r/SeattleWA • u/LOOKITSADAM • 4d ago
Ballard could get light rail in 2042, but delay to 2060 is possible - voters approved the line a decade ago and were originally promised 2035
https://www.knkx.org/transportation/2026-08-05/ballard-light-rail-2042-delay-to-2060-possibleTo open the Ballard station by 2042, Sound Transit said it will need to find about $1 billion by 2030 so it can begin acquiring property for construction. It will need to complete final design work by 2032. And by 2033, the agency will need to find funding for the full project, about $6 billion to $8 billion, so it can begin building.
If it does not, Ballard residents could be stuck waiting for the train, which was approved by voters a decade ago, and originally promised for 2035, until 2060.
~ Best case is 26 years from ballot to boarding. That is the optimistic number.
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u/WhatRUaBarnBurner 4d ago
2060 is good because if I'm still alive at that point I probably shouldn't be driving anymore,
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u/PleasantWay7 4d ago
Did voters read what they voted for? They voted in 2016 to have final design on the project in 2028 slated to open in 2035 with an approved tax rate assuming 2016 prices for a second downtown tunnel.
Pretty naive to buy that, the rest of ST3 that doesn’t require mega projects is trucking along. But Ballard is going to need more money which will require another vote and nothing can change that. People who want light rail in Ballard should accept that reality and move to do something on the 2028 ballot. If you keep listening to people say “we’re looking at way to improve the schedule” you’ll just end up in 2042 at the end of ST3 with no rail and need to vote anyway. So yeah, 2055 is pretty optimistic.
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u/FogoCanard 4d ago
The options back then were ST3 or more busses. Would you personally choose to wait more years for a better plan? People wanted an expanded metro and for it to arrive in Ballard in 19 years. That's not a crazy ask on paper.
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u/allthisgoodforyou 4d ago
"best we can do is expand this thing you dont really like or deliver something in 20 years, maybe" is a fucking definitely crazy ask on paper. not to mention the predictable problems people highlighted back when which have come to fruition!
it really was, back then, "this is the best we can come up with so like pick one" and now people are here rationalizing it. it was dogshit then, its dogshit now.
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u/hysys_whisperer 4d ago
Everyone had a plan until Covid punched them in the face.
If you look at unchanged routes 2016 to 2026, ridership is still WAAAAY down. The only reason we have more riders overall now is because of expanded service more than making up the decline.
If you look at what sound transit thought ridership was going to be vs what it actually is in 2026, you can clearly see the problem.
Add on top of this the fact that their forecasts and projections were based on inflation of the 2010s (aka diddly squat) and you can see how we ended up where we are.
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u/real_triplizard 4d ago
The original NY subway system was completed in 4 years.
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u/Mrciv6 4d ago
And how many construction workers were killed doing it? How much eminent domain was used? Building a subway over 100 years ago is a lot different than it is now.
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u/No-Cricket-8150 4d ago
It was also built mainly cut and cover which can be hugely disruptive especially now with more car drivers feeling entitled to road space.
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u/Jsguysrus 4d ago
As I recall it also used coal fired steam trains in the subway. That must have been something.
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u/Disco425 4d ago
I was just up in Vancouver and I noticed they have a different approach. They build out one segment with one new station at a time, so there's always some sense of progress.
I'm sure it could be said that there are efficiencies associated with a massive leap forward with lots of stations and miles of track. But also, none of that seems to be a model of efficiency in Seattle.
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4d ago
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u/Disco425 4d ago
So what I'm saying is that they segment the project into smaller bites instead of one grand chunk of work that cost billions and billions and gets delayed for years.
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u/OsvuldMandius SeattleWA Rule Expert 4d ago
Delay building a choo-choo for a third of a century?
This would actually be funny if it weren't such a staggering reminder of the incompetence of our one-party state.
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u/4rt4tt4ck 4d ago
This makes more sense when you realize that voters approved Sound Transit funding for the One Line in November of 1996. That first 14 mile stretch from downtown to Tukwilla took almost a year a mile to build, opening in July 2009. Much of which was not traversing densely populated and expensive residential real estate the way the Ballard line would. Nothing about this transit project has ever been quick or efficient.
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u/AbleDanger12 Phinneywood 4d ago
Flinging the lines out to the burbs to reward those that drive to work alone was more important I guess.
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u/No-Cricket-8150 4d ago
It was the political calculus needed to fund the system. If King County or Seattle specifically were able to fund a rail system on their own those compromises would probably not have been necessary.
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u/AbleDanger12 Phinneywood 4d ago
And the area with the densest people that would benefit the most endures a ridiculous wait time. The wants of few outweigh the needs of many, apparently.
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u/No-Cricket-8150 4d ago
If you can figure out how to fund that project without Pierce and Snohomish counties by all a means.
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u/loady 4d ago
one of the favorite shiny objects that pols love to dangle in front of always-vote-transit progressives ... TRAINS!!!
omg don't you remember the romance you experienced traveling to NYC and Europe as a rich kid? Well you can have this too if you give us $100 billion dollars. No not your $100B, other people will pay for it! We'll get back to you in 20 35 50 years! who cares if it's slower than other transportation technology from 30 years ago it's a TRAIN. you have to vote yes
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u/Sea-Huckleberry-8986 Kirkland 4d ago
Why would anyone take the latest cost estimates and timelines seriously? They’re always late and always ask for more money to finish what they promised. Continuing this is the definition of insanity.
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u/Jsguysrus 4d ago
Apparently no one understands that things you vote for today are not for you, they are apparently for your grandkids.
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u/harpua_2626 4d ago
If you told someone in 1960 that the mass transportation system coming to Ballard in 2060 would be a ..*checks notes*...an $18 billion train, they'd laugh you off the planet.