WEST SEATTLE LIGHT RAIL: Sound Transit Board members vote to spend more on early-stage work, despite nervousness about project pricetag

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Back when the Sound Transit Board first learned the price tag for West Seattle light rail could pass $7 billion – the original combined estimate for the West Seattle and Ballard extensions – some showed signs of nervousness.

A new round of nerves has erupted this month, continuing into today’s full-board meeting.

First hint came at the System Expansion Committee considered proposals earlier this month to spend tens of millions more on early-stage work for the West Seattle and Ballard extensions. The committee sent the proposals to the full board without a recommendation to pass (or not). One of the city of Seattle’s two current board reps, City Councilmember Dan Strauss, warned his council colleagues at their weekly “briefing” meeting that “tensions” were showing on the ST board, particularly regarding the West Seattle costs.

Despite those tensions, the proposals to spend $68 million more – 90 percent of that for the West Seattle project, which is projected for completion seven years before Ballard – were unanimously approved today by the 16 board members at the meeting. (The full slide deck with the proposals’ toplines are in this slide deck; the individual resolutions are linked from the meeting page.) But that was only after a discussion in which those “tensions” were definitely on display. “A lot of us are nervous,” said board member Kristina Walker, a Tacoma City Councilmember.

First, the proposals were presented by an ST team led by Brad Owen, who’s currently in charge of the West Seattle project. “This is needed work,” he contended, to get to the heart of the cost-saving measures that staff has contended they could deploy to shrink the cost and shorten the timeline of the projects approved by voters back in 2016. In essence, the contention was that they’d have to spend money to figure out how to save money. And the contention is that what they learn about cutting costs for the West Seattle project will make it “a vanguard” for savings that can be applied across the entire ST3 plan.

Some board members said that’s the main reason they’d vote to authorize the spending. Board member Christine Frizzell, Mayor of Lynnwood, wondered: Since there had already been previous conversations about “exit ramps” if they decided West Seattle (or any other) project was just too expensive, could this possibly be a case of throwing good money after bad – forcing them eventually to say, they’d spent so much, there was no choice but to plow forward? Other board members’ concerns included the possibility that so much would be sunk into this, it would affect the rest of the ST3 project list and timeline. (With today’s vote, as the slide above shows, they’ve now authorized spending a third of a billion on the West Seattle extension.) Another board member, Fife Mayor Kim Roscoe, was assured by staff that this work also would show them what “pieces” of projects would be possible, if they couldn’t afford to build what was originally proposed.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: New cost estimates are scheduled to be brought to the board this fall, and then they’d decide whether to spend more money – or not.

EARLIER IN THE MEETING: West Seattleite Marilyn Kennell, who’s involved with the light-rail-skeptic Rethink the Link group, repeated a request the group has made, for a new community meeting with ST reps to listen to the information they proposed at their own forum in January (WSB coverage here). Board member Frizzell later said she’d be interested in “meeting with the people from West Seattle.”

90 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE LIGHT RAIL: Sound Transit Board members vote to spend more on early-stage work, despite nervousness about project pricetag"

  • Ron April 24, 2025 (7:26 pm)

    Sound Transit board are some of the most corrupt people in the state. Over 7 billion dollars for a useless piece of junk that only goes to SODO. WS will regret this decision.

    • YIMBY April 25, 2025 (8:14 am)

      The WS line will ultimately go through downtown and to Everett. But I’m guessing you know that and left the information out in order to rage bait those who don’t know.

      • Burgerman April 26, 2025 (12:09 am)

        YIMBY – Huzzah, and well-deserved back-slaps for you!

      • RossB April 30, 2025 (3:22 pm)

        Misleading but not inaccurate. For 7 billion dollars Link from West Seattle to SoDo. For several more billion they will build a second downtown tunnel. Then the existing riders from Rainier Valley and SeaTac will be sent on the new tunnel (towards Ballard) while West Seattle riders will finally get to ride the train from the three stations in West Seattle to downtown (or places north). The second project isn’t slated to be complete until 2039 and it too will cost a massive amount of money. If they can’t build that second project (i. e. if it costs too much money) then West Seattle will just have to live with the line to SoDo.

