Local residents celebrated Sound Transit’s East Link light rail extension across Lake Washington when it opened earlier this year. Since then, the mood has shifted as the long-awaited Ballard line has been put on hold amid significant budgetary constraints.
On May 27th, Sound Transit’s governing board voted 14-4 to scale back the Sodo-to-Ballard line to a Sodo-to-Seattle Center line. The decision to stop short of Ballard has frustrated residents who were promised a Ballard station by 2035. When voters approved the ST3 measure in 2016, the centerpiece of the proposal was a mostly tunneled route from Sodo through downtown to Ballard. The new changes mark the fourth time routes have been postponed due to higher-than-expected costs. Ahead of the vote, Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss proposed a last-minute amendment to build a Westlake-to-Ballard segment first, which the board rejected.
Rather than cancel the delayed expansion outright, Sound Transit is proceeding with design work while deferring construction. In Ballard, $300 million has been set aside for design in the hope that building will eventually become financially viable.
Other light rail lines are moving ahead. Lines from Federal Way to Tacoma, Lynnwood to Everett, and South Kirkland to Issaquah remain on the board’s affordable list. A Sodo-to-West Seattle line also made the cut over the Ballard extension, despite projections that it would serve only 25,000 daily riders. By comparison, the full Ballard line was projected to service 135,000 daily passengers. The West Seattle project is moving forward because it already has a federally approved environmental impact statement, holds legal authority to condemn land, and is further along in development.
In addition to new light rail lines, other transportation programs are also moving forward. The Graham Street infill station in South Seattle, which had been facing elimination this spring, was fully funded. The streetcar extension to Tacoma Community College will continue, and Renton’s freeway parking garage near I-405 will receive $100 million in future funding. Freeway buses connecting Burien, Lynnwood, Renton, and Bellevue are expected to launch before 2030.
Under current projections, heavy light rail construction is expected to begin in West Seattle in 2028, with Federal Way-to-Tacoma work starting in 2030 and Lynnwood-to-Everett following in 2031. Those timelines should be considered optimistic, as none of these lines have full engineering completed, construction contracts in place, or federal grants secured.
This post was based on information found on The Seattle Times.
Photo courtesy of The Seattle Times.
