Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss is calling for changes to Sound Transit’s current plans for the Ballard Link Extension ahead of a board vote scheduled for May 28.
In a newsletter on Friday, Strauss said the Sound Transit Board will discuss a proposal that would fund light rail only to Seattle Center while indefinitely postponing the extension from Seattle Center to Ballard without allocating funding for its construction.
The Ballard Link Extension was approved by voters as part of the ST3 package in 2016.
Strauss said he is proposing three amendments ahead of the vote.
The first would prioritize building a “Ballard Starter Line” from Westlake to Ballard by shifting Seattle-area funding away from a proposed second downtown transit tunnel. Strauss said the current plan prioritizes nearly $11 billion for the second tunnel instead of the Ballard extension.
“We should move Seattle’s funding from the second downtown tunnel to where it’s needed most — building a Ballard Starter Line from Westlake to Ballard and reaching new light rail riders,” Strauss said in his statement. “We can’t give up on the second tunnel, and we will identify cost savings and additional funding to build it through ongoing cost-saving exercises being completed through Sound Transit’s Enterprise Initiative.”
Strauss also said the Ballard Link Extension is projected to serve up to 148,000 daily riders, which he described as the highest ridership projection of any Sound Transit expansion project.
A second amendment would focus on changes to Sound Transit’s financing approach. Strauss said the agency currently uses about 30 percent of its legal debt capacity and argued that adjustments to debt policies and longer-term bonds could help accelerate projects without raising taxes. “Making some limited, commonsense adjustments to that policy would make a huge difference,” Strauss said.
The third amendment would require Sound Transit to provide a timeline for the Ballard Link Extension under the current proposal. Strauss said the agency has not provided a schedule for when the extension to Ballard could be completed if the current plan moves forward.
“While that timeline will certainly be bad, likely showing Sound Transit’s proposal sets the Ballard Link Extension back decades, that transparency is critical so we can start working to improve that date,” Strauss said.
The latest developments follow news from earlier this month that the Sound Transit Executive Committee was considering a plan that would continue funding for a second downtown transit tunnel while only funding light rail expansion to Seattle Center, with no identified construction funding for the Seattle Center-to-Ballard segment. At the time, Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss criticized the proposal, calling it “unacceptable” and arguing that Sound Transit needed to present “an actual plan” to complete the Ballard extension after voters approved the project as part of ST3 in 2016.
The Sound Transit Board is scheduled to vote on the proposal and related amendments during its May 28 meeting at 1:30 p.m.
“I encourage you to make your thoughts known to the Sound Transit Board,” Strauss said. More information about how to give public comment at the May 28 meeting is available on Sound Transit’s public comment guide.
Read more:
Despite vows to complete Ballard light rail, Sound Transit plan still falls short
Sound Transit vows to keep Ballard light rail despite rising costs
Community meeting planned on future of Ballard light rail
Councilmember Strauss urges Sound Transit to maintain Ballard light rail plans
Photo: Sound Transit