Light rail is still on track

Associated Press

SEATTLE — After years of debate over light rail, Sound Transit voted 12-4 Thursday to build a 14-mile link from downtown Seattle south to Tukwila.

The route would end about a mile short of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, so travelers would have to take shuttle buses for the final leg.

Construction on the $2.1 billion project is to begin next summer, with a mid-2009 opening planned, said Sound Transit executive director Joni Earl.

The 33-minute route would have 11 stops and is projected to attract 41,000 daily riders.

“We have a lot of work to do, but we’re ready,” Earl said after the vote.

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell was among the four Sound Transit board members who voted against the plan.

“Now, in our push to start building light rail, we are rushing toward a poor compromise, one that will affect our transportation options for years to come,” Schell told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Wednesday.

The other dissenters were King County Councilwoman Jane Hague, Everett Mayor Ed Hansen and King County Councilman Rob McKenna, who was recently appointed chairman of the state Transportation Improvement Board.

Critics have accused Sound Transit of overestimating ridership and underestimating costs. They say the billions slated for light rail would be better used on alternatives such as buses and monorails.

King County Councilman Greg Nickels voted yes. Nickels is one of two Seattle mayoral candidates.

In a statement released after the vote, Nickels said, "With today’s action, we have in hand real plans, and a real budget, working toward real goals. This system will eventually get to SeaTac, Northgate, Bellevue and Everett — one step at a time."

Nickels’ opponent in the mayor’s race, Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran, called the plan a costly mistake.

"This Sound Transit plan is truly a train to nowhere," Sidran said. "Not only is there no plan or financing to go north where the great majority of the ridership can be found, the train doesn’t even reach its destination — Sea-Tac Airport."

Plans to expand the line are in the works. Sound Transit on Thursday authorized a two-year study on expanding light rail north from downtown Seattle to Northgate.

As proposed, light rail would start near the Washington State Convention and Trade Center downtown, then continue south through the Rainier Valley and Tukwila before ending at a park-and-ride lot at S. 154th Street and Highway 518 in SeaTac. From there, riders could take a 3 1/2-minute bus ride to the airport.

Voters in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties created Sound Transit in 1996, approving a $4 billion regional transit system that was to include express buses and commuter rail as well as light rail.

Last year, Sound Transit was planning to move forward with a 21-mile light-rail line from the University District to the city of SeaTac. Then the agency discovered it was $1 billion over budget.

Planners made major revisions, but not before the federal government suspended a $500 million grant it had approved for the project.

Now that a light-rail plan has been approved, Sound Transit can resume talks to get that grant reinstated, spokesman Geoff Stuckart said Thursday.