Update 3:00 p.m.: This story was updated to include comments from the ‘State of the County’ speech given by the King County Executive Dow Constantine this afternoon.
A finalized draft of Sound Transit 3 projects was released last week during an agency board meeting and includes significant transit expansion along Northlake and Eastside corridors.
Presented at a March 24 meeting, ST3 includes adding bus rapid transit (BRT) on State Route 522 with 10 stops in Bothell, Kenmore and Lake Forest Park by 2024. Check out a map here and a full list of projects here.
The route would also connect to buses from Woodinville and stretch east to a light rail station on 145th Street, which is scheduled to open in 2023 and was approved in the ST2 package.
“We were just really tickled to hear that we got on the ST3 draft,” Kenmore City Manager Rob Karlinsey said. “But we are not going to count our chickens before they hatch.”
Additional BRT lines would run from Lynnwood, down I-405, through Renton and Burien, and connect with a Bellevue light rail station. Light rail could be extended east to downtown Redmond in 2028, and southeast to Issaquah by 2041 in the ST3 package.
ST3 also proposes building rail from Lynnwood to Everett, and adding a Ballard station by 2038 and West Seattle stations by 2033.
Light rail could also run south to Tacoma, and the existing Sounder train line could be extended south from Tacoma to Lakewood and DuPont.
If all expansions are approved it would mean the Seattle area would house around 108 miles of light rail, coming with a $50.1 billion price tag for ST3.
Around $22.5 billion would come from federal grants, bonds and ridership fares but the rest would be raised through sales, property and motor vehicle excise taxes.
If approved by voters next November, the draft would levy a .5 percent increase in sales tax in addition to the .9 percent already collected for transportation projects.
A motor vehicle excise tax of .8 percent of the vehicle’s value would be added to the .3 percent already collected, and property tax would increase by 25 cents for every $1,000 in assessed value.
Sound Transit estimates this would cost the average adult around $200 more annually, and around $390 per household annually.
Of the $50.1 billion, around 80 percent would go towards capital investment and construction, 13 percent for operation and maintenance and the remaining 7 percent would go to pay off bonds, according to Sound Transit data.
In his March 28 ‘State of the County’ address, King County Executive Dow Constantine spent most of his speech advocating for ST3.
“As light rail expands it will play a pivotal role in transforming a county that is already on the move,” he said. “Our 20th century infrastructure is straining to keep up with our 21st century needs.”
Constantine emphasized mass transit benefits to the I-405 corridor and touched on SR 522 in reducing congestion and increasing capacity during peak hours.
“We have a once in a generation opportunity to get this right,” he said.
Now that the draft has been finalized it will be put before the public for a comment period through April 29 after which public comment will be reviewed and the plan will be put before an expert review panel.
The ST3 board could adopt finalize plans by June, in which case it would be presented to voters on the November ballot.
