Refined - Seattle Subway Vision Map 2025 by Seth Tuttle
created at 2025-09-17T09:54:10.713Z
updated at 2026-01-27T03:57:35.385Z
Updated OxygenMetro's Seattle - Complete ST3 Buildout map to include Seattle Subway's 2025 vision map (https://www.seattlesubway.org/regional-map/), with a litany of personal adjustments. Lines numbered by priority where possible. No BRT included. I've branched this map into a set of possible ST4 alignments (https://metrodreamin.com/view/WTdVWWt4NERKbmRWNEtpWVNhOFRBS3B5ZzRKMnw3).
Service frequencies
-1, 2, and 3 lines: 5 minute
-4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 7, 8A, 8B, streetcars: 10 minute
Changes to existing/planned service
-The Rainer Valley segment is grade separated as a trench railway, starting after S Walden St and ending at either S Norfolk St or S Henderson St to accommodate interlining with the 5 Line
-Rainier Beach station is shifted to north of S Cloverdale St to accommodate the 5 Line splitting off to Renton
-4th Shallower is retained over 5th Diagonal (and the current preferred alternative of course) since I still pine for it
-Didn't feel like updating the South Federal Way to Fife segment to run on 99. Even with a Milton infill station this doesn't change much, if anything
Required changes to the Seattle Subway Vision Map
-Riverton station is placed as a 1 line stop as well; allowing for much faster transfers, a better station location, and likely cheaper construction
-The currently planned Everett station does serve downtown albeit in the edge, and there really isn't a corridor deeper in without tunneling. From there you can really only go down Broadway, meaning the next good station location would be on 19th St
-There isn't really any make sense space for both a Totem Lake plus a Kingsgate station
Personal changes to the Seattle Subway 2025 vision map below
1 Line:
-Added a station at Victory Heights
----Considering this location is at the bottom of a sharp hill, it should be possible to add a cheap surface station before the tracks become elevated over Lake City Way. Allowing faster transfers between the 1 and 5 Line as well as the bus lines that branch off near here.
-Added a station at Whittier
----There is a new neighborhood center here
-Added a station at Carkeek Park
2 Line:
-Sent the line to Totem Lake instead of Woodinville.
----A leisure train to the Wineries is an annoying yet constant feature of Seattle Subway maps. The whole segment would be low ridership. Instead sent the line to Totem Lake for crosstown service with an intermediary stop at Totem Ridge
----Willows station is placed up against the golf course assuming it would be redeveloped
-Added a station at SE 8th St
----There originally was a planned station at this location, if the line needs to be temporarily shut down to link up the 4 Line, best to take advantage. Not much here, but just like East Main there is okay/good redevelopment potential
-Added a station at NE 20th St
----Fills the gap between Bel-Red and Overlake Village, good station location and cheap to add. But would require new track if placed on the north side of NE 20th St. It could instead be placed on 136th Pl NE on the south side of NE 20th St, but this would require closing southbound traffic lanes and one northbound lane.
3 Line:
-Added a station at SW Brandon St
----Provides service to a new neighborhood center that already has some density
-Added a station at SW Holden St
----There is a massive gap between Morgan Junction and Westwood Village, missing the Holden neighborhood center despite it being on the way.
4 Line:
-Limited the extension to Golden Garden's to just West Ballard
----A train to Golden Garden's would be just that and no more, its catchment area would be limited to just the beach but require a good amount of track. Which is of course fun, but not nearly adequate for a Link station. Retained the Sounder station, since the N line could use another station anyway
-Renamed Houghton station to Feriton
-Added a new Houghton station at NE 52nd
----Closes a large gap, area already pretty dense, not expansive to add since this is an at grade alignment
-Renamed Central Issaquah station to West Issaquah
-Extended the line deeper into Issaquah and into the Highlands
----Helps with the Highlands growth problem, but the final stretch between Historic Issaquah and the Highlands is very displacement heavy, might be better to leave it at Historic Issaquah
-Moved Phinney/Zoo to 47th/Aurora
----Much much better zoning/existing buildup. Yes Aurora sucks, but this segment is going to be improved a lot, also allows Rapid Ride E transfers. Doesn't help that the Phinney neighborhood center got taken off the table
-Split Wallingford Station into two separate stations
----Much better station density, helps replaces route 44 service, improved bus transfers, and so on. To top it off the segment of I-5 near the Thackeray station is a possible lidding candidate
5 Line:
-Sent the line through to Ballard rather than ending at SLU
----Makes way more sense. Ballard will be the 1 Line terminus as part of ST3 and can better handle a 5 Line terminus, provides better game day service to Seattle Center, and can better handle transfers from the 4 Line. This also nearly equalizes the time to run each branch
-Added Cherry station
----Good area for a station, surprised it isn't on the original map
-Added Stevens station
----Not a super productive station location, but good TOD potential. Having a station here that isn't too deep might push the track grades a bit much. But the hill averages 7% which is the max for the S700s, so it should be possible to have a station near the surface at the top of the hill. As a side benefit both ends of the Arboretum would have light rail access.
