Sound Transit Board Grapples with Plan to Rebalance ST3
Members of the Sound Transit Board of Directors are facing a weighty decision over the next few weeks, ahead of a scheduled May 28 vote to rebalance expansion plans that have been on the books for years. On Thursday, the board's Executive Committee took its first stab at a proposal by Chair Dave Somers to keep some Sound Transit 3 (ST3) projects on track and indefinitely defer others, including nearly half of a light rail line between SoDo and Ballard and several long-promised infill stations on the existing 1 Line.
The agency is now referring to the Somers proposal as the "affordable ST3" plan. Thanks to cost-saving measures already unearthed by Sound Transit's capital team, and some revenue levers that the agency has been able to pull, the much-publicized $34.5 billion gap through 2046 has been reduced to a $13 billion gap in the capital program, with the horizon of the financial plan now stretching to 2052.
Even at reduced levels, the gap means Sound Transit can't provide a completion date for the full Ballard Line, on top of a new six-year delay to the future 4 line between South Kirkland and Issaquah, pushing it to 2050.
Though not all board members fully showed their cards Thursday, it became clear quickly that the Somers proposal is a pill that many will be able to swallow and is viewed as a marked improvement over rebalancing options that the board looked at in March. Board Vice Chairs Girmay Zahilay and Ryan Mello did everything but directly add their stamp of approval to the plan, noting collaboration with Somers over the past few weeks.
https://www.theurbanist.org/sound-transit-board-grapples-with-plan-to-rebalance-st3/