Having shaved five years, and maybe more, from the estimated arrival of Sound Transit’s Link right rail system in Everett, officials within Snohomish County believe supporters can make their case to voters to approve a $15 billion funding package in November.
Of the polling Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson has seen, he believes the message from voters will be, “Yeah, it’s a lot of money, but do it now and do it right.”
“Do it now” is a relative term with long-range transportation projects; we’re now looking at light rail in Everett by 2036, maybe 2034.
The Sound Transit Board this week will consider final revisions to its now $54 billion plan to extend the Link light rail system north into Everett, south to Tacoma and elsewhere in the region, to complete a regional transportation system.
Officials in Snohomish County who are part of that board — Everett City Council member Paul Roberts, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers and Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling — and joined by Stephanson during a meeting with The Herald Editorial Board, have signed off on the plan as now proposed: The timetable for getting light rail to Everett Station — including a jog out to Paine Field — has been moved up five years from the initially proposed 2041 to no later than 2036, and potentially earlier if county officials and those in Everett and Lynnwood are able to advance work more quickly on engineering, design and permits.
The plan also provides more definition for the likely route north that many have sought: From the proposed Lynnwood Transit Station at 200th Street SW and 44th Avenue West, completion of which is expected in 2023 or 2024, the route will head north along the I-5 corridor to 128th, west to a station at Paine Field, then along Highway 526 back to the I-5 corridor and north to Everett Station.
There were earlier suggestions that the best way for Snohomish County supporters to move up the timeline from 2041 would have been dropping the route’s link to Paine Field, but such a concession would have reduced the effectiveness of light rail to move the greatest number of commuters and would have left a still growing base of aerospace and manufacturing jobs underserved.
Some thought also was given to completing the Lynnwood-to-Everett portion in two phases, rather than bringing the route online all at once, to open a station at 128th ahead of Everett Station’s completion. But, Somers and Stephanson said, that would have involved additional cost, delayed the opening of the Everett Station terminal by a year and might also have lessened chances for later federal funding.
The four officials also sounded confident that the county, working with Lynnwood and Everett, will be able to knock one to two years off the 2036 goal by coordinating efforts for planning, design, environmental and other permit reviews. Both Somers and Stephanson said the coordination won’t seek to get around requirements, nor is the effort something the cities or county wouldn’t do for other projects.
With a final package firming up, the work now will begin to convince voters in the Sound Transit district to approve a package of taxes to pay for a significant portion of it, including increases to the sales tax, car license tabs and property taxes that will cost the average taxpayer about $200 more each year.
Recognizing the growth that Snohomish County can expect in the next few decades — 200,000 more people and 50,000 to 75,000 new jobs — the county and the rest of the region will need the capacity that a complete light rail system can deliver.
Convincing the voters will take a commitment by Sound Transit officials to careful management of construction now and operation in the future to avoid the problems now seen in transit systems in California’s Bay Area and Washington, D.C. (Here’s a suggestion, Sound Transit: When you open the Everett Station terminal, skip the $850,000 party you threw for the opening at Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium stations in March. We’re fine with a simple ribbon-cutting.)
In other words, with public money at stake, “do it now, but do it right.”
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