Feds give light rail green light
November 28, 2006
The Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) has authorized Sound Transit to enter the final design stage for its University Link light rail project.
Sen. Patty Murray, incoming chair of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced the approval of the plan yesterday at a press conference in Seattle.
"Today marks another major milestone for Sound Transit and is a reminder to commuters stuck in traffic that help is on the way," Murray said at the press conference.
The design for the University Link project, which would extend light rail from downtown Seattle to the University District, is about 30 percent complete, said Sound Transit spokesman Geoff Patrick.
The final design will be completed in about two years, he said. The 3.15-mile University Link would offer service via tunnel to an underground station near Husky Stadium.
Funding for the University Link would come from existing taxpayer money and a $750 million grant from the federal government. Taxpayers have already approved the use of tax dollars for the project, but the federal government has not yet approved the grant.
"To move forward, we need to get a full-funding grant agreement from the federal government," Patrick said.
He said he is optimistic it will be approved because the project received has the FTA's highest possible ranking.
"The communities the University Link will serve are extremely ripe for mass transit," Patrick said. "The public benefit is just going to be extremely high."
He said Sound Transit is working closely with the UW to address issues related to expansion, such as how to handle traffic and parking and how to reduce the impact on the University.
Construction would begin in late 2008 or early 2009. It would be completed around 2016.
Reporter Meghan Erkkinen: news@thedaily.washington.edu
Comments
Post a comment
You are not currently logged in. You must log in using your Facebook account to post a comment. It's fast, easy, and we don't store any of your personal information, except your first and last name when you post a comment.
Why?
Our old comment system was abused to leave racist, sexist, fradulent, or simply useless comments. We're hoping this verification step will improve the quality of our comments.
I don't have a Facebook account. I'd like to verify my identity using my MySpace/Google/Yahoo!/OpenID/SSN/주민등록번호/MasterCard.
Let us know. We're open to suggestions. Over the next few weeks, we'll be testing other authentication methods.
The FBI/CIA/TSA/CoS/Emmert is out to get me! I need to stay anonymous!
We're working on a way to allow this. If you have any ideas, email us.
I think this website is ugly.
It's going to be a work in progress all summer, so it may look and act differently from week to week. If you want to influence this process, email us. We read every email, and respond to most of them.