Seattle City Council might delay Eastlake streetcar expansion

While Seattle plans to extend its First Hill Streetcar, the city council is putting the brakes on an Eastlake transit line.

Mayor Mike McGinn wants to extend streetcars or bus-rapid transit along Eastlake Avenue toward the University of Washington. The city council has previously endorsed that plan.

But Council Transportation Committee Chair Tom Rasmussen now favors a delay in planning until 2014. He favors shifting half of the $2 million set aside for an Eastlake transit study to fund bus service citywide.

At the same time, Mayor McGinn just announced $3 million in federal grants and city funding to design streetcar expansion along Broadway.