Looking toward transit’s future

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, January 16, 2005

Sound Transit wants to start work to bring light rail to Lynnwood and Everett, a colossal undertaking that will cost billions and easily take more than a decade to complete.

In Snohomish County, Sound Transit’s current long-range plan is to extend light rail north along the I-5 corridor. There’s even the option of a light-rail spur that would take riders along the Mukilteo Speedway and the Boeing Freeway.

The plan also proposes adding more Sounder trains on the Everett-to-Seattle route and improving bus service on Highway 99.

Called Sound Transit 2, the agency’s new look to the future could go before voters by the end of 2006. Voters will have to approve raising taxes above what they already pay to Sound Transit. Cost estimates won’t be available until this spring.

But before cost is discussed, the transit agency wants the public to help it update its long-range plan, the document it will use to decide what to include in Sound Transit 2. The agency’s guiding document hasn’t been updated since voters approved Sound Move in 1996.

To that end, Sound Transit is holding a series of public meetings, including one on Tuesday in Everett and another in Lynnwood on Jan. 25.

Sound Transit officials are encouraging the public to stay involved in the planning so that “good ideas don’t fall out” as the list of projects is whittled down to those voters are willing to pay for, said Paul Matsuoka, Sound Transit’s chief policy and planning officer.

Long time coming

Bringing light rail to Snohomish County should be on the long-range plan, but don’t expect it to get here any time soon, said Mark Olson, the Everett city councilman who is vice chairman of Sound Transit’s governing board.

“There is a lot of interest in light rail coming north, but we have a lot more immediate needs,” Olson said. “It’s going to be another 15 to 20 years before light rail gets to Everett.”

More Sounder trains and more buses on well-traveled corridors such as Highway 99 could get the second phase of Sound Transit started, as could building more stations for both forms of transit, Olson said.

Light rail in Snohomish County may have to wait just because of the immense cost of buying the right-of-way to build the tracks and the cost of construction.

Sound Transit doesn’t know how much it will cost to extend light rail from downtown Seattle to Seattle’s Northgate neighborhood, so it’s far too early to say how much it would cost to build in Snohomish County, Matsuoka said.

Still, construction on the section of tracks from downtown Seattle to SeaTac is underway, which should give taxpayers here some insight, Matsuoka said. Construction on the 14-mile Seattle-to-SeaTac stretch of track started last year and will finish in 2009. It’s expected to cost $2.6 billion.

Sound Transit hopes to keep costs down in Snohomish County by using as much of the state’s right-of-way along I-5 as possible and by not having to do any tunneling.

Sound Transit’s current taxing level would generate $444 million for new construction in Snohomish County in a second phase of Sound Transit, said Lee Somerstein, an agency spokesman.

Gaining voter trust

At the end of the day, a second phase of Sound Transit will only happen if voters believe it’s necessary.

That means Sound Transit must again gain the trust of voters, said Jack Start, a Sound Transit board member from Mill Creek.

“We need intelligent input form the residents as to what they think our needs are,” Start said.

Start and other Sound Transit officials say the agency is well on its way to gaining the voter’s trust.

The agency’s reputation was tarnished in the early years because its projects came in far over budget and took too long to build, including the over budget and delayed Everett-to-Seattle Sounder service.

Since then, though, Sound Transit largely has been finishing projects on time and under budget, including the direct-access ramp that allows I-5 carpool and bus traffic to exit and enter the freeway from the carpool lane directly into the Lynnwood Transit Center. Having its bus, Sounder and Tacoma’s light rail up and working has also helped the agency.

And now Sound Transit says polling shows its image is on the rise.

Sixty-one percent of 802 registered voters said they favor a second phase of Sound Transit, according to survey results released last week.

Of those polled in Snohomish County, 59 percent said they would like to see the agency expand, according to the survey by Evans/McDonough Co., Inc.

Still, the agency knows that the public has not looked favorably on transportation funding packages in recent years.

“What we really need is a connection between what the public perceives that it wants, to what its willing to pay for,” Start said.

Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.