Here's a current breakdown:

One-way Non-stop flights each day (during the pandemic).
(Keep in mind there are scores of Seattlites who drive up to Vancouver, BC to catch trans-pacific flights. There are many more options and it's a lot cheaper to do so even when you have to park your car for extended periods).

(Overnight Alaska Airlines and Delta have expanded to Paine to accommodate 24 flights. SW was suppose to add another 24 more. Seatac is maxed and Alaska is adding larger planes to its NW route portfolio. Last time I checked they only had one, now they have 5)

You're right these are currently mostly small planes from Embraer and Bombardier

Delta has at least (pandemic numbers)

6 SEA-PDX
2 SEA-YVR
3 PDX-YVR

United 4 SEA-YVR
4 PDX-YVR


Alaska 4 SEA-YVR
1 PDX-YVR
13 SEA-PDX (5 of which are of the Boeing/Airbus class)


Air Canada
1 YVR-SEA

That's 38 flights of which 5 are of the larger class.

7 Amtrak trains Seattle-Portland, 2 of which hit Vancouver, BC (pre-covid numbers). The limited number to Vancouver is because of international constraints and not lack of demand. Cascades was recording record ridership before the pandemic.

2 Bolts (pandmic numbers) Sea-Pdx


"Except HSR will have absolutely zero impact there, since HSR and I-5 serve two very different purposes."

This is a completely bogus statement. It's called induced demand. A lot more people would ride the Cascades instead of drive if they knew it would get them there a little quicker and more reliably. There is also a significant part of the population that doesn't like to fly (I for one) so they currently drive the 2-3 hours. When you consider the time spent in an airport passing security, checking in luggage and etc, and, in addition, don't care for flying, it only makes sense that you would drive.

Seattle had the third highest annualized growth rate among U.S. cities over the last 5 years. Portland the 10th. Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett and Vancouver, Wa are all on the cusp of exploding as well. The amount of land needed to expand HSR is trivial when compared to the land needed for I-5 comparable growth.



Erik H. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LES Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Seatac (currently spilling over onto Paine) and
> VIA are bursting at the seems and need
> > their precious space for international travel.
>
> Except very, very little of Sea-Tac's capacity is
> used for flights to/from Vancouver, Portland and
> Eugene. And even of those flights, the vast
> majority of them are flown using sub-100 seat
> turboprop aircraft, whereas most HSR systems in
> the world replaced airline shuttles using mainline
> (130-200 seat) aircraft - or in the case of Japan,
> domestic configured 747s with over 500 seats per
> aircraft. If Sea-Tac is really out of room, it
> could easily be accommodated by forcing Alaska to
> fly fewer, but larger, aircraft instead of its
> Horizon Q400s.
>
> > Widening I-5 is becoming more and more onerous.
> Just look at what it has taken to get a
> > single 100 year old bridge (CRC) replaced
>
> Except HSR will have absolutely zero impact there,
> since HSR and I-5 serve two very different
> purposes. So even with HSR, I-5 is still going to
> be clogged and congested, because HSR won't serve
> >99% of the trips that I-5 supports. HSR replaces
> short-distance air travel, NOT freeways.
> (Otherwise, why is Germany still building and
> expanding its Autobahns?)
>
> > with land restrictions and the Northwest's
> propensity for regular flooding I don't see
> > them adding much more in lane capacity to I-5
>
> Those factors also work heavily against HSR. Any
> HSR route, which must be relatively
> straight/flat/level, will have tremendous
> environmental impacts on protected wetlands and
> coastlands, tidal flats, rivers, and not to
> mention the 100 or so miles of metropolis between
> Tumwater and Marysville and the tens of thousands
> of homes that would have to be destroyed while
> within a housing crisis. The proponents of HSR
> think that we can just build homes in Centralia
> and Kelso to replace the lost stock, but isn't
> that just creating urban sprawl and destroying
> even more protected land and farmland?
>
> The biggest bang for the buck is going to be more
> local transit to get local trips out of the car.
> That means more bus service - busways/bus lanes,
> larger (articulated buses) and more frequent.
> Once we've accomplished that, then move to light
> rail and commuter/regional rail for the longer
> trips - WHILE MAINTAINING a high level and quality
> of bus service.
>
> Building HSR is only going to convince people that
> local trips are going to be by car, and I-5 is
> still going to have to be widened to accommodate
> those trips to work and to the grocery store that
> HSR will never serve.