Post navigation

Prev: (08/05/21) | Next: (08/06/21)

Sound Transit ‘realignment plan’ adjusts schedules for new Seattle light rail: West Seattle in 2032, Ballard in 2039

Faced with a $6.5 billion shortfall from pandemic-shrunk tax and bond forecasts, the Sound Transit Board Thursday approved a “realignment plan” that will delay many of its transit projects for years while preserving a handful of new lines and stations.

The math will work out as major delays for the two biggest Seattle projects with light rail’s extension to Ballard now pushed back to 2039 from the 2035 goal while the line to West Seattle delayed by two years to 2032.

“The steep rise in real estate and construction costs in the region in combination with advancing environmental review and project designs have driven up cost estimates for future transit expansions, contributing to a $6.5 billion affordability gap for delivering projects on earlier schedules,” the board’s statement on the vote reads. “While projects already in construction are not affected, the adopted realignment plan will guide the delivery dates for the next generation of voter-approved projects.”

The plan will keep a handful of projects on track. The NE 130th light rail station is expected to be completed by 2025, and Rainier Valley’s Graham St station and a Boeing Access Road station are planned to open in 2031.

Meanwhile, other projects nearing completion continue including the Northgate Link light rail expansion that will open up the north of the city including the University District, Roosevelt, and Northgate when it opens in October.

Judkins Park Station— and its Hendrix inspired design —  is slated to open in 2023 along with the rest of the 10-stop, voter initiative-funded East Link light rail line that will dramatically expand Sound Transit rail service in the region. The Central District station, tucked into I-90 between Rainier Ave and 23rd Ave, will be the first stop on the line that will connect Bellevue, Redmond, and Seattle across the I-90 bridge.

In 2016, voters across the region approved the Sound Transit 3 package to dramatically expand light rail in the region. The then $53.8 billion package was planned to extend light rail lines to Redmond by 2024, Ballard by 2035, and West Seattle by 2030, with extensions into Everett and Tacoma will come in the following years. The expanded system will eventually require a second downtown tunnel.

 

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

 
Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

1 Comment
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Sounder Bruce
Sounder Bruce
2 years ago

Too bad this story doesn’t mention HOW “the math will work out.” The board decided to spend $131 billion during the construction period, not the $54 billion voters approved. Here’s the exhibit adopted yesterday with the new costs figure: https://soundtransit.org/st_sharepoint/download/sites/PRDA/ActiveDocuments/Substitute%20Resolution%20R2021-05%20Exhibit%20C.pdf