When Sound Transit 3 was approved by voters, the package included a multi-million dollar planning study of a future light rail line to Renton. While I was on Council I helped hire a consultant to get this study started, and we now need to urgently get it finished.
We will likely see a proposed Sound Transit 4 in the next two to three years, as Sound Transit has been forced to make compromises on planned service and schedule due to rising costs and pandemic impacts. Polls show that voters in Seattle and surrounding areas remain highly in favor of mass transit (84 percent in Seattle), so any proposed Sound Transit 4 package is likely to pass, whether or not Renton is included in it or in favor of it.
A Sound Transit 4 package is likely to speed-up already approved projects, and Renton should insist on not waiting until 2040 for a light rail station. Given Renton’s already large 107,000 population, with thousands of new housing units currently in planning or construction, and zoning for tens of thousands more, a Renton light rail station should be targeted for 2030 or earlier.
Renton officials must assure that the voter-approved Renton planning study is completed, and that a Renton light rail connection is included in any future Sound Transit package.
The station location(s) should be identified,
The preliminary right-of-ways should be determined
The construction and operations costs should be estimated.
Ridership projections should be completed
Renton’s past and future contributions to Sound Transit should be professionally calculated, so a strong regional equity case can be made to include the rail line in any future packages
Renton’s elected officials should then work together to assure the package is included in any future Sound Transit 4 initiative
As I’ve covered in other blog entries, Renton taxpayers have already contributed an estimated one to two billion dollars to Sound Transit, and we’re obligated to spending billions more. Many Renton officials have worked hard to get this planning study authorized and underway. Getting our deserved light rail line will require that the council work together as a team, and keep the Renton light rail planning study at at the forefront so that we don’t run out of time.
We must work collaboratively on getting light rail to Renton, or Renton taxpayers will be paying billions for decades for most other cities in our area to have high speed rail transit while Renton gets left out.
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