CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Blue Line (SacRT)

light rail transit line in the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) light rail system

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ4929369
Source-derived summary

The Blue Line is a light rail line in the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) system. It runs primarily north–south in Sacramento between Watt/I-80 and Cosumnes River College. Along the route, the Blue Line serves North Highlands, North Sacramento, Downtown and South Sacramento. Portions of the Blue Line run along the original initial alignment between Watt/I-80 and 16th Street stations.

Line description

The Blue Line begins at its northern terminus, the Watt/I-80 station. From there it initially travels southwest in the median of I-80, utilizing a bridge from an abandoned freeway project, then parallels Roseville Road before turning westward paralleling Arden Way in North Sacramento. (It passes up the Siemens plant nearby.) Then the line turns southwest again running in the median of Del Paso Boulevard, merges into a single track crossing the 12th Street viaduct (Highway 160) over the American River. Reaching downtown, the Blue Line goes back to two tracks going south on 12th, turns west on K Street, and splits into one-way tracks for 7th and 8th Streets where it joins the Gold and Green Lines. It then turns westward on O Street, southward on 12th, then eastward in an alley paralleling Q and R Streets. After passing the 16th Street station, the Blue Line splits from the Gold Line (the Green Line terminates at 13th Street station), crossing under the Bee Bridge before going south in its own right-of-way into South Sacramento.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Blue Line (SacRT)” as light rail transit line in the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) light rail system. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Blue, Line and SacRT.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current 236-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1987. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Blue, Line and SacRT providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Blue Line (SacRT)”, the useful work is to connect “light rail transit line in the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) light rail system” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4929369. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Blue Line (SacRT)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Blue Line (SacRT) primary sources, Blue Line (SacRT) archive and Blue research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Blue Line (SacRT)”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Blue Line (SacRT)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.