Not every executive order these days is terrible. Mayor Bruce Harrell has issued an executive order “Supporting and Expediting Sound Transit 3 Investments in the City of Seattle” hoped to help speed construction of new light rail connections to Ballard and West Seattle.

Harrell, fresh off the annual “state of the city” address in which he put forward a raft of urbanist and growth initiatives to join his continued messages around addressing public safety and downtown business concerns as he seeks reelection, said his office “will lead the development of and transmit to the City Council legislation to streamline the permit process for this major project,” saying the city will consider “land use code changes, formal adoption of ST3 projects, and supportive property transactions” to “speed up light rail delivery” of the highly anticipated new connections.

Let’s check in with the locals.

“It still is short on actual details of what kind of zoning changes will be proposed, among other things, saying only ‘In 2025 and 2026, my administration will develop several bodies of legislation, including land use code amendments, formal adoption of the ST3 projects, and necessary real property transactions to allow the projects to proceed as quickly as possible,'” the West Seattle Blog reports, adding that the order “also says that while there’s currently a team with 20 full-time city employees focused on ST3 (the ballot measure that included the West Seattle/Ballard extensions), that will be multiplied.”

My Ballard focuses on the money. “To keep the project on track, the City is allocating $5.2 million in 2025 and $6.8 million in 2026 to hire up to 50 additional staff members to focus on design, permitting, construction, and station planning,” My Ballard reports. “The expanded office will also create a four-year plan to ensure safe, accessible stations with thoughtful design, improved access routes, safety measures, and equitable development around transit hubs.”

The current timeline calls for the nearly 8 mile light rail extension to Ballard to open by 2039. My Ballard says it will include nine new stations, in addition the needed second downtown transit tunnel, and a Salmon Bay crossing.

The West Seattle link will be half as long and is currently planned to be fully delivered by 2032. It is projected to cost between $6.7 and $7.1 billion.

The Ballard extension? It is forecasted to cost more than $11 billion.

Both extensions were part of the $53.8 billion Sound Transit 3 tax package approved by voters in 2016.

Meanwhile, testing efforts — and frequent service disruptions — continue as Sound Transit prepares to open Judkins Park Station and the complete 2 Line light rail system connecting Seattle and the Eastside via I-90 by “late” 2025.

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