Harrell, Constantine light-rail ideas add years, money to Sound Transit planning

Sound Transit will extend its light-rail planning two extra years until 2026, and spend $32.8 million more, while consultants study new downtown and South Lake Union station sites promoted by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and King County Executive Dow Constantine.

That money will be paid to HNTB Corp., which will write a final environmental impact statement that’s required by federal law, and will conduct preliminary engineering, for the proposed $11.1 billion light-rail route from Ballard to Sodo.

The Sound Transit board of directors unanimously approved a $122.5 million contract change Thursday, but much of that would be needed anyway for the final citywide environmental impact statement, leaving a net increase of $32.8 million to examine new options, transit staff said.

Earlier in the meeting, members of the public blasted continuing process delays, and the board’s preference to not build a second International District/Chinatown Station between Union Station and King Street Station, the most convenient spot for a regional transit hub.

Consultants will go back to the drawing board to analyze these new sites, which weren’t studied in the draft January 2022 environmental impact statement:

• Build a second Pioneer Square Station instead of a second International District/Chinatown Station, plus a “south” of Chinatown train station adjacent to the former immigration building on Seattle Boulevard South near Interstate 90, site of a proposed redevelopment. Harrell this year has vowed to prevent repeating the history of Interstate 5, the Kingdome and other public works that tore into the Chinatown International District community. The Pioneer Square hub scenario complements a “civic campus” vision by Constantine, who currently chairs the transit board, to replace the county jail and offices in Pioneer Square with housing towers, while building a new jail in Sodo. This version would save money by discarding the voter-approved Midtown Station below Fifth Avenue at Madison Street.
• Shift the future Denny Station northwest of the busy crossroads of Westlake Avenue North and Denny Way, so construction happens on a corner lot now owned by Vulcan Real Estate. Harrell changed his mind in late July to embrace that site, which keeps some traffic lanes of Westlake open during construction, instead of an earlier option beneath the street, where excavation would block all five lanes.

The board in March did specify the Union Station hub should remain in the environmental impact statement, keeping that option alive.

However, preliminary engineering will be performed only on the preferred versions, project director Sandra Fann told a board committee Aug. 10.

These are high-stakes decisions, affecting a projected 60,000 people daily who might pass through dual International District/Chinatown stations — to visit relatives and restaurants, change from an Eastside train to a SeaTac train, attend sports events, or travel from an Amtrak Cascades train to a final destination in the University District.

“Sound Transit is on the precipice of making decisions that will waste your time, over and over again, forever,” the group Seattle Subway wrote this week in The Urbanist. People on foot would take eight to 12 minutes if they walk between the new stations and the existing International District/Chinatown Station, the group said. Or people could change trains at Pioneer Square Station, which adds several minutes to some trips.

Board member Claudia Balducci of Bellevue defended the vote Thursday as necessary to let environmental studies continue even though she favors the Union Station hub. The board isn’t scheduled to make final station choices until after the study is done in 2026.

“If we were to not pass this today, we would be dead in the water. We would be at a standstill. The only way out is through,” she said at the meeting. Balducci reminded listeners the Union Station version is thought to cost $800 million more than others, she said, due to the construction price of demolishing and rebuilding the six-lane Fourth Avenue South viaduct. “Is there a way to make it cheaper and more doable?” Afterward, she tweeted a picture of Union Station supporters, among them nearby seniors, waving red cards.

A Harrell spokesperson, Jamie Housen, emphasized additional study of the Denny Station shift would cause “no delay to the overall schedule,” based on a May transit-staff update. The full Ballard-to-Sodo segment is currently scheduled for 2039.

Such goals hinge on many other factors, such as past and future studies, engineering and political agreements; future financing to include $500 million or so city contributions; and preventing construction or design mistakes. Harrell aims to streamline and expedite other steps in the project, Housen said by email Monday.

“We fully recognize that transit riders and residents who are looking forward to future ST3 projects want them delivered as quickly as possible,” Housen wrote.

Constantine’s staff replied by email Monday: “Sound Transit worked with community to address concerns by crafting creative solutions with community members, which has involved some shifts in potential station locations, adding time to the federal process.”

A sliver of the extra $32.8 million will go to design the new preferred Seattle Center Station site a block west of Climate Pledge Arena, rather than off Mercer Street or next to KEXP and the Seattle Repertory Theatre, spokesperson Rachelle Cunningham said Friday. West Seattle-Sodo route planning should be done by 2024, and was separated from the more intricate Ballard-Sodo portion.

The entire contract for HNTB’s environmental study and preliminary engineering work in Seattle now stands at $318.8 million. More than 6½ years have passed since voters passed the Sound Transit 3 tax increase in 2016, to finance regional rail and bus extensions.