(The Center Square) – Seattle City Councilman Dan Strauss urged more 200 residents at a community meeting Wednesday night to lobby members of the Sound Transit Board to save the planned Ballard train light rail station.
Strauss is a member of Sound Transit Board as is Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson who has also said she is in favor of keeping the Ballard station in the transit plan.
The councilman said, however, the majority of the 16 members are from outside Seattle or its immediate area and don’t have a vested interest in saving the planned downtown Ballard station.
Strauss said the time for community members to make their positions known to board members was running out.
“This is the start of three months of difficult decisions,” he said.
Strauss said a decision on the Ballard station is expected in May.
Many of the residents were upset that the station is now on the chopping block after they voted for increases in sales taxes, property taxes and auto registration fees in 2016 to pay for the station as part of a light rail expansion plan.
More than $27 billion in higher taxes were enacted to cover the costs of a $53 billion bond issue.
Residents at the meeting said it’s difficult to travel from Ballard, a section of Seattle 5.6 miles from downtown, without a car, because there are no direct buses.
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The Sound Transit Ballard station won’t provide relief quickly for residents, if it does open, because its on the schedule for 2039. Assuming it opens at all.
Sound Transit documents released earlier this month show that the estimated cost of the Ballard Line extension has ballooned to between $20.1 billion and $22.6 billion. That makes it the most expensive project in the Sound Transit 2016 plan.
The original estimate ten years ago put the line’s cost at $4.2 billion.
Sound Transit officials say they are considering building a shorter rail extension from downtown Seattle that would end short of Ballard.
The transit agency documents show the planned line would end at the planned Seattle Center stop, or the station to be constructed after that, Smith Cove, by the cruise ship terminal. Smith Cove is 3.2 miles short of Ballard and Seattle Center is 4.5 miles away.
The transit agency has said it could cost almost as much as $35 billion more to build out the transit system than originally anticipated. Sound Transit officials have blamed their budget shortfall on inflation and the rising cost of materials, which they say has also increased the cost of the Ballard line.
Strauss said part of the reason building the light rail system has been costly is that Sound Transit has spent more than is necessary building train stations.
“So Sound Transit has built the platinum standard of light rail facilities that are really expensive,” he said.
Strauss said underground stations have cost up to $1 billion each.
He said Sound Transit officials had used “an old way of thinking” in their design plans for the stations.
“Every station had to be built out to the max, there had to be two extra stairwells beyond the code,” Strauss said.
The Ballard station is just one of several stations or even lines that could be cut or scaled back by Sound Transit. One concept would cut the West Seattle extension planned for 2032 or reduce the number of stations.
Other options include cutting out Tacoma, and ending the light rail in Fife, about six miles south, knocking out a station by the Boeing plant in Everett and eliminating a planned line between Kirkland and Issaquah.
Strauss said if the Ballard station does become a reality, he said the transit agency will use a scaled down approach to save money.
He said that is the way to go.
“Instead of platinum, I’m aiming for gold,” Strauss said.
Ultimately, he said it comes down to this: “I am looking for a train that runs.”