-Split Wedgwood into two stations
----While this split does lead to a worse station location for Ravenna, it means we can service the new Wedgwood neighborhood center and Wedgwood proper. Also allows for the addition seen in the next point
-Had the line follow the 4 line until Children's Hospital and added a station at the new Bryant neighborhood center
6 Line:
-Branched the line to go into Downtown Tacoma using Troy Serad's proposal (https://seattletransitblog.com/2021/11/21/alternative-link-alignments-into-downtown-tacoma-a-mapped-review/). One half of trains head to Tacoma Mall while the other head to Downtown Tacoma
----Means the addition of a small at grade segment, but it won't be problematic with just 10 minute service. Most of the E 25th St and Commerce St segments could mostly/completely remove
car access, and the Pacific Ave segment shouldn't be too much of an issue. Should be plenty of room for crossing gates
-Branched the line again, trains from Downtown Tacoma would head to Edmonds and trains from Tacoma Mall would head to Lynnwood City Center.
----The Edmonds, Edmonds College, to Lynnwood City Center section is absolutely insane and could never come to fruition. Requiring the displacement of a good chunk of Downtown Edmonds, additional displacement along the entire section, running through multiple environmentally critical areas, not even directly serving Edmonds College, over 5 miles of new elevated track with only one new station. To top it off a large amount of the ROW available for it likely is too small for elevated rail to run down. This segment is better served by an extension of Swift Orange.
-Moved Phinney/Zoo to 47th/Aurora
----Much much better zoning/existing buildup. Yes Aurora sucks, but this segment is going to be improved a lot, also allows Rapid Ride E transfers. Even allows for a zero intersection surface running section through the Woodland Park area, reducing tunneling by a lot.
-Added a station at Ward Place
----Not getting a station here is a waste, missing an entirely new high density catchment area with little extra tunneling. Also serves as a way to cross Aurora, since this segment is unlikely to see much improvement in that aspect
7 Line:
-Removed Highland Park station
----Removing this station allows the 7 Line to follow the 3 Line to Boulevard Park then split off toward South Park with a simple wye. This removes a large tunnel and reduces displacement by a lot. While Highland Park loses its station, doing this also drastically improves connectivity/local frequency for White Center and Boulevard Park. Also reduces required new tracks by over 30%
-Added a station at Upper Fauntleroy
----There is already some density here and will soon be rezoned for a good amount more. Also functions as a hill climber station.
8 Line:
-Branched the line to go through to Downtown Kent and provide crosstown service to Kent/Des Moines (renamed to Midway, which always should have been the name)
----Likely a pretty cheap extension, The station placed at S Kent/Des Moines Road & Meeker could instead be placed at S Kent/Des Moines Road & Washington Ave S. But there are some denser developments that have popped up on Meeker, and the golf course has shown the willingness to be redeveloped (a portion already has been)
-Added a station at 15th & Market.
----Missing a station here is crazy, it's all single family now but that will be primed to change with the new state TOD law
-Diverted to East Main by way of the 4 Line over going straight to South Bellevue.
----Yes going to South Bellevue first (for both the 8 and 4 Lines) is way better, but the current plan for the 4 Line is to go to East Main, and the 8 Line doing the same saves a boat load of money. Only adds a few minutes anyway
N Line:
-Added a station at Richmond Beach
----Not too much here, but provides service to a hard to serve area
-Retained the Golden Gardens station
----May as well, might add some use to the N line. Probably best not to include it, but whatever
-Added a Belltown station between Clay St & Vine St
----Adds some use to the line, and finally gives Belltown some rail. Gives access to the Victoria Clipper and cruise terminal to top it off
-Added a station at Fishermen's Terminal
----Mostly industrial, but it has some job density and close to a tourist/leisure destination
-Added a station at Salmon Bridge
----Mostly single family, but some TOD potential and close to a tourist/leisure destination
T Line:
-Renamed the T line to T1
-Added the T2 line
----Shares track with the T1 line through downtown till splitting off onto 6th, then meeting again at Tacoma Community College