        • LeoS May 2, 2025 (7:04 am)

          There’s nothing misleading. Line 3 will eventually terminate north. You just added complementary FUD.

    • Rob April 29, 2025 (8:35 pm)

      Pretty sure from sodo you can get to the airport, and lynnwood, and Bellevue, and Redmond

      • RossB April 30, 2025 (3:26 pm)

        From SoDo you will be able to transfer to the airport. But until they build Ballard Link (and extend West Seattle Link into downtown) then to get downtown or to Lynnwood would require another transfer. To get to Bellevue or Redmond would require yet another transfer. From West Seattle it is a two step project:1) West Seattle to SoDo — Scheduled for 20322) West Seattle to Lynnwood — Scheduled for 2039The second project is likely to be delayed further. It may eventually be cancelled (if things prove to be too costly and they can’t raise enough money).

        • LeoS May 2, 2025 (7:09 am)

          and? All transit systems around the world have transfers and that’s far more efficient for riders and cities than building a point to point network from anywhere to everywhere. So you’re literally making a storm in a cup. What matters is not that there is a transfer, but that the frequency is high and transfer convenient. That’s why the rail networks of Japan, Taiwan, Paris, and London are the world’s model of excellence: easy transfers to anywhere.

  • RR April 24, 2025 (8:25 pm)

    The ST Board needs DOGE to stop in for a little chat. 

    • Walkerws April 26, 2025 (10:03 am)

      This is a treasonous statement. Why do you hate America?

  • Seth April 24, 2025 (9:15 pm)

    Don’t let the naysayers who love to comment on the blog detour you. People want this built and the sooner the better 

    • Rhonda April 24, 2025 (11:32 pm)

      Just as many people don’t want it built.

      • Tony April 25, 2025 (6:27 am)

        ST3 passed by 54% across the multiple counties that voted on it, and by over 70% in Seattle, so you are wrong Ronda. 

        • RossB April 30, 2025 (3:35 pm)

          But the voters weren’t given any options. It was simply build this or nothing. Thus it is quite likely that a lot of people would have preferred something different but they held their nose and built this. Or they didn’t read the plans in detail and simply wanted to support transit. They didn’t want to support the anti-tax Tim Eyman.It is worth noting that support for ST3 in Seattle was smaller than support for Metro funding. Thus it is quite likely that people would prefer the money go into buses (especially in areas extremely well suited for buses like West Seattle). The vast majority of riders who will use West Seattle Link will be forced to transfer. It is quite likely it will take longer to get downtown (or most anywhere else) because of the additional transfer. It is certainly likely that a bus-based alternative (with ramps connecting the Spokane Street viaduct with the SoDo busway) would save them quite a bit of time and be more useful than what they are building. Shifting money from this massively expensive project would also allow us to spend quite a bit of money running the buses a lot more often. 

      • k April 25, 2025 (7:18 am)

        There is literally data to the contrary, because we voted on it.

      • Build it! April 25, 2025 (7:21 am)

        Rhonda, that’s not true. The people voted for it to built. If you were in the majority you would have won the vote. 

        • Alki resident April 25, 2025 (9:30 am)

          You mean like the tabs we voted on? Or the gas we voted on? 

          • Derek April 26, 2025 (8:35 pm)

            Alki Resident, yes, like that. Votes show support in terms of numbers. Thanks for playing. Sorry tab vote was deemed unconstitutional. 

        • Fitness Dude April 25, 2025 (8:13 pm)

          Build it!, if there were a vote today to extend to West Seattle it would fail. People in all three voting/paying counties have seen the fudged numbers, corruption, and lies from the Sound Transit Board for over a decade now. 

      • Jake April 25, 2025 (9:16 am)

        Rhonda, do you have numbers on this? Because according to the data, this is outright false.  

      • Jort April 25, 2025 (12:25 pm)

        You have zero evidence to support this claim; indeed, there is ample evidence to disprove you. Comment sections are not representative of the public. 

    • Wssea14633 April 25, 2025 (4:53 am)

      Agreed seth!

  • Ronald Foust April 24, 2025 (9:20 pm)

    Nobody needs DOGE.

