Sound Transit: Light rail projects could open years sooner under measure

Sound Transit says it can deliver light rail projects several years sooner under a revised Sound Transit Nov. 3 ballot measure unveiled this afternoon.

Agency officials say they have found $4 billion in extra bonding capacity, allowing them to speed up the timeline for projects and making the previously announced $50 billion, 25-year plan a $54 billion plan with the same amount of taxes, KIRO 7 reports.

The new timeline calls for speeding up light rail to Everett by five years, with the line opening in 2036 rather than 2041.

• Ballard’s extension would open in 2035, three years sooner than planned.

• West Seattle’s extension would open in 2030, also three years sooner than specified in the timeline in the draft plan released in March.

• Sound Transit officials say during public comments about the Sound Transit 3 plan they consistently heard concern about the length of time it would take to open light rail projects under the draft plan.

Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff told reporters the agency has been developing a sophisticated financial work plan, which was not completed until after the draft plan was released.

He said new financial modeling found extra bonding capacity in the period of time between when Sound Transit 2’s bonds are paid off and Sound Transit 3’s ramp up.

In addition to the faster timeline, the extra bonding capacity has also allowed additions to the draft plan.

Notably, Sound Transit is now proposing a bus rapid transit stop on I-405 in Renton at Northeast 44th, the absence of which in the draft plan led to an outcry in Renton.

The updated plan also calls for extending an Issaquah-Bellevue-Redmond light rail line to South Kirkland and for opening light rail to downtown Redmond four years sooner, in 2024.

Sound Transit is saving some money in Snohomish County by aligning part of an Everett extension along I-5 instead of State Route 99, something the agency says local officials requested.

Officials in Snohomish County have said they plan to streamline permitting, a process Rogoff said could speed timelines even more, although he couldn’t estimate how much.

Rogoff urged other local governments to follow suit, saying that the earlier decisions are made about a line, the more will be known about costs and the faster the process can go.

Sound Transit made other tweaks to the plan in response to public comment, such as calling for a more expensive line to Ballard that will be fully elevated along 15th Avenue Northwest, instead of taking up lanes of traffic.

The timeline for the Federal Way extension is also changing, as Sound Transit moves to a model of opening an entire section of light rail at once, rather than the more expensive model of having an interim terminus.

Rogoff said that means a station at Highline Community College will be delivered in eight years instead of seven, but will include service in both directions.