After more than a year of talking about “realignment” to deal with an “affordability gap,” the Sound Transit Board is scheduled to take action this Thursday afternoon. When we first wrote about the concept in June of last year, ST staff warned that they could be as much as $12 billion short on what was needed through the ST3 plan’s scheduled end in 2041. More recently, the projection has been almost halved, down to $6.5 billion; as a result, some board members have objected to settling on either big delays or big cuts that might not be needed. What they eventually landed on, as we reported last month, is what they’re calling a “flexible framework” that could be revisited every year. To the point of peninsula interest, that realignment proposal would push West Seattle light rail to 2032 (it was originally planned for 2030 but pandemic-delayed to 2031).
The resolution they’ll be considering can be read here; various proposed amendments are here. The 1 pm Thursday (August 5th) online meeting includes a public-comment period. The agenda includes information on how to participate in that, and/or how to comment in advance, as well as how to watch/listen.
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