Sound Transit Delays West Seattle Light Rail to 2035 as Costs Swell From $2.3 Billion to $5 Billion
Updated
Updated · The Seattle Times · Aug 14
Sound Transit Delays West Seattle Light Rail to 2035 as Costs Swell From $2.3 Billion to $5 Billion
3 articles · Updated · The Seattle Times · Aug 14
Summary
2035 is now Sound Transit’s target for West Seattle light rail, three years later than its 2032 plan and five years beyond the 2030 opening pitched to voters in 2016.
Costs drove the reset: the project’s estimate climbed from $2.3 billion in 2015 dollars to above $7 billion before design cuts and station changes pulled it closer to $5 billion, while engineering challenges and 40% to 70% construction inflation added pressure.
55 properties are now slated for purchase or condemnation, with the right-of-way budget raised to $465 million and another $300 million set aside for final engineering and early construction preparation.
25,000 daily riders are projected eventually, with trips downtown about 15 minutes faster than buses, but full benefits depend on later downtown connections and the Ballard segment remains unaffordable before 2042.
Federal funding is still a risk: Sound Transit assumes $1 billion and hopes for $3 billion in grants, even as the Trump administration has held up $1.9 billion for other qualified projects.