As we reported Thursday, Sound Transit has gone public with “assessments” of potential light-rail options, including two for the West Seattle extension. It’ll be up to the Sound Transit Board to decide whether to include either or both in studies for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the next of 3 more steps before they finalize the route “alignment” in 2022. Before that board vote in October, they’re also taking public comment – you can do that (and review the new info) by going here. Deadline: October 4th.

P.S. If you have questions, you can also talk to ST reps in person at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market on September 29th.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The Sound Transit Board‘s System Expansion Committee has just gotten its first briefing on the “initial assessment” of four more West Seattle-to-Ballard light-rail options that might be included in environmental studies.

The committee and full board won’t make their decisions until next month, and starting tomorrow, you’ll get to have your say via an “online open house.”

But first – here’s what’s on the table. Keep in mind, these are IN ADDITION TO what the ST Board already sent into environmental studies. Two of the additional options, Yancy-Andover Elevated and Pigeon Point Tunnel (which also would include a Junction tunnel), are at the start of the slide deck (here in PDF, and below):

We had a chance to ask questions at a pre-meeting media briefing at ST HQ downtown. Toplines from that briefing, led by executive corridor director Cathal Ridge and project development director Sandra Fann, who also briefed the board this afternoon:

These options were assessed with the same criteria applied to the other options in the final review period (“Level 3”) that ended back in May.

One notable point – both of these alternatives would largely spare the Youngstown-area homes in North Delridge that otherwise might be taken out. (The only West Seattleite to speak in the public comment period before this afternoon’s committee meeting was Youngstown-area homeowner Dennis Noland, who has been advocating for saving his neighborhood.)

The Yancy/Andover Elevated option would cross the Duwamish River south of the West Seattle Bridge, would have a Delridge station north of Andover – similar to the original ST proposal – and would connect to an elevated Avalon station. (That still could then connect to a Junction-bound tunnel, it was clarified at this afternoon’s meeting.)

Drawbacks include that the Delridge station location would be “harder for buses to get to.” While the overall effect on residential property would be less than what’s already going into studies, it would affect the Avalon area more.

Its cost would be similar to what’s already budgeted.

The Pigeon Point Tunnel option’s major drawback is the cost – estimated at $200 million, plus you have to factor in another $700 million for the Junction tunnel to which it would connect. The financial estimates, however, aren’t any more detailed than what was listed earlier in the process, ST reps say.

They also noted in today’s briefing that the Junction tunnel would add time to the process. “Years, not months,” Ridge replied to our request for clarification. So if a Junction tunnel is chosen, light rail will not be opening in 2030.

As for that extra money, a commitment would have to be nailed down from the unspecified “third party”(/ies) by mid-2022, when environmental studies end and the ST Board will have to decide what to build.

There’s also a chance that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement’s schedule – to be ready by the end o next year – will take longer if the board decides to add any or all of these extra possibilities to the environmental studies.

Again, the board committee just got briefed this afternoon; most of the public comment was about the SODO option that (along with another Ballard tunnel option) is also being reviewed for adding to studies.

WHAT’S NEXT: Watch for this info to go online in “open house” format for your comments tomorrow through October 4th. The full ST Board will be briefed at its September 26th meeting; the System Expansion Committee then gets to have its say October 10th, with the full board’s final decision “to study or not to study” any or all of these options October 24th.

It’s been 3 1/2 months since Sound Transit‘s West Seattle-to-Ballard light-rail planning entered a new phase, with the ST Board finalizing what the Draft Environmental Impact Statement should include. The board also told ST staff to look at some other options – and those assessments are about to go public, ST has announced, specifically these assessments of these possibilities:

*Elevating the new and existing light rail lines in SODO
*Refinement of the Pigeon Ridge Tunnel route with a refined Duwamish crossing, tunnel through Pigeon Point and further south Delridge station
*Route along Yancy/Andover corridor, with a Delridge station serving Youngstown
*Tunnel route with tunnel station at 20th Ave NW in Ballard

That description is from an ST message to former Stakeholder Advisory Group members, which adds:

We plan to have evaluation results for these initial assessment alternatives in mid-September and anticipate sharing those results with the Sound Transit Board at the Sept. 12th System Expansion Committee meeting and the public at that time. We are targeting October for Sound Transit Board review and potential action.

The committee meets 1:30-4 pm next Thursday at the ST boardroom downtown (401 S. Jackson) – here’s the agenda (PDF).

