WEST SEATTLE LIGHT RAIL: First day of 3-month comment period for Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Here’s how to have your say

(Rendering from DEIS Executive Summary, looking east on SW Genesee, east of Avalon)

What route will West Seattle’s future Sound Transit light-rail line travel, and where will its stations be? Data to shape those decisions is what you’ll find in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the West Seattle and Ballard light-rail extensions. The DEIS has been public since last week – all the documents are linked here, starting with the executive summary – but the official 3-month comment period didn’t start until today. First, from today’s announcement, here’s what ST is offering so you can learn more and tell them what you think:

Members of the public are invited to attend an online open house at wsblink.participate.online, where they can review alternatives and station options, and submit formal responses. People can also provide feedback by phone, by mail, by email, or at upcoming virtual, and possible in-person, public meetings.

Virtual public meetings will take place on the following dates and times:

Tuesday, March 15, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. (Interbay/Ballard focused)
Tuesday, March 22, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. (Downtown focused)
Thursday, March 24, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. (CID/SODO focused)
Wednesday, March 30, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. (West Seattle focused)

If public health guidance permits, an in-person open house is scheduled for Thursday, March 17 at Union Station from 12 – 7 p.m. This event may transition to virtual in accordance with public health recommendations. More information on attending the public meetings is available by visiting the online open house site.

Comments may be sent via email to WSBLEDEIScomments@soundtransit.org or by voicemail at 800-471-0879.

Written comments can be mailed to:

WSBLE Draft Environmental Impact Statement Comments
c/o Lauren Swift
Sound Transit
401 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98104

The Draft EIS is available for review at the online open house. Printed copies are available for review at Union Station, and at select Seattle public libraries and community centers. A list of locations is available on the open house site.

In West Seattle, all four Seattle Public Library branches are on that list, as is Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW). In addition to the ST events mentioned above, the West Seattle Transportation Coalition also plans to host a workshop about the DEIS during its March 24th meeting. The commenting deadline is April 28th; after that, the ST Board will decide what should be in the final EIS, and then after that’s out next year, board members make the final decision on routing and station locations. West Seattle light rail is currently scheduled to launch in 2032, two years later than the date projected when voters approved the ST3 ballot measure more than five years ago.

P.S. ST will be making other community appearances over the course of the comment period; we just got word that one of the first will be at the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly online lunchtime event, noon February 10th, membership not required, and while a donation is requested from attendees, it’s not required either. Both members and nonmembers can register here to attend. And two days before that – at 5 pm February 8th – the Community Advisory Group for West Seattle will have its next meeting; watch here for attendance info.

32 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE LIGHT RAIL: First day of 3-month comment period for Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Here's how to have your say"

  • flicker January 28, 2022 (6:04 pm)

    Northern Flickers numbers have decreased by almost 1.5% per year between 1966 and 2012, resulting in a cumulative decline of 49% in recent decades.

    Just thinking about how sad it would be to see the last northern flicker.

    And how all of our human industry and developments have environmental consequences and serious impacts for wildlife.

    I wonder what rapid transit options on the table would be least impactful to animals like the flicker.

    • Derek January 28, 2022 (7:32 pm)

      Think that’s bad…think what cars do to animals. And gasoline to the earth… 

    • Ron Swanson January 29, 2022 (1:00 pm)

      If saving bird populations is your goal, you’d be better off lobbying for more funding for trapping and neutering feral cats then worrying about which alternative transit routes have the most impact…

  • Derek January 28, 2022 (7:21 pm)

    Concrete can’t be the way. I don’t like it for cars and I don’t like it for trains. Just too much to fail. Need tunnel at all costs. 

    • Jethro Marx January 28, 2022 (8:25 pm)

      Why would concrete structures above ground be more prone to failure than other structures underground? 

      • Rick January 29, 2022 (11:16 am)

        Because Derek says so.

    • My two cents January 28, 2022 (8:25 pm)

      Derek – tunnels are made out of concrete too.

    • bill January 28, 2022 (9:15 pm)

      Do you not know the tube surrounding a tunnel, that holds back the earth and water, is concrete?