-Added the T3 Line as a crosstown service between the Proctor District and S 38th
----Provides crosstown service between the T1 & T2 lines, also creates a faster connection to regional light rail at S 38th
-Any other corridors in Pierce county should probably be BRT, which, like other BRT corridors, I will not display on this map
Seattle Streetcar:
-Extended as per the 2024 Seattle transportation plan
NOTES:
-This setup is a little too reliant on tunneling in some segments, I'm going to branch this map again at some point for a more elevated focused setup
-Link Light Rail is not like a typical light rail system, it acts and is characterized more like a light metro. Unfortunately Metro Dreamin does not have a category between light rail and metro/rapid transit. For now I have just selected metro/rapid transit
-Maybe went a little too far on station density in some areas
Map type: local | Total track length: 348 miles | Center coordinate: 47.5597, -122.3217 | * Seattle Center Monorail: (Tram, 2 stations) Westlake Center, Seattle Center
* T1 Line: (Tram, 18 stations) Tacoma Dome, S 25th, Union Station, Convention Center, Theater District, Old City Hall, S 4th, Stadium District, Tacoma General East, 6th Avenue, Hilltop District, St Joseph, Ainsworth, Sprague, Union South, Stevens South, Pearl, Tacoma Community College
* 1 Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 35 stations) Woodinville, UW Bothell, Borthell Downtown, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Briercrest, Lake City, Victory Heights, Northgate, 105th/Aurora, Greenwood, Carkeek Park, Crown Hill, Whittier, Heights, Central Ballard, Interbay, Smith Cove, Seattle Center, South Lake Union, Denny, Westlake, Midtown, International District/Chinatown at 4th Avenue, SODO, Beacon Hill, Mount Baker, Columbia City, Graham, Othello, Ranier Beach, Duwamish, Riverton, Tukwila/International Boulevard, SeaTac/Airport
* S Line: (Commuter/suburban rail, 11 stations) DuPont, Tillicum, Lakewood, South Tacoma, Tacoma Dome, Puyallup, Sumner, Auburn, Kent, Tukwila, King Street
* N Line: (Commuter/suburban rail, 9 stations) Everett, Mukilteo, Edmonds Downtown, Richmond Beach, Golden Gardens, Salmon Bay, Fishermen's Terminal, Belltown, King Street
* 2 Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 35 stations) Totem Lake, Totem Ridge, Willows, Downtown Redmond, Marymoor Village, Redmond Technology, Overlake Village, Highland Park, BelRed, Spring District, Wilburton, Bellevue Downtown, East Main, SE 8th, South Bellevue, Mercer Island, Judkins Park, International District/Chinatown at 5th Avenue, Pioneer Square, University Street, Westlake, Capitol Hill, University of Washington, U District, Roosevelt, Northgate, Pinehurst, Shoreline South/148th, Shoreline North/185th, Mountlake Terrace, 220th St SW, Lynnwood City Center, Alderwood Mall, Ash Way, Mariner
* 4A Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 25 stations) Salmon Bay, Ballard West, Central Ballard, West Woodland, Upper Fremont, Densmore, Thackery, U District, U Village, Children's Hostpital, Sand Point, Kirkland Downtown, Feriton, Houghton, South Kirkland, Wilburton, Bellevue Downtown, East Main, Richards Road, Eastgate, Lakemont, West Issaquah, Gilman, Historic Issaquah, Highlands
* 3 Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 38 stations) Everett College, 19th St, Everett Downtown, SR 526/Evergreen Way, Southwest Everett Industrial Center, Airport Road, Mariner, Ash Way, Alderwood Mall, Lynnwood City Center, 220th St SW, Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline North/185th, Shoreline South/148th, Pinehurst, Northgate, Roosevelt, U District, University of Washington, Capitol Hill, Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square, International District/Chinatown at 5th Avenue, Stadium, SODO, Delridge, Avalon, Alaska Junction, Fairmount, Morgan Junction, Holden, Westwood Village, White Center, Boulevard Park, Riverton, Tukwila/International Boulevard, SeaTac/Airport
* 5A Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 25 stations) Lake City, Victory Heights, North Wedgwood, South Wedgwood, Ravenna, Bryant, Children's Hostpital, U Village, University of Washington, Montlake, Stevens, Madison Valley, Union, Cherry, Jackson, Judkins Park, Mount Baker, Columbia City, Graham, Othello, Ranier Beach, Kubota Garden, Skyway, Renton Downtown, Landing
