Sound Transit and local elected officials will host a community forum in Ballard later this month to provide updates on the Ballard Link Extension and answer questions about the project.
The forum is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the National Nordic Museum’s Osberg Great Hall, 2655 NW Market St.
The event will include updates from Sound Transit on the status of the light rail extension, which has faced funding challenges and timeline uncertainty.
Seattle Councilmember Dan Strauss, in his recent newsletter, said changes made to Sound Transit’s updated plan earlier this year kept work on the Ballard Link Extension moving forward despite a plan he said could have delayed the project indefinitely.
One of those changes requires Sound Transit to provide a potential date range for the extension. Sound Transit has since said the Ballard Link Extension could begin service as soon as 2042 if the agency is able to close the project’s funding gap.
Strauss also said the project’s $300 million in design costs are fully funded, allowing design work to continue while Sound Transit works to address the broader funding shortfall.
Other changes approved earlier this year include an amendment from King County Executive Girmay Zahilay requiring Sound Transit to seek strategies that could lower costs or speed up delivery of projects included in Sound Transit 3.
As part of that effort, Sound Transit released a request for information last month seeking ideas from qualified sources about technologies and other approaches that could reduce costs or accelerate projects that are still in the planning phase, including the Ballard Link Extension.
Sound Transit will also be required to present its Board of Directors with options for improving revenue and financing tools next year. Strauss said that process will be important to efforts to begin closing the Ballard extension’s funding gap by 2030.
The Oct. 19 forum will allow community members to hear the latest information directly from Sound Transit and ask questions about the project.
Photo: The recently opened Pinehurst Station /Sound Transit