WEST SEATTLE LIGHT RAIL: Sound Transit Board finalizes ‘preferred alternative’ routing, despite ‘sticker shock’ concerns
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
With only two “no” votes, the Sound Transit Board officially approved the “preferred alternative” for West Seattle light rail as the routing and station-location plan for the extension currently planned to launch in 2032.
As with the System Expansion Committee earlier this month, the full board had very little discussion about the merits of any particular routing options. The overarching point of discussion was again the potential $7 billion price tag that surfaced with the Final Environmental Impact Statement. But ST staff assured them repeatedly that this vote isn’t committing them to actually building the project – just to moving into design.
Before the vote, there were two presentations. Project leader Jason Hampton (here’s the full slide deck) began with a recap of what’s led up to this, in the past few years:
He recapped that construction would not begin before 2027, and went through some other points presented at the System Expansion Committee, including what ST feels the project would accomplish, both for West Seattle (redundancy when the West Seattle Bridge is closed, for example) and for the entire system (providing a new connection to ST’s Operations Maintenance Facility, for example). Hampton said the preferred alternative minimizes displacements, compared to the others.
As explained, this decision would advance the West Seattle project toward the end of environmental review and allow the project to move into design in a timely manner.
In Q/A/comments, board chair Dow Constantine, King County Executive, observed that in essence, this would get the project to the “shovel-ready phase.” Board member Cassie Franklin, Everett Mayor, wondered why this is so high-priority compared to some other projects in queue, and Hampton recapped its importance. She then asked whether costs could be cut by, for example, reducing park protection – “I love parks but I really want to get the spine built.” Hampton responded, “We’re going to look at everything to try to reduce costs.” She pressed, “Is this the more expensive route?” Not in a big way, he said, and in some cases, like the Duwamish Crossing – the new bridge that’ll be built to get the line across the river – the not-chosen north alternative, would not affect parks at all, but would be much more costly.
Board member Girmay Zahilay, King County Councilmember, said he was surfacing some concerns/questions from his fellow councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (who’s not on the board), such as the West Seattle Health Club impacts. Has ST engaged with her and/or addressed her concerns? Constantine said he had spoken with her often. CEO Goran Sparrman also said they’d engaged in “multiple conversations” regarding mitigation, and turned it over to Mestas for details. She promised “more open houses and roundtables to get feedback.” She said they’re working with the health club “on different options.”
Board member Dan Strauss, Seattle City Councilmember, said he’d heard concerns about the alignment but “staff has assured me” they can work through it, so he supports the preferred alternative: “We can’t stop now.” Mestas again said they’re looking at “how businesses operate” and so they’re examining construction methods – modular, off-site, for example – to reduce direct impacts. Strauss said he’s more focused on longterm impacts such as sidewalks, trash pickups, for example. Board member Jim Kastama, Puyallup Mayor, was worried that advancing this project could cause harm to Pierce County projects further down the line. McCartan said, no, it won’t, because these are design dollars – construction dollars could be a different story but they’ll get there when they get there. “You can move forward this project without imperiling extensions to Everett or Tacoma.”
Board member Bruce Harrell, Seattle Mayor, said he wants to be certain that it be easy for people to get involved with Sound Transit and this “megaproject,” whether small businesses or residents, “to make sure their concerns are heard.”
Board member Nancy Backus, Auburn Mayor, also voiced concerns about “subarea equity,” being sure that folks in all areas paying into ST are getting something for their money.
Board member Christine Frizzell, Lynnwood Mayor, said she’s heard the most from constituents and community members about the “sticker shock,” so she’s wanting to be assured that this and other projects are being presented with the most accurate approach. Mestas said this and other projects would all be evaluated with the same methodology. Frizzell pressed further: “Where did we go so wrong” on estimates? Mestas recapped the factors that had been mentioned previously, from “market conditions,” such as lack of competition, to “scope evolution.”