* 5B Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 22 stations) Landing, Renton Downtown, Skyway, Kubota Garden, Ranier Beach, Othello, Graham, Columbia City, Mount Baker, Judkins Park, Jackson, Cherry, Union, Madison Valley, East Capitol Hill, West Capitol Hill, Fairview, South Lake Union, Seattle Center, Smith Cove, Interbay, Central Ballard
* 4B Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 15 stations) Salmon Bay, Ballard West, Central Ballard, West Woodland, Upper Fremont, Densmore, Thackery, U District, U Village, Children's Hostpital, Sand Point, Kirkland Downtown, Rose Hill, Grass Lawn, Downtown Redmond
* 8B Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 22 stations) UW Bothell, Brickyard, Totem Lake, North Kirkland, Juanita, Norkirk, Kirkland Downtown, Feriton, Houghton, South Kirkland, Wilburton, Bellevue Downtown, East Main, Factoria, Newport, May Creek, Renton Downtown, South Renton, Tukwila, Southcenter, Tukwila/International Boulevard, Burien
* 7 Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 10 stations) Seward Park, Graham, South Beacon Hill, Georgetown, South Park, Boulevard Park, White Center, Westwood Village, Upper Fauntleroy, Endolyne
* 6B Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 35 stations) Tacoma Mall, S 38th, Tacoma Dome, Portland Avenue, Fife, South Federal Way, Federal Way Downtown, Star Lake, Midway, Angle Lake, SeaTac/Airport, Tukwila/International Boulevard, Riverton, South Park, Georgetown, SODO, International District/Chinatown at 4th Avenue, Midtown, Westlake, Denny, South Lake Union, Ward, Dexter, Fremont, Upper Fremont, Green lake, Licton Springs, 105th/Aurora, Bitter Lake, Westminster, West Shoreline, Echo Lake, Esperance, Halls Lake, Lynnwood City Center
* 6A Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 35 stations) Theater District, Convention Center, Union Station, Tacoma Dome, Portland Avenue, Fife, South Federal Way, Federal Way Downtown, Star Lake, Midway, Angle Lake, SeaTac/Airport, Tukwila/International Boulevard, Riverton, South Park, Georgetown, SODO, International District/Chinatown at 4th Avenue, Midtown, Westlake, Denny, South Lake Union, Ward, Dexter, Fremont, Upper Fremont, Green lake, Licton Springs, 105th/Aurora, Bitter Lake, Westminster, West Shoreline, Echo Lake, South Edmonds, Edmonds Downtown
* 8A Line: (Metro/rapid transit, 24 stations) UW Bothell, Brickyard, Totem Lake, North Kirkland, Juanita, Norkirk, Kirkland Downtown, Feriton, Houghton, South Kirkland, Wilburton, Bellevue Downtown, East Main, Factoria, Newport, May Creek, Renton Downtown, South Renton, Tukwila, Orillia, Industrial Valley, Kent, Meeker, Midway
* S1 Line (NB): (Tram, 21 stations) Fairview & Campus Drive, Lake Union Park, Terry & Mercer, Terry & Thomas, Westlake & 9th-Denny, Westlake & 7th, Westlake Hub McGraw Square, 2nd & Steward, 1st & Pike, 1st & Madison, Pioneer Square, Occidental Mall, 5th & Jackson, 7th & Jackson, 12th & Jackson, 14th & Washington, Yesler & Broadway, Broadway & Terrace, Broadway & Marion, Broadway & Pike-Pine, Broadway & Denny
* S1 Line (SB): (Tram, 21 stations) Fairview & Campus Drive, Lake Union Park, Westlake & Mercer, Westlake & Thomas, Westlake & 9th-Denny, Westlake & 7th, Westlake Hub McGraw Square, 2nd & Steward, 1st & Pike, 1st & Madison, Pioneer Square, Occidental Mall, 5th & Jackson, 7th & Jackson, 12th & Jackson, 14th & Washington, Yesler & Broadway, Broadway & Terrace, Broadway & Marion, Broadway & Pike-Pine, Broadway & Denny
* S2 Line (NB): (Tram, 14 stations) SODO, 1st & Stacy, 1st & Holgate, 1st & Brougham, Railroad Way, 1st & Jackson, Pioneer Square, 1st & Madison, 1st & Pike, 1st & Virginia, 1st & Bell, 1st & Cedar, 1st & Denny, Seattle Center
* S2 Line (SB): (Tram, 14 stations) Seattle Center, Queen Anne & Denny, 1st & Cedar, 1st & Bell, 1st & Virginia, 1st & Pike, 1st & Madison, Pioneer Square, 1st & Jackson, Railroad Way, 1st & Brougham, 1st & Holgate, 1st & Stacy, SODO
* T2 Line: (Tram, 17 stations) Tacoma Community College, Mildred, Scott-Pierson, Orchard, Stevens North, Union North, Alder, S State, Tacoma General West, Stadium District, S 4th, Old City Hall, Theater District, Convention Center, Union Station, S 25th, Tacoma Dome
* T3 Line: (Tram, 9 stations) Proctor, N 21st, Unoversoty of Puget Sound, Union North, S 12th, Union South, Center, Pine, S 38th
refined, seattle, subway, vision, map, 2025, king, county, washington, us, wa, united, states, map maker, metro map maker, subway map maker, transit map maker, rail map maker, bus map maker, map creator, metro map creator, subway map creator, transit map creator, rail map creator, bus map creator, dream map, fantasy map, fantasy metro, fantasy subway, map sketch, map tool, transit tool, public transportation map
Comments