Earlier, we published a reminder that the Sound Transit Board meets tomorrow afternoon downtown to decide which West Seattle-to-Ballard light-rail routing/station-location proposals should go into environmental studies. As you might recall from our coverage of the board’s System Expansion Committee meeting two weeks ago, there was some disagreement about whether to designate “preferred alternatives” at all for parts of the line, including The Junction. Tonight, at least two proposals some board members are circulating would propose these “preferred alternative” (without and with extra $) for The Junction and vicinity:

West Seattle (Avalon / and Junction)
Preferred Alternative
 Elevated stations – Avalon station in vicinity of SW Genesee Street, SW Avalon Way and 35th Avenue SW. Turns southwest on Fauntleroy Way SW with elevated Alaska Junction station options oriented north/south and staying east of the Alaska Junction on Fauntleroy and in the vicinity of 41st /42nd Avenue SW. (To be determined)

Preferred Alternative with Third Party Funding
 Tunnel station – Avalon station in vicinity of SW Genesee Street, SW Avalon Way and 35th Avenue SW. Turns southwest with tunnel Alaska Junction station options oriented north-south in the vicinity of 41st Avenue SW and 42nd Avenue SW. Based on current information, these alternatives would require additional third-party funding. (To be determined)

The proposals – all by board members from outside Seattle – include concern that waiting until after environmental studies to determine these (and some other) “preferred alternatives” could add a year and a half to the timeline. (They were forwarded to West Seattle community advocates by a representative from the office of Mayor Jenny Durkan, who is an ST board member.) Again, as detailed in our preview earlier, the meeting is 1:30-5 pm Thursday at the downtown board room (401 S. Jackson), with a public-comment period toward the start.

Just an early reminder in case you want to be there (or watch via streaming) – tomorrow’s the day the Sound Transit Board will cap the first year and a half of West Seattle-to-Ballard light-rail planning by deciding the potential routing/station locations that will go into environmental studies. Here’s the agenda for the meeting – which includes a public-comment period toward the start – 1:30-5 pm at ST’s board room downtown (401 S. Jackson). Here’s the ST document with the framework of the motion, recapping what the board’s System Expansion Committee recommended two weeks ago (WSB coverage here). If they follow the committee’s recommendations, the major undecided item is what – if anything – to identify as a “preferred alternative” for The Junction. Whatever the board decides, a year-plus of studies will follow before a Draft Environmental Impact Statement is released for public comment toward the end of next year. A final routing decision is a few steps beyond that.

(Sound Transit video of today’s entire committee meeting. WS-Ballard briefing/discussion starts at 1 hour, 50 minutes in)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Today brought the last stop for West Seattle to Ballard light-rail before a key Sound Transit Board vote to decide which routing/station locations will go into environmental studies.

But the board’s System Expansion Committee declined to recommend a complete “preferred alternative” routing/station-location plan, after hearing opposing opinions on whether to do so at all.

Before the committee’s vote late today – near the end of a 4-hour meeting with other major agenda items – it heard those opinions from two ST board members who are not committee members. Phoning in from an overseas trip, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott (a West Seattle resident) advocated for not identifying a preferred alternative, saying there’s just not enough information. Meantime, committee chair King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci read email from board member Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers insisting that a preferred alternative must be identified and that environmental studies should not include options discarded in the first two levels of advisory-group review – such as the so-called “purple line,” a two-tunnel West Seattle plan that the Stakeholder Advisory Group wanted to keep but the Elected Leadership Group did not. ST staff’s very preliminary estimates suggested it could require more than $1 billion “third-party funding,” but various meetings have included some suggestions that panicking over price tags should wait until more design/engineering work has been done.

Before we get into what preceded that, here’s what the committee gave its blessing to – the West Seattle language from the motion that members approved:

West Seattle (Avalon/Junction)
Preferred alternative (To be determined)
Potential preferred alternative (To be determined)
Other DEIS alternative (To be determined)

West Seattle (Delridge)
Preferred alternative
N of Genesee station – Elevated guideway runs south adjacent to Delridge Way SW to an elevated Delridge station on a diagonal between Delridge Way SW and 26th Avenue SW north of SW Genesee Street. Continues west on an elevated guideway along SW Genesee Street.

Additionally, the Board directs staff to explore refining the Delridge station location, prioritizing a further south location and looking for opportunities to minimize potential residential impacts, create a high quality transfer environment, optimize TOD potential and reduce costs.

Other DEIS alternatives
S of Andover station – Elevated guideway follows Delridge Way SW south to an elevated Delridge station south of SW Andover Street. Continues south along Delridge Way SW and then runs west along SW Genesee Street.