  • Sanity Check April 24, 2025 (9:35 pm)

    @ 27,000 residents in W Seattle.  $7 billion equates to @ $250,000 per person- that’s $1 million for a family of four.  I think we need a vote for West Seattle as to whether we would rather have $1 million in our pocket or light rail to our fair peninsula.

    • WSB April 24, 2025 (9:56 pm)

      Still a ton of money, but please note, West Seattle has 100,000 residents, not 27,000.

      • Sanity Check April 24, 2025 (10:04 pm)

        Thanks for the fact check.  I guess I had old data.  I’ll settle for $250k not to ride the light rail :)

        • Kyle April 24, 2025 (10:22 pm)

          I don’t think you understand how the funding for ST works. This is actually a huge win for West Seattle. You will not see a dime returned if we don’t build light rail here. It will just be spent to expand elsewhere within the ST tax area. This is actually a great win for increasing transportation options for, what you conclude, is relatively small number of current residents in West Seattle.

        • Cash April 25, 2025 (12:25 am)

          wow when you break it down like that it shows what a waste of money this truly is.  your first math is more accurate because not everyone will ride it.

          • Math April 25, 2025 (7:24 am)

            There are 4.1 million people in the three counties who are funding this line.  That breaks down to $1700 per person paying for it.  I pay more than that in a single year for insurance alone, never mind the cost of gas, maintenance, and the car itself.  

          • Jake April 25, 2025 (9:40 am)

            Cash, “Sanity Check” is grossly wrong in his math. It is closer to “Math” poster who explained that it’s three counties of people paying for it, not West Seattle. If we don’t build it here, we lose it and money still gets taxed from us. 

          • Matt P April 26, 2025 (11:53 am)

            You guys have a funny definition of losing it. The money doesn’t disappear into the ether; it can be used on other things. This notion that if we don’t get the money here, then we lost is a terrible mindset to have.When you break down the costs per person, 7 billion to connect 100k people by train is a huge waste of money that can be spent elsewhere. Better buses and improvements elsewhere in the Sound area would go much further to help everyone than a train that will have relatively low ridership. Plus you have to admit that $7 billion is a truly outrageous number considering what other countries build for.

    • Common Sense April 24, 2025 (10:19 pm)

      weird, I didn’t read anything about this part of the light rail needing a residency check to use I guess I must be misunderstanding the “public” in “public transportation”

    • RossB April 30, 2025 (3:41 pm)

      It is not 27,000 residents. It is 27,000 users a day. That is the estimate for West Seattle Link ridership when it is connected to the main line. The riders will come from all over. Many will come on existing buses that they wish would continue to Downtown Seattle. Before the train is connected to the main line and they truncate the buses ST expects less than 6,000 riders. My guess is that is how many riders they would get if they just kept the bus system as is. Ridership estimates are highly dependent on forcing people to transfer.

  • Derek April 24, 2025 (10:09 pm)

    Bus labor shortage and canceled routes already a problem, and now you naysayers want to make that worse by taking away a train in a dense city? No. We want lightrail! Enough posturing, build it sooner! That’s the easiest way to keep costs down, stop DELAYING with nonsense NIMBY meetings.

    • Sanity Check April 24, 2025 (10:40 pm)

      I’m not advocating taking it away.  I’m saying I don’t think it is worth $125k for me, but those who do think that is a good value should by all means buy a $125 k lifetime membership.  I would recommend understanding the annual train rider dues, though, before purchasing a membership.

      • Bit April 25, 2025 (8:43 am)

        Your math is deeply misleading for framing thes as if it’s a disposable single use item, not a piece of infrastructure that could serve the growing population of the peninsula for a century. 

        • HappyCamper April 25, 2025 (6:01 pm)

          And paid for in today’s dollars. The longer it stays in service the better the ROI.

      • reed April 25, 2025 (1:39 pm)

        Comments like this is why we need more funding for education in our country. Holly smokes!

    • Tom Terrific April 30, 2025 (3:08 pm)

      But it’s not “dense”.  That’s what makes WSLE a bad value.  That, and the fact that it has to go way up to pass over the Duwamish Waterway on a high bridge, then dive down to nearly sea level for the Delridge station and then climb back up to bridge height again to serve the heart of West Seattle.  That’s a lot of expensive structure for the likely ridership.  

