On Thursday, August 5, the Sound Transit Board of Directors took a vote adopting the hybrid approach to realignment championed by King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci and Board Chair Kent Keel. The Chamber submitted a letter supporting this proposal. The letter urged Board members to prioritize on time project delivery as promised to voters in 2016. We also encouraged meaningful stakeholder engagement with representatives from the business community, neighborhoods that have been historically unserved and underserved by transit, and community groups.

The hybrid proposal focuses on keeping projects on time by requiring the board to look at cost offsets for each project; this includes looking at securing additional revenue and identifying cost savings. This will allow many projects to retain their original delivery date. However, if sufficient funds can’t be obtained for certain project, the proposal retains the tiered schedule of Chair Keel’s proposal, so individual projects may be delayed to secure overall affordability of ST3.

At the August 5 Board Meeting, members also voted on amendments to the realignment proposal.

Adopted amendments include:

  • Moving up the completion date of the Northeast 130th Street light rail station to 2025
  • A 2031 completion dated for the Graham Street station and the Boeing Access Road station
  • Moving up Kirkland’s NE 85th station to 2026 completion date
  • Accelerating parking investments in Pierce County

You can find the revised project tiers as passed by the Board here.

For more details on Realignment see past coverage from the Chamber here or Sound Transit’s news release here.

The Chamber believes that accessible public transportation is critical to keeping our region economically competitive by ensuring that people are connected to jobs and education. Delivering ST3 investments on time is a crucial to the connectivity of our region and we applaud the Board’s decision to support the hybrid realignment proposal. The Chamber is committed to remaining engaged with Sound Transit and the Board to see ST3 investments through.