Officials: Transit measure needed to fix congestion, help businesses

  • By Jim Davis The Herald Business Journal Editor
  • Tuesday, February 2, 2016 5:57am
  • Business
Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts

Congestion around the region is more than inconvenient; it’s a threat to jobs and businesses.

That’s what elected officials say about the bumper-to-bumper traffic that’s only getting worse around the Puget Sound area.

“Getting from Everett to Seattle or Seattle to Everett with any predictability is simply not possible on I-5,” said Everett City Councilman Paul Roberts.

Now, the 18-member Sound Transit board is putting together a new transit measure called Sound Transit 3 that is expected to go to voters this fall. The new measure is likely to finish what is called the “spine,” building a light rail corridor from Everett to Tacoma and out to Redmond.

Everett officials would like to see the light-rail line run to Paine Field — where it would serve tens of thousands of Boeing workers — then head north to the Everett Station and end up near Everett Community College.

But the Everett leg will be competing against other needs in the region, in particular proposals to build light rail that reaches Ballard and West Seattle. Those proposals would be attractive King County voters.

So there might be pressure to build light rail to Everett up I-5 or Highway 99, which would save money for other projects. A Sound Transit study released in early December showed that an I-5 line of light rail would cost between $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion. A line that runs to Paine Field would cost an estimated $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion.

“Building the wrong system might be cheaper, but at the end of the day it’s wrong,” said Roberts, who serves on the Sound Transit board.

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson also strongly supports bringing light rail to Paine Field.

“If it’s a straight shot up I-5 and bypasses 100,000 workers (at the Boeing factory), that’s show stopper for me.” Stephanson said. “That’s just unacceptable. I would be hard pressed to support it in 2016 if that’s the case.”

Sound Transit operates express bus, commuter rail and light rail in Snohomish, Pierce and King counties.

Voters have twice approved tax measures to pay for still-under-construction light rail as well as Sounder commuter train service and bus service.

Under the current measure, called Sound Transit 2, light rail is being extended south to Kent-Des Moines and north to Lynnwood.

Sound Transit expects to open two new stations this spring, one in the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol Hill and the other at Husky Stadium next to the University of Washington. Those stations are opening $150 million under budget and six months early.

The agency expects light rail to reach Northgate by 2021 and Lynnwood by 2023. That is being paid for with a 0.9 percent sales tax — or 9 cents on every $10 purchase — across the region and an increase in car tabs. In early December, Sound Transit released cost estimates as well as ridership and travel time projections for dozens of projects that would be paid for if voters approve Sound Transit 3.

The agency also put out construction options if the new measure is approved for 15, 20 or 25 years. If approved, a typical adult would pay as much as $200 a year in new taxes.

“The decisions this board makes in the next year will shape this region for decades to come,” said Dow Constantine, the King County executive, who also chairs the Sound Transit board. “We’re not going to able to do every single thing that has been suggested, but I know this board is up to finding the best investments.”

Sound Transit board members hope to come up with a final package by May or June for voters to consider on the November ballot.

If the board goes for a longer tax measure — for instance, the 25-year tax — they will be able to construct more light rail and other transit.

But voters have twice rejected Sound Transit measures that have asked for too much.

Roberts and Stephanson, who does not serve on the Sound Transit board, said that they might need to do away with some costs — maybe fewer stations, for now — to build the spine. They both said that commuters don’t care about any one region, Roberts said.

“People don’t go to work in one region and live in one region and only care about the one region,” Roberts said.

It’s going to be a delicate, difficult negotiation to get to the right package that the board can support, the elected officials can support and most importantly the voters can support, Stephanson said.

“It’s not going to do Snohomish County any good if we get everything we want and the voters of King County vote it down and vice versa,” Stephanson said.

This story has been modified to correct the year in which Sound Transit expects light rail to reach Northgate.

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