Light rail to run across I-90 and into Bellevue tunnel
Jul 29, 2011, 5:19 AM | Updated: Oct 10, 2012, 7:28 am
Seattle isn’t the only Puget Sound city with grand designs for a downtown tunnel. Bellevue is going to get a tunnel to house light rail.
The Sound Transit Board decided Thursday night to approve a plan to take light rail across I-90 and into Bellevue via Bellevue Way and 112th Avenue. Plans to take the trains along the Mercer Slough and up the old railroad tracks on the east side of I-405 are now off the table. Trains will duck into a tunnel through downtown.
The tunnel will cost about $300 million with the City of Bellevue paying for $160 million of it. Sound Transit still wants the city to help share the costs of any overruns.
Two members of the Sound Transit Board voted against the plan. King County Council member Larry Phillips and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. Neither like the funding options or the lack of certainty on those options. There’s already a potential $100-200 million budget shortfall for the project.
The Bellevue City Council will vote on the plan at its next meeting. If everyone signs-off, the project could become a done deal at Sound Transit’s October meeting.
