The City Council received a briefing this morning about the proposed Sound Transit 3 expansion of our regional light rail and bus network. The draft includes several large projects in Seattle, including lines to Ballard and West Seattle and a second transit tunnel through downtown.
The light rail has gotten a lot of positive press recently with the opening of the Capitol Hill and UW stations and the resulting large uptick in ridership. A front-page Seattle Times story this morning highlighted our city as having the fastest growing bus ridership in the nation.
Put simply, transit matters and it is important that our local leaders get this plan right. To do that, we need robust public engagement.
The Sound Transit Board is currently accepting feedback and will vote in June on a final plan to send to voters for the November ballot. The Seattle residents have a few representatives on the Board, including Mayor Murray, City Councilmember Rob Johnson, County Executive Dow Constantine, and County Councilmember Joe McDermott.More information on the plan can be found at soundtransit3.org. This website also includes a link to an online survey and a comment form. There are also a few open houses coming up in Ballard (April 18), West Seattle (April 26), and downtown (April 28) where attendees can learn more and submit feedback.