Now is the time to engage with Seattle Mayor Harrell, Seattle City Councilmembers, and Sound Transit Board members about the future of light rail to West Seattle and Ballard.
Our message is simple: Our region is stronger when we can reach agreement together. Selecting a preferred alternative where there is community support presents the best opportunity to deliver the project on time and manage costs.
This project is part of the Sound Transit 3 program, approved by voters in 2016. When complete, it will provide capacity for light rail to Everett and Tacoma through a new downtown Seattle transit tunnel.
The Seattle City Council is considering a resolution to recommend a preferred alternative to the Sound Transit Board of Directors. This resolution is consistent with the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s comments on the draft environmental impact statement. At the June 7 Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee meeting, we encouraged approval of a unified city recommendation.
The Chamber also testified at the June 9 Sound Transit System Expansion Committee where the committee shared a summary of the 5,195 comments on the draft environmental impact statement. We urged committee members to seriously consider the emerging consensus on a preferred alternative. A strong partnership between Sound Transit and the city is the best path forward for delivering this project.
The Chamber asked both Sound Transit and the city of Seattle to work collaboratively on a community-supported alignment, and to minimize construction disruptions. As our region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses won’t survive years of street and transit closures. Mitigation of construction impacts will need to go beyond business as usual.