      Further, it makes transit more “fiddly” for lots of people.  Since the Alaska Junction district powers than be are insisting on an expensive deep tunneled station, folks who today get a one-seat ride to downtown Seattle on the C, 21 or H will initially have a three-seat ride there and the folks on the C will also have a sixty-foot vertical journey to or from the platform. 

      Yes, if DSTT2 is ever built — a big “if” given the evisceration of Federal Transit aid for the next decade — eventually that three-seat ride will shrink to two seats and folks who can actually walk to a WSLE station will be able to ride to UW without a transfer.  That will be a good day, certainly, but it’s not at all certain that it will ever come about.  ST is not doing the smart thing and joining WSLE to the existing Line 1 trackway which would allow immediate service to UW and Lynnwood. 

      Instead WSLE will stub next to Line 1 and folks will have to go up over and down in a gigantic new station with almost no walk-up patronage.  The Project has an Edifice Complex of the worst degree.  There’s a way to bring Link to West Seattle for a lot less money and a lot more accessibility.  Yes, some sort of cut-and-cover tunnel is needed from the intersection of the West Seattle Freeway and Fauntleroy Way to Fauntleroy and Alaska, but the train could turn the corner and surface in the middle of Alaska Way to a stub-terminal just east of California. 

      That would eliminate the billion plus for the hard-to-access deep station.  Don’t get all whiny about “Ballard will get a a tunnel station!”  The same thing is true there; yes, BLE needs a tunneled crossing of the Ship Canal to avoid the silly 140 foot mandate from the Coast Guard, but the tracks can surface along one side of Leary Way and end at a surface station at Market.  The only real “advantage” of Light Rail is that it can run on the surface without fencing, because it doesn’t have deadly third rail power.  ST used that on Rainier, the people hooted and howled, and ST vowed “no more at-grade”.  OK, at-grade in the middle of an otherwise grade-separated line is not a good thing.  It slows the trains and makes them less reliable.  All true.  But having a short section of at-grade at terminal stations can save a bundle of money on elevated or tunneled stations and make the train MORE accessible.  

    • RossB April 30, 2025 (3:51 pm)

      The train won’t be connected to downtown until Ballard Link is compete. That is scheduled for 2039 although it is likely it will be delayed some more. Until then the buses will essentially just ignore West Seattle Link. It is quite likely that there will be no driver shortage by the time it is built (14 years from now). There are other ways to improve the efficiency of the buses. An obvious one is to just spend money making them faster. This would be a much better value and provide something much better for most riders.  There are areas where rail makes sense and areas where buses make sense. Most of the money for West Seattle Link is being spent replicating a route that is mostly an existing busway. With a relatively small amount of money we could connect the Spokane Street Viaduct with the SoDo Busway which means the buses would follow a busway from West Seattle to downtown. This would be the best of both worlds. People wanting to transfer to Link (to get to the UW or Northgate for example) would make the same transfer as they would with West Seattle Link, just at a different station (e. g. SoDo instead of Delridge). Riders heading downtown wouldn’t be forced to transfer. Riders heading to the airport or Rainier Valley would make one transfer instead of two. The enormous savings could go into running the buses more often. West Seattle Link is a second-rate project that is extremely expensive. It is just the wrong project for the area.

  • CarDriver April 25, 2025 (12:44 am)

    DON’T WORRY! There’s enough people that DO NOT CARE what it costs. There will be no amount of money that’s too much. They will pay anything they’re charged.

    • side-walker April 25, 2025 (4:19 am)

      Cause somehow it’s a problem to be pro-mass-transit but being pro-cars is the only “intelligent” option?!?One day you may see there’s more to the world than what you see from behind your precious windsheild. Until then, I advise you educate yourself or at least realize that your point of view isn’t the only one.

      • WS Person April 25, 2025 (11:33 am)

        The “problem” is the complete disregard of fiscal responsibility and conservatism with regard to tax payer finances. 

        • M April 25, 2025 (1:33 pm)

          Me everytime they widen or build a new highway.

