Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Getting from a plane to a Central Link train (or vice versa) is simple and easy

Following this morning's ceremony marking the opening of Airport Link light rail, we at NPI decided to do readers a favor and test ourselves how long it took to walk from baggage claim inside the airport to the station.

Critics have claimed the walk would be long and tedious, but we found the opposite to be true. From the mezzanine level of Sea-Tac Station to the escalator inside of the terminal is a mere three minutes and ten seconds. A walk from the platform to the United Airlines ticket counter is six minutes and thirty seconds.

Even the from baggage claim number one, below the ticketing counters for international flights at the far end of the terminal, the walk is not bad. It clocked in at thirteen minutes and three seconds. Of that, eight minutes and thirty-five seconds was spent just getting to the northern end of the terminal.

We walked at the pace a tourist or out of town visitor might walk. We carried backpacks and looked for signs of Link. We stopped briefly to simulate the amount of time it might take to ask for directions.

Unfortunately, signs referring to Link are mostly nonexistent or confusing. Especially in southern end of the terminal (near baggage claim number one) the signs were small and in a suboptimal spot for travelers.

Rather than having signs on the walkway on the side of baggage claim, the small signs announcing service were present on the periphery of walking, only viewable to people looking waiting for their luggage or going up to a skybridge.

In addition, the Metro and Sound Transit display cart did not have any mention of light rail. The only map with Link on it that we saw is between claims eight and nine. On some signs, the words "public transportation" adjoin signs with arrows pointing towards the bus stop at the southern end of the terminal, but of course the passageway to Link is on the northern end.

The easiest way to reach the passageway is to walk north through the terminal to baggage claim number sixteen, go up the escalator, and walk across the skybridge. From there, it's almost impossible to get lost. The Port of Seattle did a wonderful job on visibility and maps showing where to go in the parking garage.

A few banners and larger signage could do wonders for people confused where the station is. Should be easy enough to fix.

Other than a few signage problems, the walk was painless. Again, remember that the walk from the security checkpoint to the end of the A gates is longer than the walk from the terminal to the Link station.

And once visitors arrive at the Link station, it is stunning. The artwork and architecture of the station is amazing. On a summer day, I can imagine an awesome view of the airport and surrounding areas from the elevated platform.

The Port of Seattle really did an excellent job integrating the terminal with Airport Link. Because the main terminal is so compact, the walk from the Link Station to any part of ticketing or baggage claim is just not that far. It is less than the walk from my house to the nearest bus stop.

All that's really missing now is some signage.

The Port of Seattle, by the way, is committed to integrating with the community of SeaTac. The skybridge over International Boulevard fits perfectly into the plan for a multimodal transportation station at the airport. When the buses move to International Boulevard in February, not only will they have a shorter route, they will be located outside the airport and right next to the Link Station.

The Port also is planning to extend the D gates to connect with the N gates, moving the airport's activity towards the Link station.

I'm personally looking forward to riding Link on my next trip to the airport. It will be much easier than parking a car or taking a taxi.

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