Where $17 billion will take you

Commuters apparently are fed up with traffic enough that they’re willing to tax themselves for an alternative.

People in each of the three counties of Sound Transit’s district — Snohomish, King and Pierce — voted Tuesday to charge themselves a collective $17.8 billion for more buses and trains.

The measure was winning by a solid margin of 57 percent to 43 percent. In Snohomish County, 54.4 percent of voters said yes, 45.6 percent no. Last year, a similar-sized measure, but one that also included money for roads, was flattened and left for dead by voters.

In terms of what people will get for their money, at least in Snohomish County for the time being, it’s buses, buses and more buses. The Sound Transit district doesn’t include all of Snohomish County. Instead, it mainly includes just the urban areas from Everett south. Riders here will see buses arrive at stops more frequently, according to Sound Transit.

Routes currently served every half-hour in non-peak times, for example, could be served every 15 minutes, and those served every 15 minutes could be served every 10. Those details haven’t been worked out.

Here, light rail will have to wait until 2023. Sound Transit is still finishing up light rail projects in Seattle and south King County, left to be done from the first ballot measure approved by voters in 1996.

When the rail line reaches Lynn­wood, however, it’s expected to provide a nice ride: Trains will travel up to 55 miles per hour, mostly alongside I-5.

Initially, light rail trains will provide two-way service up to 20 hours per day with trains running about every six minutes during rush hours and every 10 to 15 minutes midday at night and on weekends. As demand increases, trains can be lengthened and run as frequently as every two to four minutes.

In Snohomish County, the tax hike provides no additions to commuter rail service to the current four trains per day on weekdays and occasional game-day runs for the Seahawks and Mariners. Sound Transit’s contract with Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, which owns the tracks, is the reason. It puts a limit on how many trains are used on the tracks on the corridor.

Commuter train service could still be added in Snohomish County. A commuter rail from the city of Snohomish to Renton on an old line was bought by the Port of Seattle from BNSF last year for $107 million. If someone else ponies up for some new tracks and trains, service could happen. The line runs through Maltby, Woodinville, Kirkland and Bellevue.

At the commuter train station in Mukilteo, $10.8 million is being set aside for parking and road improvements, but they won’t happen until the state comes up with the money to pay for relocation of the ferry dock.

In Edmonds, the plan sets aside up to $26.3 million for part of the long-planned Edmonds Crossing project. If that ambitious project — pegged at $237 million at full build-out — doesn’t happen, the money will be used to improve the station where it stands, behind the former Waterfront Antique Mall.

None of it will come dirt cheap. The average cost of the new taxes per adult is estimated at $69 a year, and when combined with existing taxes, it’s $125 per year or $225 per household of 2.8 people.

The new tax is scheduled to sunset in 2038, but it can happen sooner if more federal money can be found for the project. Currently, Sound Transit is counting on only $895 million in money from the U.S. government.

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.