      • Brandon April 25, 2025 (11:59 am)

        There’s pro-mass transit, then there is wasteful spending. For reference, we are way past wasteful spending into the “you can’t be serious” category.  This equates to being pro-car but arguing drivers buy Lamborghinis then defending the argument that the cost doesn’t matter because you’re pro car.

      • RossB April 30, 2025 (3:55 pm)

        Cause somehow it’s a problem to be pro-mass-transit but being pro-cars is the only “intelligent” option?!?The vast majority of people who are arguing against West Seattle Link want to spend money on buses (and bus infrastructure) instead. That is not “pro-cars”. That is pro-transit. It means we want better transit for the money. It just doesn’t make sense to spend over 7 billion dollars on a system that requires the vast majority of users to make a transfer when a bus would actually get them to their destination faster.

  • anonyme April 25, 2025 (6:06 am)

    The board members just authorized an additional 68 million more tax dollars to be spent on this boondoggle.  This needs to be shut down now; for the increase alone, we could have a steady stream of buses that would be far more versatile and efficient, with no destruction or displacement.  And we could have it almost immediately.

    • Jake April 25, 2025 (9:38 am)

      There it is! “Boondoggle” for the 10000th time.

      • anonyme April 26, 2025 (10:41 am)

        Maybe that’s because there are “10,000” or more reasons to use it, especially in regard to this project.  Or is the real problem that you just don’t actually understand what the word means? I think that what is happening with ST very much resembles the homelessness crisis: a problem being consumed by a vast bureaucracy, going nowhere and helping no one.

    • Brandon April 25, 2025 (11:48 am)

      But then we’d save money and solve our problems.

  • Spring April 25, 2025 (6:21 am)

    What a waste of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  • John P Woods April 25, 2025 (7:41 am)

    Just a thought: Has anyone looked into building a transit only bridge as an alternative to a light rail through West Seattle?

    • k April 25, 2025 (9:07 am)

      Yes, it’s been “looked into” to death.  It would be a very expensive way to funnel one type of grade-level transportation to the bottleneck on the viaduct to get downtown.  It doesn’t solve or even acknowledge the bus driver shortage.  It doesn’t make traffic, pollution, or anyone’s commute better.

    • WS Guy April 25, 2025 (12:10 pm)

      That is the correct answer.  I’ve been saying it this since day one.  Having just taken a waymo ride last week, I have seen the future of driverless transport and it is great.  Driverless buses and cars will someday dynamically assemble into “road trains” with door to door service, unlike fixed-stop rail lines that are relics of the 1900s. 

    • WS Guy April 25, 2025 (12:10 pm)

      That is the correct answer.  I’ve been saying this since day one.  

      Having just taken a waymo ride last week, I have seen the future of driverless transport and it is great.  Driverless buses and cars will someday dynamically assemble into “road trains” with door to door service, unlike fixed-stop rail lines that are relics of the 1900s. 

      • Common Sense April 25, 2025 (3:28 pm)

        1. Roads are also fixed; you seem to forget pavement isn’t and shouldn’t be everywhere 2. Goodbye marine life with all the rubber and brake dust pollution killing them and their food supply from car maximalism

        • WS Guy April 26, 2025 (12:25 am)

          Autonomous vehicles can triple road capacity:  (1) no need for privately owned cars or parking lanes when transport is reliable and summoned on-demand from your phone; (2) cars are networked, can communicate with traffic signals, and can safely “tailgate” other autonomous cars and buses.

          If we were 100% Waymo our road network would be so efficient we would not need to build any.  File this along with nuclear power in the “ideas that progressives should love but they don’t understand” bin.

          • Tom Terrific April 30, 2025 (3:19 pm)

            No they can’t.  They can increase capacity maybe fifteen or twenty percent by running closer together and reducing rear-end collisions, assuming networked operation. 

            That’s not a given and is a huge opportunity for terrorism or “remote murder”.  Anyway, people are already “using” the space between cars during times of congestion, so no matter what the robots do, they can’t be that much closer than cars are today.  

