Mark down a couple of dates in May if you want to tell Sound Transit about where light rail routes and stations should go when the agency extends its line from SeaTac to Kent and eventually to Federal Way.
Public hearings are set for Wednesday, May 6 at the Federal Way Community Center, 876 S. 333rd St., and Thursday, May 7 at the Highline College Student Union Building, 2400 S. 240th St., in Des Moines.
Both meetings feature an open house from 4-7 p.m. with the public hearings starting at 5:30 p.m.
Sound Transit released the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on April 10 about the four route alternatives and multiple station options. Those alternatives include routes on SR 99 (Pacific Highway South) and Interstate 5 as well as SR 99 to I-5 and I-5 to SR 99. The agency’s board will pick a preferred route this summer.
Sound Transit is scheduled to open its Angle Lake Station at South 200th Street in SeaTac in 2016 and extend light rail to Kent/Des Moines to about South 240th Street by 2023. The line will go to Federal Way when more funding is secured.
In addition to holding public meetings, Sound Transit is offering interactive web tools for viewing and commenting on alternatives and station options. Users can go to federalwaylink.org to watch a simulated video, build a route from alternatives and station options, and submit comments using an online form.
The public can also email comments to FWLE@soundtransit.org, or mail them to Federal Way Link Extension, Draft EIS Comments, Sound Transit, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104.
The public comment period will run from April 10 through May 26.
The draft EIS provides a detailed analysis of the potential benefits and impacts of the project, which would extend light rail service 7.6 miles south of the future Angle Lake Station in the City of SeaTac through a corridor that parallels Interstate 5 and State Route 99. The report includes four alternatives with various station and alignment options. It details how the project might affect transportation, economic development, properties in the study area, and other natural and built environment resources. Ridership potential and conceptual cost comparisons are also included.
In 2008 voters approved the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure, which included plans for extending light rail south from the city of SeaTac to Kent/Des Moines and the northern boundary of Federal Way. After the recession wiped out 29 percent in projected ST2 revenues, the agency realigned its program. While funding to construct light rail south of Kent/Des Moines was no longer available, the Board allocated $24 million to develop a shovel-ready plan for extending light rail further south to the Federal Way Transit Center when funding for construction is secured.
Following the comment period, the Sound Transit Board is scheduled to identify a preferred alternative this summer. A Final Environmental Impact Statement is planned for release in mid-2016, with the Board selecting the project to be built later that year. Final design will begin in 2017 and construction in 2019, with service to Kent/Des Moines beginning in 2023.
By 2023, Sound Transit will be operating more than 30 miles of light rail service northward to the University of Washington, Northgate and Lynnwood, eastward to Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond’s Overlake area, and southward to Kent/Des Moines. Link is expected to carry more than 80 million riders annually by 2030.
The Federal Way Link Extension draft EIS is available at the Des Moines, Kent, Woodmont, Federal Way, Federal Way 320th, and Washington State libraries, and online at federalwaylink.org.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
