along Alaskan Way on the Elliott Bay waterfront. Service began on May 29, 1982, which was the first streetcar run in Seattle since April 13, 1941.

The streetcar halted operation November 19, 2005 when the maintenance barn was to be demolished to make room for a sculpture park extension to the Seattle Art Museum. A new maintenance barn is to be built at Occidental Park and allow the resumption of operations in 2007. The street car is replaced by Metro bus route 99 during the halt in operations.

1 History
2 Route
3 Stations
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Service began on May 29, 1982, which was the first streetcar run in Seattle since April 13, 1941. The first two streetcars had been brought to Seattle from Melbourne by George Benson (1919-2004), a former pharmacist, who was a Seattle City Councilman from 1973 to 1993. Three more Melbouurne streetcars were acquired between 1990 and 1993.

[edit] Route

The line runs mostly northwest-southeast along Alaskan Way on abandoned Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway trackage. From S. Main Street in Pioneer Square east to 5th Avenue S. it runs in the center median, and its last block is on the west side of 5th Avenue between S. Main and S. Jackson Streets.