Submitted by Henry, who says:

Here’s a simple diagram for a hypothetical Seattle where Forward Thrust (the original ’60s subway) was actually built and where we would be today. If only we really had this level of transit.

I tried to make this kind of look like a diagram you might find in a newspaper, so it’s not super detailed with a legend and stuff. Or at least that’s my excuse for being lazy!

Transit Maps says:

A nice “what if?” map here from Henry, envisioning a Seattle where construction on a light rail network began in the 1960s instead of later… much later. It’s the little touches that I like, like the latest work package being called Forward Thrust 3 (or FT3) instead of the real world Sound Transit 3/ST3. It seems that in this alternate world, Sound Transit was never formed, as Henry places the ownership of the network with King County Metro.

The diagram itself does have that “newspaper infographic” feel, so I’d say it works as Henry intended. While simplification is good for that purpose, I’d still like to see a version with the bodies of water that do so much to define Seattle – Lake Union, Lake Washington and the Puget Sound itself. The reason this network looks so similar to the planned ST3 configuration of the real world is simply because Seattle is hemmed in by water and there’s very few viable routes.

One little technical thing I’d like to see fixed is the divergence of the red and blue lines south of Jackson station: if Henry nudged the change of direction on the red line down and to the right a bit more, the lines would change direction at the same point, which always looks a bit cleaner to me.

Our final word: A simple diagram of what could have been, made with a minimum of fuss. Works for me!