The Board directs staff to conduct an initial assessment of the following alternatives, which were suggested during the scoping period, to establish whether further detailed study in the Draft EIS is appropriate:

Yancy/Andover alignment – An alignment along the Yancy/Andover corridor with a Delridge Station serving Youngstown.

Pigeon Point Tunnel – A refinement of the Pigeon Ridge Tunnel alignment that was previously evaluated in Level 1 and Level 2 screening. This alignment would include a refined Duwamish crossing location that includes a tunnel through Pigeon Point with a further south Delridge station location.

The assessment and recommendation for further study shall be brought back to the Sound Transit Board for review and potential action.

Duwamish Crossing
Preferred alternative
South crossing – Elevated guideway crosses over the Spokane Street Viaduct, curves west and parallels the West Seattle Bridge on the south side. Crosses over the Duwamish Waterway on a high-level fixed bridge on the south side of the existing bridge, then rounds Pigeon Point and heads south along Delridge Way SW.
Other DEIS alternatives
North crossing – Elevated guideway curves west and parallels the existing West Seattle Bridge on the north side. Spans the Duwamish Waterway on a high-level, fixed bridge on the north side of the existing bridge, then crosses over the West Seattle bridge ramp, passes over the Nucor Steel property and runs south along Delridge Way SW.

The Board directs staff to conduct an initial assessment of the following alternative, which was suggested during the scoping period, to establish whether further detailed study in the Draft EIS is appropriate:
Pigeon Point Tunnel – A refinement of the Pigeon Ridge Tunnel alignment that was previously evaluated in Level 1 and Level 2 screening. This alignment would include a refined Duwamish crossing location that includes a tunnel through Pigeon Point with a further south Delridge station location.
The assessment and recommendation for further study shall be brought back to the Sound Transit Board for review and potential action.

Here’s the full motion (PDF), including other sections of the West Seattle to Ballard extension. Now, what preceded it:

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Tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, May 9th) is the next stop along the way to the >Sound Transit Board‘s decision on which potential routing/station locations to send to environmental studies for the West Seattle to Ballard extension. This follows the advisory Elected Leadership Group‘s recommendations two weeks ago:

Tomorrow’s 1:30-5 pm meeting of the ST System Expansion Committee is at the ST board room downtown (401 S. Jackson). As shown on the agenda, this is just one of 10 items going before the committee tomorrow. But the meeting does have a public-comment period toward the start, if there’s something you’d like committee members (here’s the roster) to know. Whatever they recommend, the full ST Board (here’s the roster) has the final say in two weeks (May 23rd).

(Added Monday: ST-created slide summarizing what ELG recommends – from this PDF doc)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Though County Councilmember Joe McDermott reiterated “This is just the beginning” of the West Seattle to Ballard Sound Transit light-rail planning process, Friday’s meeting of the Elected Leadership Group that he co-chaired was part of the end of the opening act of that process.

It comes after almost a year and a half of meetings, including the one on Friday, as well as a variety of public engagement and feedback that all wraps up with two meetings next month that are to result in the Sound Transit Board officially deciding what routing/station possibilities should be studied for the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Five of the 11 ELG members (roster here) are also on the ST Board (roster here) – McDermott, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, plus Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez (replacing recently resigned CM Rob Johnson). Before the board makes a final “what to study” decision at its May 23rd meeting (1:30 pm, ST board room downtown), its System Expansion Committee – which has no ELG membership overlap – will talk about the project at its May 9th (1:30 pm, ST board room)

On Friday, co-chair City Councilmember Mike O’Brien remarked that “it seems like yesterday” when the ELG first met 16 months ago (WSB coverage here).

ST CEO Peter Rogoff reiterated that the ELG decisions, and those to be made by the ST Board next month, are not decisions about what to be built, but “alternatives to be studied.”

In the 2-plus hours that followed, one other major issue came up repeatedly – money. But first, the ELG’s final meeting began with public comment, which ran for about half an hour and starts at nine minutes into our first clip (following introductory discussion):

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That’s the slide deck circulated for tomorrow morning’s meeting of the Elected Leadership Group in the Sound Transit West Seattle to Ballard light-rail planning process. The 9:30 am meeting at the ST board room downtown (401 S. Jackson) is supposed to culminate with the ELG (here’s the roster – but note that City Councilmember Debora Juarez has replaced ex-CM Rob Johnson) recommendation on potential routing/station locations to go into environmental studies.

