A gondola over downtown Seattle? It could happen

SEATTLE — A local architect and an engineer want to build a gondola from Capitol Hill to the Olympic Sculpture Park to help avoid clogged traffic on Seattle streets.

The Seattle Times reported the gondola would be an alternative to Metro Transit’s route 8 bus, which commuters often ride in jammed traffic on Denny Way.

Another idea is a gondola that runs from the Convention Center to the central waterfront that’s now home to the Seattle Great Wheel.

That route would help people avoid seawall construction.

The man behind the idea for that route is Great Wheel owner Hal Griffith, who said he may be willing to pay for it.

However, there is no funding for the route from Capitol Hill to the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Currently, Portland has a gondola that takes riders two-thirds of a mile from the Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital to the new south waterfront area.

KIRO