The Forty-Minute Commute: A Plan to Link Seattle and Tacoma
Promoters announce an ambitious electric interurban rail project designed to connect the two cities in under an hour and transform the Puyallup Valley.
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John Snyder, one of the incorporators of the Tacoma & Seattle Rapid Transit railway, announced plans to build an electric road connecting the two cities. The project aims to provide quick through-transit, with a goal of making the trip in forty to fifty minutes—significantly faster than existing rail options. The company plans to follow county roads as much as possible to shorten the distance. A key part of the plan involves laying track through the Puyallup Indian reservation by utilizing a strip of land granted to the county for a wagon road. Snyder argues that the electric railway is merely an improvement on existing public road usage and that the company will grade and gravel the remaining space for public wagon traffic in exchange for the right-of-way. Surveyors are expected to begin work immediately to estimate costs, with the goal of running early milk and vegetable trains alongside passenger service.
“We hope to make the run from Tacoma to Seattle in forty minutes.”
The dream of a 40-minute, seamless electric commute between Seattle and Tacoma has haunted the region for 130 years. While this specific 'Rapid Transit' project failed to materialize in 1892, it highlights the enduring civic obsession with linking these two growing hubs, an issue that continues to dominate current regional transit planning.
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