WASHINGTON — Sound Transit will receive more than $250 million in federal grants for a pair of projects extending light rail lines, Washington state’s two U.S. senators announced Friday.
The awards come as the agency prepares to announce plans to delay some planned construction projects as a result of a $12 billion funding shortfall — a move decried by transit advocates.
The Federal Transit Administration will award $158 million for the Federal Way Link Extension project under its Capital Investment Grants program, as well as $94 million for the Lynnwood Link Extension. The Federal Way project is a 7.8 mile, three-station southward addition to the current 22-mile, 22-station system. That extension is scheduled to open in 2024, as is the Lynnwood project, an 8.5-mile, four-station northward extension.
“The Federal Way and Lynnwood Link Extension projects are crucial to reducing congestion, curbing emissions, and opening up opportunity and mobility to communities that have traditionally been left behind,” Sen. Patty Murray said in a press release. In the same release, Sen. Maria Cantwell said, “Every federal dollar that we get helps keep Sound Transit’s light rail expansion moving and gets us closer to building a transit spine from Everett to Tacoma.”
Meanwhile, the Seattle Times reports a coalition of advocacy groups is asking Sound Transit to move more quickly on its planned rail and bus extensions, even as the agency prepares to announce a “realignment” that could delay completion of some of those projects by two to 10 years. The Sound Transit board is scheduled to vote on a realignment plan on Aug. 5.
Board chairman Kent Keel says the delays are necessary to allow the agency to budget reliably, and to “play it straight with our region’s voters, taxpayers and commuters on what is possible under current revenue and cost projections.
The advocacy groups say the agency needs to proceed for climate reasons, and because cities such as Everett, Wash., have received little for funds they have paid into Sound Transit to date.
