The Push for a Seattle-Tacoma Inter-Urban Boulevard
Business leaders rally behind a proposed wagon road to connect the two cities, hoping to capture rural trade and boost regional development.
The News' petition for an inter-urban boulevard between Tacoma and Seattle is meeting with general favor all over the city. About 150 signatures have thus far been obtained, and these will be gathered together today and tomorrow and forwarded to the legislature. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has taken the matter up and yesterday printed a half-column article on the subject. In gathering up the petitions today, a News reporter gleaned the following opinions of our business men: Claiborne K. Stokes said, 'I am decidedly in favor of good wagon roads, but am especially interested in this proposition, because it is urgently needed. Under present conditions, country people cannot come to town to trade as often as they desire, and I believe a half-dozen good county roads would be of more benefit to us than another railroad.' Maj. P. B. Hayden added, 'This proposed road will prove a big benefit to the city and county. I am a crank on the subject of good county roads, and feel that unless we get them the county will not be developed as rapidly as it deserves to and should.'
“I am a 'crank' on the subject of good county roads, and feel that unless we get them the county will not be developed as rapidly as it deserves to and should.”
The dream of a seamless connection between Seattle and Tacoma has evolved from 19th-century wagon roads to the modern I-5 corridor and Sound Transit light rail. While the mode of transport has shifted from horses to high-speed rail, the civic obsession with linking these two economic hubs remains a constant in Puget Sound politics.
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