SEATTLE — You’re going to have to wait at least nine more years before you can take a light rail train to West Seattle.
Sound Transit just revised the schedule for extending the Link light rail to the neighborhood, pushing the expected opening date to 2035.
When voters passed the ST3 funding package for light rail ten years ago, it was expected to open in West Seattle by 2030.
“It’s a little frustrating because it’s always kind of difficult to get to West Seattle,” said Peyton Brown. “The light rail is very convenient. I lived in the U-District for a little while, and the Link was super convenient, so not having access to that here is kind of a bummer.”
“I was really hoping it could be sooner, but like I really wasn’t surprised because I feel like delays is all you ever hear about when it comes to trains and public transit,” said John Sleight.
That reputation is not unearned.
Light rail extensions to Lynnwood, Federal Way and Redmond were all finished behind schedule. And last summer, Sound Transit revealed a $35 billion budget gap for its current projects.
“Sound Transit has had a really rough history when it comes to providing things on time and on budget,” said longtime KIRO Newsradio traffic anchor Chris Sullivan. But he says the West Seattle extension is tricky.
“I mean, they have to build a bridge that goes up and over the Spokane Street viaduct and then across the Duwamish River and then they have to tunnel under West Seattle from about Avalon in, so it’s pretty ambitious,” Sullivan said.
You can see the extension plan here.
Sound Transit attributed the delay to several things.
After the line’s price ballooned to $7 billion, they had to cut costs and make changes. For instance, they eliminated a station at Avalon Way right off the West Seattle Bridge.
The agency said it also wanted to lessen the impact on the Sodo neighborhood where the line originates.
And it wanted to have a more accurate time frame.
“I think they’re now trying to be a little more realistic with the public than they have been and I think that’s a good thing,” Sullivan said.