    • Kram January 29, 2022 (11:34 am)

      Hahaha, I’m very curious what you propose this tunnel is made out of if not steel and concrete. Is there a source you can point us too which indicates structures below ground are more or less safe than structures above ground?A tunnel will use many more resources, cost many times more and take many times longer. We have actual real data about this using the viaduct as an example. 

  • Ray January 28, 2022 (7:57 pm)

    At least you’ll have a view as you ride the train.

  • DJ Allyn January 29, 2022 (7:45 am)

    How many of us will be long gone or dead by the time light rail comes to West Seattle?  Ten years is a LONG time when you consider that projects like these often lose steam over time.  I mean, we are already seeing additional delays and second thoughts going on here.  Who knows where we will all be at with this thing in ten years?Instead of the route we’ve taken so far on all of this, we SHOULD be looking towards grabbing some of the federal ‘infrastructure’ funds to make this happen NOW, instead of the current tax-and-delay scheme we’ve done up until now.When we first started this odyssey, there was no federal money available nor was their a political appetite in the other Washington to  fund any infrastructure projects.  Now there is one in place and we need to stake claim to some of that money to build our light rail project NOW. 

  • Pessoa January 29, 2022 (9:19 am)

    An absurd, expensive monstrosity. If the last several years have confirmed anything about my fellow Homo Sapiens, it is that they are not rational creatures. 

  • wetone January 29, 2022 (10:29 am)

    Looking at that rendering it should be a fun ride when the big one or even a medium one comes……(earthquake). As already mentioned it’s something I will never have to deal with other than paying for as I will long gone before it’s (if) ever built. I really doubt there will be funds for this run as ST is so poorly run and has trouble keeping up what they have running today. No different than the way SDOT does business. Lots of promises and spending of funds with design/planning and consulting, then poof no money left for actual building….

    • Bill January 30, 2022 (11:27 am)

      So very true

    • WS Res January 30, 2022 (12:36 pm)

      Much of BART in the SF Bay Area runs on elevated tracks in the East Bay. I lived there for 13 years. If built to current standards, elevated tracks are fine unless the earthquake is so severe it’s essentially unsurvivable.

  • Andy January 29, 2022 (11:04 am)

    If anything gets build it would be great to have as much as possible in a tunnel.  I can’t imagine having a tressel above California – put it underground.  It seems like it might be less disrruptive to business and people in general during  the construction process if is was a tunnel. 

  • Ron Swanson January 29, 2022 (1:26 pm)

    I’d encourage everybody to comment.  The key slide for West Seattle is below.  You’ll note that the “Medium Tunnel 41st/Andover Lower Height” alternative (a) is the second-cheapest option and only about 10% more expensive than a meh elevated Fauntleroy station that requires a long walk to the Junction;  and (b) displaces the fewest residences of all of them.  Some have said this option’s Delridge station isn’t in as good a location; I disagree.  The bulk of that station’s ridership is always going to be bus transfers.  Add a short overpass connecting Avalon to Andover along the south side of steel mill underneath the new tracks and the H line could run from Admiral/Alki to Delridge without having to pass through the five-way quagmire and get people right to the station entrance.  

    • bolo January 29, 2022 (6:55 pm)

      That is an interesting table.
      If we are trying to minimize the impact on residential housing then tunnels seem best for that.
      Seems to be important to a lot of folks these days.
      Sure are a lot of competing concerns.

    • JAG January 30, 2022 (5:05 pm)

      Yes! Ron I agree with you 100%. Let’s make this line happen! 

  • justind January 29, 2022 (2:30 pm)

    When the line is extended south to white center, we’re all going to wish we had tried much harder to get a tunnel now. In my opinion, it’s tunnel or bust. 

    • bolo January 29, 2022 (6:57 pm)

      I’m not following your reasoning?

      • justind January 31, 2022 (12:28 pm)

        A raised track is like a highway— it creates a schism wherever it goes. I experienced this living near the dc/Maryland border. The raised track there may as well have been an impassable wall, and it split one neighborhood into two. I feel like Seattle basically learned this lesson with the viaduct as that raised highway basically cut the city off from the waterfront. A raised track in west seattle will break up whichever neighborhoods it travels through. This may not seem like a big deal now (except to the people living in the current path) because the stated plan for the light rail is to stop in west seattle. But there will be further expansion south. It’s easy to find mock-ups of an extended map already. And as the rail goes south, if it is above ground, it will break up more and more neighborhoods. 

