SEATTLE – A proposed light rail spur from Everett Station to Everett Community College would run three trains up and down the middle of Broadway every 10 to 15 minutes, carrying 3,000 people a day.
Each car would seat up to 200 passengers, stop six times along the 21/2-mile route and get green-light priority at 20 intersections.
The spur would also cost as much as $313 million to build – a whopping $125 million per mile.
Sound Transit on Thursday presented preliminary cost estimates and rider projections for 80 projects under consideration for its second phase, including the Everett light rail spur, which would cost from $272 million to $313 million.
A winnowed-down project list could go before voters in November 2006.
“We’ve got many more good ideas than we can afford here,” said John Ladenburg, Sound Transit chairman and Pierce County executive. “I would like to start that winnowing process.”
In Snohomish County, 16 projects are on the table. Adding up their total cost, the bill would be from $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion.
That means there would have to be some cutting, because even if Sound Transit asks voters for the largest sales tax hike possible – .5 percent – Snohomish County would still have only $1 billion to spend.
Sound Transit board member and Edmonds City Council president Richard Marin said it’s unlikely Sound Transit would ask voters for the maximum amount.
“It all comes down to projects that make sense and that we can afford,” Marin said.
He also said he wants to see a balance between north and south Snohomish County, which is why he is glad up to $27 million will be available to begin engineering a light rail route from the King County line to the Ash Way park and ride.
A light rail spur also is proposed between the Lynnwood Transit Center and Alderwood mall, but there was no cost estimate for that because the Sound Transit board wanted to know how many people would ride it first, said Matt Shelden, north corridor lead for Sound Transit.
The estimate was 500 people a day, Shelden said, adding that he doesn’t know whether that’s enough to convince the board to pursue it.
The most expensive project proposed in Snohomish County, aside from light rail, is a bid to widen stretches of Highway 99 and Evergreen Way to add bus-only lanes similar to those on Highway 99 in Lynnwood.
It would cost between $353 million and $381 million to widen the nine miles of heavily traveled road from 148th Street SW to Pacific Avenue in Everett.
Other projects include parking garages for park and rides and Sounder stations; a new bus route on Highway 527; a new direct-access ramp to allow Mariner park and ride traffic to exit from and enter directly into I-5’s carpool lanes; and a permanent Sounder Station at Edmonds Crossing.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