Board member Claudia Balducci, King County Councilmember, said, as she had at the System Expansion Committee, that absolute clarity on the board’s “levers” is vital. In recapping her committee’s discussion before the vote, she reiterated that “time is money” and things will only get more expensive if they wait.
Board member Bruce Dammeier, Pierce County Executive, said he’s excited about the budgetary discipline that the workplan (more on that later) will bring to this project and others – so he’s “cautiously optimistic.” But he said, “I still have concerns …” and he doesn’t see how even all the ideas for cost savings will cut the projected price tag by billions, so he is “very concerned that this project jeopardizes the ability to get to the spine.” So he said he would vote no, and he did.
Strauss added an amendment to the final resolution, summarized in Sound Transit’s post-meeting news release as follows:
The Board’s approved resolution included an amendment to move forward with the development and implementation of the workplan to improve the agency’s financial situation and move the West Seattle Link Extension through design. This amendment also directed the agency to continue working to reduce identified project impacts during the design phase and advancement of the workplan to achieve cost savings and to minimize community impacts in SODO and West Seattle, while continuing to provide enhanced transit integration and station access and engaging with impacted residents and businesses.
Before the final vote, Harrell reiterated that Seattle residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of ST3, and “we’ve done a lot of work to get to this point,” so “this is the right vote to take to support this project … at this point.”
And Constantine – who led the push to include West Seattle in ST3 almost a decade ago – recalled the board choosing a preferred alignment in 2022, making the project “a little more real.” Yes, he acknowledged, everyone is frustrated by the costs of delivering infrastructure projects. “We are seeing this EVERYWHERE,” he stressed. But “I really need us to keep our focus on moving projects forward even in times of financial volatility.” The design work and workplan will help them move beyond the only ways they’ve cut costs in the past, “scope reduction and delay. … If we become paralyzed, continuing that pattern of delay, and reducing what we’re willing to build, we’re going to (fail to) keep the promise we made to the voters.” He insisted that this isn’t just a stub, it builds capacity for the extension to Everett. “We’re going to learn how to deliver a capital program under these changed circumstances.” And he underscored that a vote to approve this action is not a final commitment to deliver the project at any cost. But he urged support for delivering light rail “to the 100,000 people who live on the Duwamish Peninsula.”
The resolution passed, 14-2, choosing the preferred alternative, as the “project to be built.” Dammeier and Kastama were the two “no” votes.
Earlier:
WEST SEATTLE WORKPLAN: As they had done at the System Expansion Committee two weeks ago, deputy CEO Terri Mestas and Hampton talked about the workplan that board chair Constantine had requested, including some toplines about ways they will look for cost savings. Here’s the full slide deck. Mestas noted that the next phase of this project will be “design validation” but many other milestones follow, including 80 percent design, when a key decision about going ahead with construction would be made.
A big part of the workplan also is setting up systems – such as dashboards – for “real-time monitoring” and reporting progress. Responding to some criticism at the committee meeting that the presentation was too generic, some details were added about touchstones for cost savings:
She also showed a funding timeline. Construction will take about 86 percent of the project funding.
The board also heard from Brian McCartan, a former ST CEO who has come on board as a consultant. He talked about four “buckets” for “financial opportunities,” and two later phases of financial focus. Mestas then showed three touchstones for next year, including board approval of a design-services contract, and “programmatic” planning such as reviewing lessons learned from ST2:
Right of way (ROW) acquisition had been mentioned a few times, so Mestas was asked at the end of the presentation about criteria for that. Hampton said that basically, it depends. Any way to prioritize properties that wish to be acquired? Hampton said there’s federal criteria for considering that, so it’s a possibility.
WHAT’S NEXT? A whole lot of activity – more intensive property acquisition talks, for one – and also an official step called the “record of decision.” Then, those touchstones – including “baselining” in the next few years to determine when and how much will be spent. See more details on the project website.
4:04 PM: The list is out. 
Two weeks after the Sound Transit Board‘s 
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