Sound Transit figures it has fulfilled the promises it made in 1996, when Snohomish County voters approved its Sound Move measure to bring commuter rail and expanded bus service to Snohomish County.
Now it has asked residents to decide what’s next.
Light rail running from Seattle and the Eastside to Everett along Interstate 5 and I-405?
Improved bus service on Highway 99 and the Bothell-Everett Highway?
Better Sounder service between Everett and Seattle?
The regional transit agency on Jan. 22 launched a discussion on what to include in the second phase of its Sound Move initiative by hiring a consultant to spend the next two years putting together a possible Sound Transit ballot measure.
The new ballot measure could be ready by spring 2005, but agency officials said it could take much longer before they are ready to ask voters for money for the project.
That timeline could be sped up, because Snohomish, King and Pierce county officials may link their proposed transportation ballot measure – the $14.2 billion Regional Transportation Investment District – with the Sound Transit ballot measure.
Gary Nelson, chairman of the Snohomish County Council and chairman of the Regional Transportation Investment District, on Jan. 21 wrote a letter asking Sound Transit to consider a joint ballot measure, a move that could ease pressure to include light rail in the Regional Transportation Investment District proposal.
The transportation investment district, which is controlled by the county councils of Snohomish, King and Pierce counties, hasn’t decided when it will send a measure to voters asking for funding. The ballot proposal has been stalled in King County, where leaders have feuded over whether to include light rail in the tax package.
As for Sound Transit, it has begun all of the transit initiatives approved by voters in 1996, and now must go back to voters to see if they are willing to pay for the second wave of projects.
Although the agency has sketched out a second phase, nothing will be set in stone until voters get a chance to weigh in, said Sheila Dezarn, Sound Transit’s policy and planning program manager.
Over the next two years, “we’ll spend a lot of time in Snohomish County talking to the citizens, asking people what their priorities are,” she said.
Sound Transit’s finance committee on Jan. 22 voted to pay the national engineering firm Parsons Brinckeroff Inc. up to $4.5 million over two years to find out what the public wants.
Sound Transit’s long-range vision shows light rail running north from Seattle and the Eastside along I-5 and I-405. The plan shows the two routes merging near where the freeways merge, then continuing north along I-5 to Everett.
The plan also calls for major improvements to bus service along Highway 99 and the Bothell-Everett Highway from Bothell to south Everett. That corridor could see mass transit lanes added, more park-and-rides and more frequent bus stops.
Other options include improving Sounder service, which is now limited to four round trips a day between Everett and Seattle, and building more direct access ramps so buses can exit the freeway from carpool lanes.
If voters say they want such services, improved Sounder and bus service could happen in five to 10 years, said Mark Olson, an Everett City Council member and a Sound Transit board member. Light rail would be at least 15 years away, he added.
“You’ve got to figure out where to put (light rail),” Olson said. Light rail would have to be phased in one segment at a time, he said. “Just the sheer expense of it is mind-numbing.”
Mark Funk, executive management analyst for Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said Sound Transit should focus on getting Sounder up and running and finishing its other phase 1 projects in Snohomish County before tackling a new phase. Reardon sits on the Sound Transit board.
Lukas Velush is a reporter for The Herald in Everett.
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