    • RossB April 30, 2025 (4:07 pm)

      Has anyone looked into building a transit only bridge as an alternative to a light rail through West Seattle?You don’t need to go that far. There are bus lanes on the West Seattle Bridge. The congestion occurs as the bus makes the loop from the bridge to the Alaskan Way Viaduct. An alternative would be to have the buses continue on the Spokane Street Viaduct and then add ramps to the SoDo Busway. That would be a lot cheaper as it would leverage most of what already exists. There are other little fixes that could be added to make it easier for a bus to get on the bridge as well (such as metering). All of this would be massively cheaper than building a new rail bridge or a new busway. By using the existing SoDo busway, riders would have a direct bus to downtown and they would be connected to Link at SoDo. That would mean one less transfer for those headed downtown or those reversing directions at SoDo. This includes people taking the train to Rainier Valley or SeaTac. But it also includes people taking buses to Renton or Kent. Instead of taking a bus and a train to get to SoDo (or downtown) you would just take one bus. You could use the savings to run more buses downtown (and more buses in West Seattle). This would be the idea: https://seattletransitblog.com/2024/06/07/west-seattle-by-bus-instead-of-light-rail/ (if you scroll down you can see a map with routes and expected frequency). This assumes that a lot of savings are put into West Seattle (which would be reasonable and fair).

  • Jake April 25, 2025 (8:22 am)

    Why is this city so against progress? For a progressive city, there’s a lot of people (well in this comment section) anti helping the social needs of others. Don’t we want a more connected city? We are a top 10 major city. Let’s get a train system that reflects that and connects ALL neighborhoods! Build lightrail now!

    • Scarlett April 25, 2025 (10:26 am)

      Bus transit connects all neighborhoods with many more stops and routes.  Light rail is an obselete, outdated idea that will have a neglible impact on intra-city transportation.  Progress isn’t change just for the sake of change. 

      • Jake April 25, 2025 (12:27 pm)

        Bus transit is getting cut by the year and there’s an increasing labor shortage. Bus transit fights cars for traffic too. 

      • Jort April 25, 2025 (12:30 pm)

        Do you have any evidence of any kind to show that rail transit is “obsolete?” I’m skeptical of your claims of obsolesence since rail continues to be constructed, around the world, to positive societal transportation benefit in nearly every case.  Is it because trains were invented in the 1800s and were not featured prominently in 1964 Worlds Fair Baby Boomer visions of the future, which featured glistening, traffic-free on-and-off-ramps to every garage in the city? 

        • k May 2, 2025 (7:51 am)

          Scarlett has never visited the other parts of the region where light rail has been running for a few years now.  They consistently claim no one rides it (lol), and that it’s unpopular everywhere it’s built.  They will say pretty much anything they think will will make them sound intelligent and superior on the topic at hand, vacillating from complaining about all of the construction jobs that will be created (darn those special interest blue collar workers!) to the environmental impact (because rubber on the road is great for waterways?), to accusing Sound Transit of trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes because their neighbors are clearly not smart enough to understand the information provided at the dozens of open houses and other events where public comments and questions have been welcomed.  They are deeply unserious about mass transit, and just want the light rail gone for reasons that have never really made sense to anyone but Scarlett themself.

    • RossB April 30, 2025 (4:27 pm)

      Why is this city so against progress?People aren’t against progress. They just don’t want to waste their money. They are willing to spend plenty of money improving the buses because they recognize that it is very cost effective way to improve transit. They are willing to spend money on some light rail projects because they feel like those projects are worth it. But there are grave misgivings about this project. It simply doesn’t add much value for the huge amount of money that is being spent. There are trade-offs with any proposal. But for way less than half the money we would build a much better transit system for West Seattle. It would include frequent buses to downtown (via the SoDo busway) and frequent buses within West Seattle. But instead we will have a system that will ultimately be second-rate. Consider this example. Someone along the Delridge corridor wants to go to First Hill. There are two options:1) They take a bus to a train station at the north end of Delridge. They then take escalators high into the sky and wait for the train. Eventually it shows up. They transfer to the train and take it to Symphony Station (which is deep underground). After leaving the station they then walk a couple blocks to the bus stop for the RapidRide G. They ride it up the hill. 2) They take a bus that goes downtown on the SoDo busway. It stops at 3rd & Madison, where it is a very short walk to the bus stop for the RapidRide G. Clearly the second option is much faster. You avoid having to to wait for a train that runs every ten minutes. There is less walking on the street and less walking to and from the station. This is a typical transit trip. The vast majority of riders do not live close to the three stations and they would be forced to transfer.

