Originally the Sound Transit board was expected to vote today on a realignment plan, to deal with a multi-billion-dollar “affordability gap.” The board’s been talking about it for many months, but some said they wanted to hold off on making big changes because the affordability gap keeps shrinking as the revenue/funding outlook improves. One of the board members in that camp, King County Council chair Claudia Balducci, had been advocating for focusing on cost savings rather than schedule delays to close the gap; ST board chair Kent Keel had proposed a plan focused on the latter. At today’s meeting (here’s the video), a “hybrid” plan incorporating elements of both (highlights above or here; draft resolution here) was presented. Like Keel’s plan, it would push back West Seattle light rail one more year, to 2032, but the plan includes provisions for relatively frequent re-evaluation of schedules and costs system-wide. The board “is on the verge of a solution,” Keel declared at today’s meeting. The vote is now scheduled for a special meeting on August 5th – no time set yet. Got an opinion? emailtheboard@soundtransit.org is where to send it.
West Seattle, Washington
17 Saturday
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