The timing is perfect. It is 2013, and the new light rail link to West Seattle is opening on my last day of work before retirement. It has been eight years since they killed the monorail, and it took that long to bring rapid transit to West Seattle. It was the loss of the Alaskan Way Viaduct that really got things moving. You know the story. How the great quake of '08 brought it down, and how the only thing left standing on the waterfront was the Frankfurter hut on Pier 54. Something had to be done fast, and corporate sponsorship came to the rescue. Today I'm going to see what they've built.

Since trains couldn't climb the grade to the Junction, the big bore took place. Where the Luna Park Cafe once stood is now the entrance portal to Westside Tunnel. Some said a dark tunnel would discourage ridership. But after Metro got away with painting over bus windows with advertising and saw no such decline, the tunnel was a go. The line goes only as far as MicroBucks Station under Jefferson Square. But there are rumors a deal is in the works with Wal-Mart to sponsor a station at Morgan Junction (in return for giving them Lincoln Park as a site for a megastore).

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