  • Aaron G April 25, 2025 (8:24 am)

    I’m very much looking forward to light rail coming to West Seattle. It will be a huge asset to the city for the decades to come.

  • Anne April 25, 2025 (8:51 am)

    So they want to spend $68 million MORE to find out how they can save money?????????

    • flimflam April 25, 2025 (2:20 pm)

      🤣🫠

    • Crowski April 26, 2025 (9:25 am)

      Yes! . . .  Sound Transit, short on money to reach promised destinations in West Seattle, Ballard and Everett, might eventually borrow billions of dollars that need not be fully repaid until the 22nd century.The agency doesn’t have a specific plan to issue bonds with a 75-year term. But a bill in the Legislature would give Sound Transit this unusual financing tool — an acknowledgment of a looming cash-flow crunch in coming decades.  https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/sound-transits-looming-money-crunch-prompts-a-request-in-olympia/

      • Tom Terrific April 30, 2025 (3:40 pm)

        Seventy-five year bonds don’t solve the problem.  They just increase the total interest paid to 90% of the payments.  True a lot of that interest is paid in pennies on the current dollar, but still, it doesn’t work. 

        The only way to save money is to get rid of ST’s Edifice Complex.  I call it “Skycastle Transit”, instead of “Sound Transit”, because everywhere it has built recently it has left a trail of oversized Temples of Excess.  

        WSLE should run on or just beneath the surface on the plateau;  Fauntleroy Way is too important to take a pair of lanes, so you’d have to cut-and-cover under it, but Alaska can be given over to the train and the giant dug station and the “short tunnel” can thereby be eliminated from the budget.  BOOM!  A billion and a half saved.  

        WSLE could be connected to the existing tracks at SoDo by taking the block of the bikeway south of Lander and the rear few feet of two buildings along the east side of the trackway.  BOOM!, another three-quarters of a billion saved by not building a parallel set of tracks through SoDo.  

        There will never be more than sixteen trains per hour per direction through SoDo (ten maybe for Line 1 and six for Line 3; West Seattle will never need more than “policy” headways given the light ridership).  So the existing tracks can easily accommodate both lines.  

        DSTT2 does not need to be built, at least not in the near future.  Instead make BLE (Ballard Link Extension) a stand-alone automated system with two car trains running twice as frequently between Westlake and Ballard.  Connect to The Spine tunnel by a single track “non-revenue” tunnel between Westlake and Stewart and Third and Pine for heavy maintenance and otherwise just have a small “cleaning” facility somewhere around the Armory.  Automated trains don’t need to be “stored”; they can just run all night.  Good service.  

        [Ed note: Here’s a little “Transit Professional Secret”:  the same number of cars running as half-as-long trains running twice-as-frequently uses the same number of vehicles and carry the same number of passengers per hour, but allow the stations about a third less expensive to build]  

        BOOOOOOOMMMMM!  Five billion saved and better transfers for everyone riding the system!  Yes, this can be done even if DSTT2 is eventually built with a more urban design.  

  • Blimpy April 25, 2025 (9:21 am)

    They won’t tell you this, but the WS naysayers are really trying to push a steampunk blimp transport agenda since that’s the best idea they can come up with besides flapping their wings on blogs like this. They’re just being coy and don’t want to reveal it since they’re worried the rest of us might misinterpret their ideas as half-baked or crackpot… but in this case I’m all for it. Airships over Elliott! Make it happen! Woohoo! 

    • Scarlett April 25, 2025 (2:28 pm)

      “Blimpy” sounds like a character from “Random Harvest.”  But come to think of it, at least airships would provide a novel transportation option, something more than redundant light rail that shaves off a minute or two off your commute – well, if you’re next door to a station. So, you know, Blimpy, there’s that.

  • AK April 25, 2025 (9:52 am)

    What a waste of money.  

  • neighbor April 25, 2025 (9:59 am)

    If I recall correctly there was a retired(?) engineer who commented previously about the concept of a tunnel using modular segments that are built off site and then sunk into place. This might be a good time to revisit that option and just have it end at the park and ride under the bridge for now. That location could be served by feeder buses/shuttles from all over West Seattle and would likely reduce costs substantially.