New in the slide deck (which you also can see here in PDF), starting at page 61: Visual representations of what the Stakeholder Advisory Group recommended more than a week ago (WSB coverage here). Tomorrow’s meeting includes public comment – here’s the agenda; once the ELG makes its recommendation, the final decision is in the hands of the Sound Transit Board, at committee and full meetings next month.

(UPDATED 10:19 AM THURSDAY with finalized Sound Transit graphics summarizing the SAG recommendations)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

When Sound Transit managers insisted it would be OK to mix and match elements of a potential West Seattle to Ballard light-rail plan, they might not have envisioned the level of mixing and matching that went on tonight at the first of four milestone meetings.

Members of the all-volunteer Stakeholder Advisory Group concluded their 14-meeting role in the planning process with a jumble of recommendations – and, for a few segments, non-recommendations. So if you were hoping to hear and see something simple like “they voted to recommend the (x) line,” sorry, it didn’t go that way.

First, here are the toplines as visually summarized at meeting’s end, one set if third-party funding was available to cover costs (tunneling) beyond what the ST3 taxes/fees collect, one set if not:

We’ll get clearer versions of those tomorrow (10:19 am, finalized graphics substtuted above – from this PDF), but at the meeting we could only grab quick pics as they went by. In case you found them hard to read, here are the basics of SAG feedback for the three West Seattle segments, east to west:

-Crossing the Duwamish River – support was for doing it south of the existing bridge, no matter what

-Getting to the Delridge station – study either what was originally called the purple (Pigeon Point tunnel) or blue alignment if third-party funding is available, the blue alignment if not, and in both cases, modifying blue with the southernmost Delridge station location

-In The Junction, the with-third-party funding option would be a tunneled station at 41st or 42nd; the without-extra-funding option would be a modified version of the elevated “representative alignment” (red) that could either end at Fauntleroy or at Jefferson Square, or saving money by tunneling but consolidating the Junction and Avalon stations.

In general, the orange (some called it yellow) line was completely cast aside. So was the notion of taking the Junction end any further west than 42nd. To elaborate on the above, here’s our video of the recap at meeting’s end, when those slides were shown:

Two hours of discussion led up to all that, and we have that on a separate clip, which we’ll add in the hours ahead, along with more on how the SAG got there. So check back for more of the story But first, what’s next:

-The Elected Leadership Group meets 9:30 am Friday, April 26, to make its recommendations, taking into account what the SAG said tonight as well as the 2,700 “scoping” comments received (here’s the PDF summary/”themes” report on those).

-The Sound Transit Board has the final say in May on what goes into environmental studies. The next major public-comment period won’t be until “late 2020.”

ADDED 3:33 AM THURSDAY: If you need a refresher on the aforementioned red vs. orange vs. blue routes, see pages 22-26 of the meeting deck (PDF).

Now, here’s our video of the discussion that led to the aforementioned recommendations (as well as those on other segments of the West Seattle to Ballard line):

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In two and a half weeks, the Elected Leadership Group created for Sound Transit West Seattle/Ballard light-rail planning will meet to make its recommendation of which routing/station-location alternatives should go into environmental study.

They have a lot of feedback to consider. And as we reported here, one West Seattleite on the ELG, City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, expressed concern that the ELG and the Stakeholder Advisory Group wouldn’t get enough time to consider it all – the timetable said they would get a summary of the recent “scoping” comments just two days before their recommendation meeting on April. She reiterated her request for more time in this letter with her scoping comments:

She asked that both groups get at least a week’s lead time between receiving scoping-comment information and their next meetings. And now we’ve learned that will happen – Sound Transit intends to send the scoping comments to both groups today (Wednesday), which is exactly a week before the SAG meets and 16 days before the ELG meets. We had asked ST just yesterday about the status of the request for more time and were told, “Staff is working hard to turn around these comments as quickly as they can.” We’ll inquire tomorrow how and how soon they’ll be available once sent to the ELG and SAG.

Meantime, community groups are continuing their advocacy. Another of the West Seattleites on the ELG, County Councilmember Joe McDermott – who is also on the ST Board – recently walked part of the potential route – from the Avalon station vicinity to the easternmost Junction station – with members of the East Alaska Junction Neighborhood Coalition. We were along for most of the tour:

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Two days remain until Sound Transit closes the “scoping” period – the last round of official public comment before a decision on which light rail routing/station locations to send into environmental study.

The West Seattle-to-Ballard project’s Elected Leadership Group met Friday for a bonus briefing/discussion on the Delridge and Chinatown/International District station options. This is the group that will meet in four weeks to decide on what to recommend to the Sound Transit Board, which has the final say on everything from what to study to what to build.

