SEATTLE — Sound Transit has advanced the process of designing a light rail line that would extend to Everett, Wash., with the agency’s board voting Thursday on potential station sites for the 16-mile extension north from the line to Lynnwood, Wash., that is now under construction.
The Seattle Times reports plans approved Thursday would not bring the line to the Amtrak station in Everett, but would have a downtown terminal at Angel of the Winds Arena, a 10,000-seat facility primarily used by a junior hockey team, or at the Snohomish County Civic Campus. Depending on the precise location, either choice could leave up to a half-mile gap between the light rail and Amtrak stations.
When funded by voters, the extension was targeted for completion in 2036, but length of the design process and an inflation-fueled funding shortfall of up to $600 million now mean opening is more likely for 2041. If Sound Transit opts for a two-stage construction process, the first part, reaching the area of Boeing’s Everett plant, could open by 2037.
Thursday’s 9-0 vote by the board authorizes environmental studies to complete 10% of the engineering for the right-of-way and seven planned stations. Current cost estimates for the extension range from $5.05 billion to $6.9 billion, the Times reports, plus $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion for a maintenance facility.
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