Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the U.S. state of Washington between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about 108 miles (180 km) south of the United States-Canadian border in King County, of which it is the county seat.

Infrastructure

Transportation

As with almost every other city in western North America, transportation in Seattle is dominated by automobiles, although Seattle is just old enough that the city's layout reflects the age when railways and streetcars dominated. These older modes of transportation made for a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of several former streetcar lines, most of them now bus lines. There is no subway, though a bus tunnel running roughly north-south through downtown is planned to be used by light rail beginning in 2009. There are a small number of commuter trains from Tacoma and Everett, and an extensive system of bus routes.

Related Topics:
Subway - Bus tunnel - Light rail - Commuter trains - Tacoma - Everett

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A monorail line constructed for the 1962 Exposition still exists today between Seattle Center and downtown, although plans are underway to replace it with a longer monorail to convert it into a real commuter service. Transportation-building programs have been very controversial in recent years — the new monorail was the subject of multiple ballot measures, even after it had been approved, and the Sound Transit light rail project has also been plagued with difficulties, though this light rail is under construction as of 2005.

Related Topics:
Monorail line - Seattle Center - Downtown - Longer monorail - Sound Transit

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The South Lake Union line of the Seattle Streetcar passed full City Council on Monday, June 27th, 2005. The streetcar is on track to be built and operating by 2007. The 2.6-mile streetcar line will run between Westlake Center in downtown Seattle and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Property owners along the right-of-way will pay about $25 million of the $45 million total capital cost through a local improvement district.

Related Topics:
South Lake Union - Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

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Also, Seattle is noted for its reliance on water traffic, with many people commuting to work from Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island, Bremerton, and Southworth by using the Washington State Ferries system (which is the largest in the United States and the third largest in the world).

Related Topics:
Bainbridge Island - Vashon Island - Bremerton - Southworth - Washington State Ferries

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Street layout

Seattle's streets are laid out in a cardinal-direction grid pattern, except in the central business district: early city leader Arthur Denny insisted on orienting out his plat relative to the shoreline rather than to true North, so streets meet at unusual angles where Denny's plat meets "Doc" Maynard's to the south and Carson Boren's to the north. This inconsistency creates frequent confusion for those unfamiliar to Seattle when they attempt to navigate the streets at the edges of the business district. Largely the result of Seattle's topography, only one street, one highway, and one freeway run uninterrupted entirely through the city.

Related Topics:
Street - Cardinal-direction - Grid pattern - Central business district - Arthur Denny - Plat - True North - "Doc" Maynard - Topography - Freeway

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See Seattle neighborhoods for articles on individual neighborhoods, including information on major thoroughfares.

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Medical centers and hospitals

Group Health Cooperative was one of the pioneers of managed care in the United States, the University of Washington is consistently ranked among the country's top ten leading institutions in medical research, and Seattle was a pioneer in the development of modern paramedic services with the establishment of Medic One in 1970. In 1974, a 60 Minutes story on the success of the then four-year-old Medic One paramedic system called Seattle "the best place in the world to have a heart attack."

Related Topics:
Group Health Cooperative - Managed care - Paramedic - Medic One - 1970 - 1974 - 60 Minutes - Heart attack

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Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center is the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. Harborview Medical Center, the public county hospital, is the only Level I trauma hospital serving those same four states. Harborview and the University of Washington Medical Center are both served by one physician group.

Related Topics:
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center - Alaska - Montana - Idaho - Harborview Medical Center - Trauma hospital - University of Washington Medical Center

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Utilities

Unlike most neighboring cities, water and electricity are provided by public city agencies. Privately owned utility companies serving Seattle are Puget Sound Energy (natural gas), Seattle Steam Company (steam), Qwest (landline telephone service), and Comcast (and to a lesser extent Millennium Digital Media) (cable television).

Related Topics:
Water - Electricity - Puget Sound Energy - Natural gas - Seattle Steam Company - Steam - Qwest - Telephone - Comcast - Millennium Digital Media - Cable television

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