And members expressed concern on Friday that it’s a rush to the finish line – with Stakeholder Advisory Group members (all community volunteers) scheduled to make their recommendation to the ELG two days after getting an outline of “themes” from the scoping comments, and the ELG itself getting a full report on those comments two days before its own decision is due. Here’s the timeline:

More on the time concerns ahead. First:

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With less than a week remaining for “scoping” comments on Sound Transit’s West Seattle light rail, the newest developments:

ELECTED LEADERSHIP GROUP TOMORROW: The slide deck is available for tomorrow’s 9 am-noon meeting of the Elected Leadership Group, which next month will make its routing/station-location environmental-study recommendations. The meeting is centered around station locations – particularly Delridge – and the West Seattle material in this deck starts on page 56 (some of it was reviewed at the Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting we covered last week). This, for example, is from page 84 of tomorrow’s 99-slide deck:

The Friday ELG meeting will include a public-comment period – the agenda says Delridge station comment will be accepted starting at 10:30 am. The meeting will be at the ST board room on the south end of downtown, 401 S. Jackson. (Added: See this comment if the “agenda” link still isn’t working.)

CHAMBER BACKS TUNNELING: Various local organizations are working to finalize their official comments before the “scoping” period ends Tuesday. The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce has gone public with theirs:

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce (WSCC) is committed to promoting sustainable economic growth of a diverse, viable business community. One of the biggest challenges to achieving this goal is our present transportation infrastructure. To support the future viability of the business community on the West Seattle peninsula, the WSCC has 3 main objectives by which any light rail proposal should be assessed:

Does the solution improve the quality of life for residents ( i.e. customers and business owners) who live and work in and around the proposed alignments and station locations?

Does the solution improve the movement of people and commerce?

Does the solution minimize the disruption to economic activity during and after construction as well as provide suitable mitigation measures?

The WSCC continues to have grave concerns about the present alignments that appear to moving forward for further study in the upcoming Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. The WSCC would like to put forward the following concerns and comments from our business community here in West Seattle:

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

What routing and station locations will be deemed “preferred” for West Seattle light rail? Key decision deadlines are headed this way fast.

With Sound Transit soon to decide what will be the focus of environmental studies, you have nine days left to comment as part of the “scoping” period. Here’s what’s happening as the April 2nd deadline nears:

JUNO MEETING TONIGHT – The Junction Neighborhood Organization is focusing its meeting on light-rail routing, 6:30 pm tonight (Monday) at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon). This is one place for you to have a say, along with the online open house.

EAST ALASKA JUNCTION NEIGHBORHOOD COALITION: We reported on this new group two weeks ago. Sunday, you might have seen their table at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market:

They’re advocating for tunneling into The Junction and, in particular, opposing the “orange” elevated routing (their materials call it the “yellow” line), not only because it could take out an entire residential neighborhood but also, they say, because it would predetermine how light rail would expand south – taking out even more homes. Go here to see the flyer they have been circulating, as well as their proposed alternative.

ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT DISPLACEMENT: Youngstown-area residents continue voicing their concerns about the southernmost option for the Delridge station; we reported in January on a special meeting they had with ST. They invited Port of Seattle Commissioner Stephanie Bowman on a walking tour of their neighborhood this past Thursday:

That’s Bowman at left above with Dennis Noland, a longtime area property owner who’s been leading the neighbors in advocacy against the Youngstown-area station location. She’s a member of the Elected Leadership Group, which will make a routing/stations recommendation next month to the ST board.

The ELG also meets this Friday (March 29th), scheduled to talk about the Delridge and Chinatown-ID stations, 9 am-noon at the ST board room downtown (401 S. Jackson). That’s where the Stakeholder Advisory Group (which had a member along on the Youngstown tour too, Deb Barker) met this past Thursday night – here’s how that went:

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(Two potential sites for elevated Junction station shown in newest ST visualizations)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Two-plus years after the Sound Transit 3 vote planted light rail firmly in West Seattle’s future, a major decision nears:

Which “preferred alternative(s)” will go into formal environmental study?

With the Sound Transit board set to make that decision in May, the last major public-comment period – aka “scoping” – is under way now. And it’s bringing together groups of neighbors focused on what the decision could mean not only to their neighborhoods, but to the rest of West Seattle – and beyond.

We sat down the other day with five people who are part of the newly organized East Alaska Junction Neighborhood Coalition. They support tunneling light rail into The Junction.

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