Legislature’s JTC Should Audit Sound Transit

Several posts on this blog have urged the Seattle Times ask legislators to require a performance audit of Sound Transit’s plans to use light rail to reduce I-5 and I-90 congestion into and out of Seattle.  They’ve all been ignored.  This post is an attempt to convince the legislators Joint Transportation Committee (JTC) to use their oversight authority to require Sound Transit do so.

It's not the first time the JTC committee has required Sound Transit action. In 2008, they had concerns over the fact that East Link was the first attempt to put light rail on a “floating bridge”.  The problem was assuring the “expansion joints” connecting the floating and fixed portions of the bridge could withstand the loads from light rail trains.  

In Sept 2005, the WSDOT thought they'd demonstrated the I-90 Bridge/light rail compatibility using flat bed trucks to simulate light rail cars. The JTC was not satisfied because they commissioned an independent review team (IRT) to evaluate the bridge design with light rail.  (The FHA had similar concerns concluding “additional work to be done to determine if it is feasible to design an expansion joint to accommodate light rail”.)

 

The result was nearly ten years after they’d “demonstrated” the I-90 Bridge could withstand the loads, an August 22, 2015, Sound Transit Blog reported the contract with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) had expanded to $56M. to finish the design.   The blog reported Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen’s response was to accuse Sound Transit of incompetence and implored future East Link riders to “carry a life jacket”.

 

Sound Transit’s subsequent actions are surely worthy of outside review. For example, they no longer publish “Service Delivery Quarterly Performance Reports”.  They provided details as to Service Provided, Boarders, Operating Costs, and Fare Box Recovery for each transit mode. The Link Light Rail data included riders added at each Link Station. 

 

An audit could reveal how many of Sound Transit’s predicted 41,000 to 49,000 Northgate Link daily riders added got on at the three Link Stations.  An audit could predict how many of the Sound Transit 37,000 to 57,000 riders would be added by the extension to Lynnwood.  Or whether Sound Transit was justified in predicting extensions to Lynnwood, Federal Way, and Redmond will increase ridership from 18 million in 2022 to 62 million in 2026?  

 

An audit could question the wisdom of Sound Transit routing East Link trains through DSTT eventually to Mariner P&R near Everett.  Consider whether the Ballard Link should be terminated at Westlake Station avoiding the need to spend billions on a second tunnel under Seattle.  

Most important an audit could consider whether the “voter approved” extensions will reduce I-5 and I-90 peak-hour congestion.  How much will the extensions add to cost during off-peak operation and reduce fare box recovery?  How will the riders added by extensions affect access for current riders?

 

The bottom line is the Sound Transit Board has used ST3 approval in 2016 to spend $54B by 2041 on a transit system expansion to currently plan spending   $149.1B by 2046 implementing the expansion. That's surely worthy of an outside audit.  Especially since it ends up with a $30B tax-based debt and ST3 taxes that end in 2041. The JTC should require the audit.