Light Rail Extended to the Dome (31. March 2007, 08:51 by Derek Young) ~ Waiting and waiting
The TNT is reporting that Sound Transit is no longer planning to end the Light Rail line at the Poodle Dog in Fife. From the story:
“It’s big news for Tacoma,” said Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, chairman of the Sound Transit board. “It’s a done deal. We’re going to the Tacoma Dome.”
It’ll be a while, but I’m looking forward to it.
Link to The News Tribune
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I was not surprised to hear that the light rail was originally going to end in Fife, given Sound Transit’s track record. I remember when Tacoma Link was under construction and hundreds of thousands (maybe millions?) of dollars were wasted because the agency and its subcontractors failed to use common sense. Sound Transit is an agency of broken promises, so I would not be surprised that even if voters approve the latest tax package, the link to the Dome District is never built.
After all, we were supposed to have 15 daily Sounder trains running BOTH DIRECTIONS between Seattle and Tacoma five years ago, among other failures.
This region really needs alternative transportation options, but I remain pessimistic.
2 | Posted by drizell | Mar 31, 09:30 AM
20 years is what I read that it will take to get here…hope I live long enough to see it. Regardless, progress and rock on Tacoma
3 | Posted by dni | Mar 31, 09:30 AM
Its a start.
I usually support mass transit systems but the proposal to end the train in Fife would have made me question it.
Thanks to our local Sound Transit representatives for pushing the issue. Here’s Seago’s early report on the story.
But a very excited Tacoma Councilwoman Julie Anderson, who represents Tacoma on the Sound Transit board, called this morning with excellent news
(Any chance to reduce the 20 year timeline?)
ST makes a big deal out of announcing what should have been a no-brainer: extending light rail to Tacoma. That they even considered stopping at the Poodle Dog for months has strained the credibility of an organization that had been doing so much better.
Yet, don’t forget- this is STILL a deeply flawed proposal because the light rail won’t get here for 20 years! You will pay the taxes all that time, but no service.
5 | Posted by Siwel | Mar 31, 10:47 AM
I still can’t believe they were actually considering stopping the route in FIFE.
Hopefully this all works out before I turn 50 years old…
7 | Posted by snoopy | Mar 31, 11:31 AM
Isn’t all this dependent on passing a huge roads and transit spending package in the fall? And if we pass a huge transit package will we still need the roads package? From my understanding you don’t get the transit spending unless you pass the road spending.
Sad but true. Pretty unfortunate that a transit package intended to reduce the need for roads relies on the fate of a completely unrelated roads bill for its passage…
8 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | Mar 31, 11:53 AM
If a roads/transit compromise is what it takes to get a decent transit system built around here, it’s worth it. We should have had light rail around the region 20 years ago … and having a transit system in place/under construction will discourage future road building/road expansions.
9 | Posted by Michael G. | Apr 2, 10:18 AM
Take a close look at the package coming to your ballot and you may see a lot more roads compared to the transit. I just hope we don’t have to revisit that silly, “Let’s add a lane to I-405 in order to speed up traffic by 1mph.”
If this package ends up being another one of those, throwing money at every project in every region to get approval, it may well fail like the last one.
10 | Posted by DavidS | Apr 2, 01:30 PM
If this package ends up being another one of those, throwing money at every project in every region to get approval, it may well fail like the last one.
Not to mention the fact that it will probably factor in several controversial roads projects like the Viaduct repair/replace, the Cross Base Highway, and the sore feelings over the Narrows Bridge tolls. I would guess that the prospects for the road bill aren’t good. But I’ve been wrong before…
11 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | Apr 2, 02:08 PM
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