Ten years after Seattle-area voters agreed to fund light rail, the first trains appeared in public this week.
The train cars are supposed to begin running in 2009 on a 16-mile line from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac airport. Further extensions of the system aren't scheduled to go into service until at least 2016.
Also on Seattle's long list of transit projects is a network of streetcars. Need an example? Paris inaugurated a streetcar line this week, beginning service amid the protest over its cost. Several French cities have larger streetcar systems.