    • Bradley April 25, 2025 (6:51 pm)

      They did that for the Ted Williams tunnel In Boston’s Big Dig. 

    • Tom Terrific May 2, 2025 (1:54 am)

      The Duwamish Waterway isn’t wide enough for such a tunnel to make much difference in cost in comprison to a TBM-bored tunnel, but of course it would remove the high bridge to clear ships.  Reducing the roller-coaster profile would save time and avoid a potential second West Seattle Bridge disaster.  

  • Alex April 25, 2025 (11:26 am)

    I’m really looking forward to West Seattle light rail. It will make my life so much easier. Building these things will only get more expensive the longer we wait and delay. It’s unfortunate no rail was built around the city decades ago, but I’m so happy that it’s finally happening now. 

  • thunderbolt April 25, 2025 (11:36 am)

    It would be wise to get it done asap due to inflation. And use past mistakes to make it right the first time. We KNOW it’ll be a tunnel. Start there and debate the rest. Time wasted is money wasted.

    • Jake April 25, 2025 (12:29 pm)

      It is cheaper to do the elevated line down Avalon and Fauntleroy. 

  • cc April 25, 2025 (11:42 am)

    Billions of dollars thrown away every year to build and maintain roads that keep deteriorating and people want to complain about a rail line. If you don’t believe in public transit, please leave, you don’t belong in a city

  • cc April 25, 2025 (11:45 am)

    Billions of dollars thrown away every year to build and maintain roads that keep deteriorating and people want to complain about a rail line. If you don’t believe in public transit, please leave, you don’t belong in a city. 

    • Alki resident April 25, 2025 (1:07 pm)

      That’s rich. People are entitled to their opinions and in no way do we need to agree on paying for an overpriced operation. 

    • RossB April 30, 2025 (4:32 pm)

      The vast majority of people complaining about this project believe in public transit. That is what is so frustrating about it. For way less money we could build something so much better by just focusing on buses and bus infrastructure (that leverages the existing infrastructure). It is just a terrible value that will benefit only a handful. Most in West Seattle will be worse off. Only those who live (or visit someplace) close to the station will be better off.

      • k May 2, 2025 (7:37 am)

        The vast majority of people complaining about this project say they believe in public transit, and then follow that stated belief with a bunch of ideas that are objectively anti-mass transit.  Pushing buses when you know full well there are not drivers is not pro-mass transit.  Pushing buses when you know they cannot move as many people as efficiently as grade-separated transit is not pro-mass transit.  The fact that you’re even talking about using the existing infrastructure shows an ignorance of the bus system in general, which begs the question how people who are so pro-bus can also be so clueless about the bus experience. 

  • Scarlett April 25, 2025 (2:25 pm)

    I suggest everyone remember that it is the usually “lock-step” ST board that is expressing concern over the runaway costs of this project, so maybe some of you should take that into consideration before needling the – sober – rest of us.  This is your quintessential infrastructure pork, an economic shot in the arm (special interests getting most of the boost) that has been sold as a public transportation remedy.  And there is a virtually unlimited market in the country to tap into, with politicians doing the peddling and the construction industry reaping the rewards.  

  • Riley April 25, 2025 (3:14 pm)

    I live right next to a planned station location. Construction will be disruptive for years. But I’m 100% supportive and cannot wait for construction to begin (and finish!) ASAP. West Seattle is one of the best areas in the city, and more people should be able to live here and access the rest of the city without a car.

    • WS Res April 29, 2025 (11:27 pm)

      100% same.

  • Scarlett April 26, 2025 (9:59 am)

    I suspect the final extension will look much different than what was oringally planned, and likely the WS end will be truncated in the Delridge area.  Everyone will claim some moral victory in the end and that will be that.  I’ll say it again: Never understimate the power of a cool concept to overwhelm pragmatic and objective analysis.  

    • Derek April 26, 2025 (8:39 pm)

      It would be an utter failure if it didn’t at least go to Junction. 

      • k May 2, 2025 (7:38 am)

        Unless it turns at Delridge and goes to White Center instead.

Sorry, comment time is over.