4:18 PM: Though Sound Transit had announced the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the West Seattle and Ballard extensions would go public on January 28th – it’s out now. Its many chapters are linked here. We found it on the ST website after a tip that it was out, and have barely begun looking at it, but wanted to let you know, for starters. If you need a refresher, here’s what this phase of the process is all about – including public comments.
(Rendering of potential guideway near Delridge station’s Dakota Street option)
4:58 PM: If you want to skip ahead to the visuals, go to this section, the Visual and Aesthetics Technical Report. Renderings for the options start on page 106. If you haven’t been paying much attention until now, note that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement does not propose any new routing or stations – it just analyzes the potential impacts of all the ones the board agreed a few years back should be studied.
6:54 PM: The overview is, as you might guess, in the Executive Summary. This includes tables listing the major impacts of each option, including how many residences and businesses would potentially be displaced. For example, along the Delridge alternatives, the Dakota Street North Lower alternative is projected to displace the most residences, almost 200. Of the Junction alternatives, the Fauntleroy Way station alternative is projected to displace the most residences, 435. The 41st/42nd elevated Junction alternative would also take out both the Trader Joe’s and Safeway stores, ST projects.
One more note – though the DEIS is out early, the official public-comment period still doesn’t start until January 28th, ST spokesperson Rachelle Cunningham tells WSB. She says the early release was mandated as part of the process to get a notice published in the Federal Register.
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