A previous blog post detailed Sound Transit’s June 9th System Expansion Committee approval of the NE 130th St Infill Station on I-5 and a NE 85th St Bus Rapid Transit station along I-405, continued Sound Transit’s decision to ignore the light rail spine’s need for “motorized access. That the nearest parking to 130th station was more than a mile away.
This post details how the two meetings not only approved spending $204 million more on the station than what Sound Transit's June 7th April Agency Progress Report, they also included charts showing the Lynnwood Link debut had been delayed by at least two years from that shown in the Progress Report. Both meeting agendas included the following Business Item:
Resolution No. R2022-17: Adopting the NE 130th Street Infill Station project baseline schedule and budget by (a) increasing the authorized project allocation by $203,738,000 from $36,417,000 to $240,155,000, (b) increasing the annual project budget by $9,833,027 from $6,584,030 to $16,417,057, and (c) establishing an open for service date of Q2 2026.
Yet the April Agency Progress Report’s Link Light Rail Program Overview for NE 130th Street Infill Station included the Estimated Final Cost (EFC) of $36.4 Million. What prompted the $204 million increase? It's also not clear how an annual $10 million increase will fund the added $204 million cost.
Even more “questionable” was the need for the station’s Q2 2026 Service Date. Both meeting included Resolution 2022-17 with the following Key Features Summary:
This action advances timely construction of station superstructure and platform work to be completed prior to activation of the Lynnwood Link Extension overhead catenary system. Completing this work earlier reduces construction risks, single tracking, and shutdowns of revenue operations for Lynnwood Link that may otherwise be necessary when working adjacent to a live system.
One would have thought a 2-year delay in Lynnwood Link service was worthy of some "public notification". Instead, the only mention of the delay in the June 9th meeting was a “star” in a chart for 130th St, "Baseline Project Schedule" with the following:
Lynnwood Link Revenue Service (original plan, subject to change)
Yet Sound Transit’s April Agency Progress Report showed the Lynnwood Link revenue service date as July 2024. That 64.3% of the major construction contracts had been completed. The report's Link Project Schedule showed all the task completion dates were consistent with the July 2024 service dateRail Program.
Apparently between a June 7th Agency Progress Report and a June 9th System Expansion Committee meeting Sound Transit decided to delay the Lynnwood Link debut for at least 2 years. The obvious question is "Why? Whatever the reason the result will be a two-year delay in Lynnwood Link demonstrating Prop 1 extensions ability to reduce congestion.
It may be Sound Transit finally recognized the results of the October 2nd Northgate Link debut. That 4-car light rail trains don’t have the capacity to reduce multi-lane freeway peak hour congestion and cost too much to operate during off-peak commutes. Sound Transit has yet to release a quarterly Service Provided Report for Q4-2021. It would’ve provided the riders added by each of the 3 Northgate Link stations as well as the cost for adding those riders
The best indication of Northgate Link ridership was the 8000 daily increase in total link riders between September 2021 and January 2021, a fraction of Sound Transit's predicted 41,000 to 49,000. The “likely” reason the lack of added “motorized access” along the I-5 to the three Northgate Link stations.
The Lynnwood Link plans call for adding 500 stalls at the 148th and 185th Shoreline station by Q3 2023. Presumably those commuters will have access to ST 511-513 routes to Northgate station and Link. When Lynnwood Link does debut it will only change where these riders access light rail, doing little to increase transit ridership.
The bottom line is Lynnwood Link does nothing to increase capacity, little to increase access for new riders, reduces access for current riders, and doubles the operating cost. Delaying that demonstration allows them to continue spending additional billions for another two years on fatally flawed extensions
They should be forced to justify the delay. Yet the Sound Transit Board asked no questions and unanimously approved the 130th St station budget and 2 year Lynnwood Link delay. Typical of Seattle Times, their Traffic Lab, who previously hailed the Northgate Link debut as "Transit Transformed" has ignored both the increased spending on a station without motorized access and the Lynnwood Link delay.
My candidacy for U.S Senate is an attempt to expose both.
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