  • Chris Barnes January 29, 2022 (9:10 pm)

         I think I’d prefer to ride the bus than this boondoggle.  We already have a giant concrete arch bridge that is failing.  This is nutty in every way.  After all this time and meetings this is the result?  Any kid could have thought of this straight off.  Back to the drawing board and include a tunnel for crying out loud.

  • Pessoa January 29, 2022 (9:17 pm)

    Like most light rail, here or elsewhere, this colossal waste of money will attract only a small contingent of riders who live close to stations.  It will not expand ridership, as most riders will simply be siphoned off existing bus transit.  And proven, flexible bus transit?  Most likely some bus lines will be terminated with the rationale – excuse – that they are redundant, even though they may actually offer more service and accessibility, e.g. more frequent stops.  These arguments have made over and over, but the romantic notion of a riding a train always overwhelms any sense of practicality and reason.  Take a trip on Amtrak from time to time if you need to fulfill your train fantasies. 

    • James January 31, 2022 (9:04 am)

      “train fantasies” …. if you want a car fantasy, why don’t you burn the ozone of another planet to fulfill it. We want lightrail, you’re in the minority. Sorry.

  • AF2443 January 30, 2022 (5:27 pm)

    Since cash strapped Sound Transit can make changes to ST3, why not think outside the box and vet the gondola proposal?  It would be a convenient, reliable way to get to the main light rail line (including the new Eastlink one) sooner than next decade.  It would also be more sustainable to build and operate and take cars off the road years earlier.  Plus it could save a lot of  money that could be used to build out other parts of the light rail network (including maybe a line to the southern area of the Peninsula?)   

    • James January 31, 2022 (9:03 am)

      Because that is the single most awful idea there is. Sorry, but a gondola, with our Puget Sound winds. And the efficiency being nil. And how much of a FAILURE the Portland one is. NO. No to that. We voted for train. We want train. 

  • James January 31, 2022 (9:10 am)

    I am pro-Tunnel too. 

  • Taylor January 31, 2022 (11:03 am)

    Anyone else own a home on the proposed routes? In 4 out of the 6, the link high rise would cut right in front of our home. I’m all for public transportation, but I’m wondering what our next steps are. I imagine selling a home with a giant light rail going past the front window will be difficult. 

    • James January 31, 2022 (1:57 pm)

      If you’re in the route, the city will buy from you at assessed value. You won’t get to sell in an inflated market though like most get to.  Some people are going to call you a NIMBY.  Comment that you are pro-tunnel to that link above.

  • Fan of Alt 6 February 1, 2022 (12:34 pm)

    For fans of alternate 6- Andover line with Tunnel This is from 6-11 of the EIS-Potential displacements. 6 would displace a
    behavioral
    health facility
    with
    supportive
    housing and
    assisted
    living, which
    also provides
    services to
    nonresidents
    who live in the area.This facility was just built. They started it after this was a potential design.  This agency knowingly took the risk that this could be in the way of the Delridge station or  maybe they were told by ST it was never going to choose this option.  I do not believe It is the same as displacing WS Dept of Family Children and Youth Services that has been in the neighborhood for over a decade or longer that options 1-4 displace.  Or a playground and all the noise pollution it will bring. Option 6 may displace a couple more businesses than the preferred but less employees.  The only other negative is Option 6 holds 5600 passengers a day and the “Preferred” 5800. I would like to see ST prove we will need those 200 passengers a day that option 6 would loose.  In every other category option 6 is by far the better option. Not sure why they can even call it “PREFERRED”. Seems obvious that it is not.

  • admiral admirable February 2, 2022 (8:21 pm)

    What does everyone think about the insistence on having three stations? Any of the proposed Junction and Avalon stations will be only a few blocks apart. Not only does this cost twice as much as having one station, it also slows transit times and increases neighborhood disruptions and demolitions. I am well aware of ST’s argument that the ballot measure mentioned three stations – but the ballot measure also explicitly provided an estimated, advisory route with details TBD. We could easily afford the tunnel by removing the Avalon station. No other section of Light Rail has such close stations. Even in Downtown they’re further apart. 

Sorry, comment time is over.