Sound Transit faces rising costs, remains committed to West Seattle Link Expansion

Thu, 09/19/2024

The Sound Transit Executive Committee met Sept. 19 to discuss the rising costs of the West Seattle Link extension and other projects in the ST3 program. Despite these challenges, the committee reaffirmed its commitment to delivering light rail to West Seattle and other communities across the region.

"We are disappointed to hear about the rising estimates of the cost for West Seattle and presumably subsequently for other ST3 projects," said Executive Committee Chair and King County Executive Dow Constantine. "But I believe the most prudent thing to do is not to be paralyzed by this, not to be overwhelmed by it, but to keep moving and to get these projects designed so that we can understand what the trade-offs are, what the hard choices that the board needs to make will be."

The West Seattle Link extension is currently estimated to cost between $6.7 billion and $7.1 billion, a significant increase from the original estimate of $2 billion. This cost increase is due to a number of factors, including inflation, supply chain disruptions, and design changes.

Despite these challenges, the committee remains committed to delivering the project. "We're building this system for very good reasons," said board member Claudia Balducci. "These transit investments make our community feel smaller,change people's daily lives, change their access to opportunity and social things."

The committee also discussed the importance of implementing reforms to improve the agency's financial planning and project delivery. "We need to understand what we can change and what we can't change, and then we need to change what we can and accept the things we can't," said Balducci.

The committee is confident that it can deliver the West Seattle Link extension and other ST3 projects in a financially prudent way. "I am committed to charting a path forward to deliver West Seattle and Ballard and Everett and Tacoma in a financially prudent way that will not impact the delivery of projects in in each of the will it not adversely impact each of the other sub areas of the region," said Constantine.

See the full West Seattle Link Extension presentation here

Public Comment

The committee also heard from members of the public during the meeting. Some commenters expressed concerns about the cost of the project and its impact on the community. Others urged the committee to move forward with the project,citing its benefits for transit riders and the environment.

"We already have rapid ride transit that takes us to down downtown quickly," said Kim Schwarzkopf, a resident of West Seattle. "We really don't need this ballooning light rail stub."

Other commenters, such as John Niles, co-founder of Smarter Transit, argued that the West Seattle Link extension is the most expensive way to attract the smallest number of new riders. "Sound Transit could contract with King County Metro for electric bus service from Seattle CBD to all the neighborhoods of the West Seattle Peninsula down to Burien," said Niles.

Marilyn Kennell expressed her frustration and via telephone said, "According to Sound Transit 3, Section 2, plans can be changed if an element is unaffordable, infeasible, or unbuildable, and West Seattle Light rail is all three. Sound Transit's West Seattle Final EIS shows that the new West Seattle Light rail construction costs are 28 to 48% over budget, that a new public vote is not required. According to Section 2, that when the DEIS came out in 2022, that was 2 1/2 years ago. Since that time we have repeatedly asked for a town hall. We would like to talk with you, not just have a "talk at us" propaganda session. We have real questions. This is going to impact our community profoundly. Please come to us. I've asked at this forum. I've asked maybe five different times. I'm on the record now. We were dumped 1000 pages to go through in 30 days. You've had 2 1/2 years. We need a voice. We need a conversation. Just please come and talk with us before this whole thing comes down. You're tremendously over budget. For the $5 billion, and it'll be more than 5 billion you can buy 5000 brand new electric buses and serve the whole community, serve the peninsula, serve King County. Please think about it. And thanks for your time. I'm sorry. It's been a very, very rough three years for so many of us in limbo. It is a really cruel and despicable way of doing business. If this is such a great project, come and sell it to us. Come and talk to us about it. You know, maybe it's great."

Representing what he called the Jefferson Square Coalition representing the businesses who face closure or moving Kieth Edwards owner of the Joint Chiropractic offered the committee an alternative. "The Jefferson Square Coalition, has a viable option to save Jefferson Square from demolition and ending the businesses and apartments. The back of Jefferson Square follows 41st Ave. across the street is available property that Bank of America sits on and will be vacant in February of 2025. Relocating the station across the street saves the Sound Transit project $500 million. It means not having to destroy 30 businesses, displacing current residents. In addition to affecting the surrounding businesses and residences due to the year long construction, why demolish Jefferson Square when you can save $500 million and leave the heart of Seattle still beating?"

The Final EIS is officially published Sept. 20 and the general public will have 30 days to make comments.

Board members offered some thoughts

Expressing a note of caution Pierce County Executive and board member Bruce Dammeier said, "I am committed to building what the voters approved, but they also had a dollar element associated with it too," said board member Bruce Dammeier. "We've also got to keep that to some degree in our mind as we go forward."

Seattle Mayor and board member Bruce Harrell said, "The City of Seattle is fully committed to planning the voters desire for a safe and accessible public transit system."

The board also voted to extend the appointment of Goran Sparrman as Sound Transit’s interim chief executive officer until May 15, 2025.

Next Steps

The committee will continue to discuss the West Seattle Link extension and other ST3 projects in the coming months. The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be held on October 3rd. The Sound Transit Executive Committee is facing a challenging task in delivering the West Seattle Link extension and other ST3 projects. However, the committee made it clear they remain committed to the goal of providing a safe, reliable, and affordable transit system for the region.