Published: Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Light rail to Lynnwood takes another baby step to reality
LYNNWOOD – They came to learn more about the possibility that light rail will come to Snohomish County — and to help decide which route it would take.
More than 70 people attended an open house Tuesday held by Sound Transit at the Lynnwood Convention Center to explain plans to extend light rail — or more bus service, or both — from Northgate to Lynnwood by 2023. The meeting was partly to explain the process to the public and partly to receive ideas for locations for stations and routes.
In 2008, voters approved an $18 billion plan to add to the region’s mass transportation system with more trains and buses. The vote raised the sales taxes a half-cent per dollar in the Sound Transit service area in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.
The plan included an estimated $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion for light rail from Northgate to Lynnwood, and expansion of some bus service in the north corridor. Some of that service already has been added, some is yet to come.
Construction has begun on rail from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington and planners are currently designing a route from the UW to Northgate.
For starters, the plan put before voters assumed a route from Northgate along I-5 to the Lynnwood Transit Center, with stations at 145th Street NE and 185th Street NE in King County and in Mountlake Terrace.
No definite plans have been drawn, however. It’s by no means a foregone conclusion that the route would go along I-5, or even that it will be light rail versus more bus service, said Matt Shelden, light rail corridor development manager for Sound Transit.
The agency has to consider all possible alternatives to be competitive for federal grants, Shelden said.
Grants are especially important because Sound Transit is 90 percent sales-tax dependent and the recession has hit the agency’s revenues hard, officials said. At the current pace, it will fall $3.9 billion short of its projected revenue by 2023, the target date for completion of a rail line.
It’s possible some projects will have to be delayed, scaled down or scrapped, Shelden said. Still, he expressed optimism about the chances of receiving grant funding for the north corridor.
“This is one area where our board has said, ‘We want to get on with the work,’” he said.
If light rail is chosen, people have suggested several routes other than I-5, Sound Transit officials said, including along Highway 99 or 15th Avenue NE in King County.
“I definitely think it should go up I-5,” said Ellen Stewart of Shoreline. “That’s an existing transit corridor.”
Bob White of Edmonds agreed.
“I believe it would be the least expensive,” as well as centrally located and the least disruptive, he said.
Others were less definite.
“We need some kind of mass transportation, I know that,” said Sandy Phillips of Lynnwood.
“It should go where it’s the cheapest way to go about it and where it’s the most used,” said Gordon Larson of Edmonds.
Officials will have more meetings this month to gather ideas. They hope to have a plan by next spring for further study and a final plan by mid-2012. Environmental review and engineering would extend until 2014, design and permitting until 2017, and construction would take place from then until 2023.
White, 80, said he’s interested because of his children and grandchildren and not so much for himself.
“I’ll be dead when it gets here. Or I’ll be 93 years old,” he said.
Learn more
•Another north corridor mass transportation planning meeting and open house is scheduled for 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Shoreline Conference Center, 18560 1st Ave. NE, Shoreline.
A meeting regarding revenue shortages and possible cuts to the Sound Transit budget is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19 at Everett Station, 3201 Smith Ave.
For more information, go to projects.soundtransit.org/Projects-Home/North-Corridor-HCT-Project/Planning-workshops.xml or www.soundtransit.org/News-and-Events/Meetings-and-Events/BudgetSIP-Open-House-10-19-10.xml
More than 70 people attended an open house Tuesday held by Sound Transit at the Lynnwood Convention Center to explain plans to extend light rail — or more bus service, or both — from Northgate to Lynnwood by 2023. The meeting was partly to explain the process to the public and partly to receive ideas for locations for stations and routes.
In 2008, voters approved an $18 billion plan to add to the region’s mass transportation system with more trains and buses. The vote raised the sales taxes a half-cent per dollar in the Sound Transit service area in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.
The plan included an estimated $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion for light rail from Northgate to Lynnwood, and expansion of some bus service in the north corridor. Some of that service already has been added, some is yet to come.
Construction has begun on rail from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington and planners are currently designing a route from the UW to Northgate.
For starters, the plan put before voters assumed a route from Northgate along I-5 to the Lynnwood Transit Center, with stations at 145th Street NE and 185th Street NE in King County and in Mountlake Terrace.
No definite plans have been drawn, however. It’s by no means a foregone conclusion that the route would go along I-5, or even that it will be light rail versus more bus service, said Matt Shelden, light rail corridor development manager for Sound Transit.
The agency has to consider all possible alternatives to be competitive for federal grants, Shelden said.
Grants are especially important because Sound Transit is 90 percent sales-tax dependent and the recession has hit the agency’s revenues hard, officials said. At the current pace, it will fall $3.9 billion short of its projected revenue by 2023, the target date for completion of a rail line.
It’s possible some projects will have to be delayed, scaled down or scrapped, Shelden said. Still, he expressed optimism about the chances of receiving grant funding for the north corridor.
“This is one area where our board has said, ‘We want to get on with the work,’” he said.
If light rail is chosen, people have suggested several routes other than I-5, Sound Transit officials said, including along Highway 99 or 15th Avenue NE in King County.
“I definitely think it should go up I-5,” said Ellen Stewart of Shoreline. “That’s an existing transit corridor.”
Bob White of Edmonds agreed.
“I believe it would be the least expensive,” as well as centrally located and the least disruptive, he said.
Others were less definite.
“We need some kind of mass transportation, I know that,” said Sandy Phillips of Lynnwood.
“It should go where it’s the cheapest way to go about it and where it’s the most used,” said Gordon Larson of Edmonds.
Officials will have more meetings this month to gather ideas. They hope to have a plan by next spring for further study and a final plan by mid-2012. Environmental review and engineering would extend until 2014, design and permitting until 2017, and construction would take place from then until 2023.
White, 80, said he’s interested because of his children and grandchildren and not so much for himself.
“I’ll be dead when it gets here. Or I’ll be 93 years old,” he said.
Learn more
•Another north corridor mass transportation planning meeting and open house is scheduled for 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Shoreline Conference Center, 18560 1st Ave. NE, Shoreline.
A meeting regarding revenue shortages and possible cuts to the Sound Transit budget is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19 at Everett Station, 3201 Smith Ave.
For more information, go to projects.soundtransit.org/Projects-Home/North-Corridor-HCT-Project/Planning-workshops.xml or www.soundtransit.org/News-and-Events/Meetings-and-Events/BudgetSIP-Open-House-10-19-10.xml
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