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Home / Washington Business - May/June 2004 / Pros & Cons: Why Do We Need Sound Transit? |
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Pros & Cons: Why Do We Need Sound Transit? |
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Written On: May/June 2004 |
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Written By: By John Ladenburg |
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John Ladenburg has been Pierce County executive since 2001. He is the chair of Sound Transit’s executive board.
Frankly, I don’t know why we continue to have this debate. In 1996, voters in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties asked Sound Transit to build solutions to our regional transportation problems. These same voters reaffirmed their support in 2002 by rejecting Initiative 776.
Sound Transit is here because voters want it. They can see we’ve outgrown our freeway system. They understand our unique geography and dense population centers limit the space we have to build new highways. They realize our population grows every year and there are few alternatives for people to get around. And they know our problems can’t be solved town by town, city by city, county by county.
It takes a broad approach that goes beyond political and geographical boundaries. That’s why voters approved Sound Transit.
Sound Transit connects Puget Sound’s urban cores, local transit services and regional destinations. It plays a key role in providing commuters with a variety of transportation options including buses, trains and light rail.
It’s this ability to provide a multi-modal system that makes Sound Transit so important. Just about every other major metropolitan area in the country already knows that. Many built their systems decades ago because they understood they must have a choice of transportation modes to survive, let alone thrive.
The Tacoma-Pierce County area is a perfect example of how a multi-modal system functions. All three Sounder trains going to Seattle are substantially full every morning. Regional Express buses are standing room only during rush hour. Tacoma Link Light Rail carries more people per day than what was projected five years out. And the freeway is still busy.
All modes are doing their jobs. They will do them better as we expand the system, but anyone concerned with the facts can see Sound Transit has been successful. In 2003, Sound Transit carried more than eight million people, a 19 percent increase over 2002. In addition, more than 30 million people have ridden on Regional Express buses, Sounder commuter trains, and the new Link Light Rail since service began. That translates to more than 31,000 people riding Sound Transit trains and buses every day.
Has Sound Transit eliminated congestion? No. But think how much more difficult it would be to move people and goods if all those cars were back on our highways.
On top of that, think how much easier and more economical this would have been if we had started 30 years ago when the need became apparent. Right-of-way costs wouldn’t have been out of this world and there wouldn’t be so much conversation about subsidies.
In every sense, Sound Transit is delivering the multi-modal system voters asked for, and here’s how:
• Regional Express: Sound Transit is building 40 capital projects and operates a fleet of 130 buses serving 19 routes that connect most of the major urban centers in the tri-county area with all-day, limited stop, point-to-point service. When completed, Sound Transit will have invested more than $850 million in transit centers, park-and-rides, improved HOV freeway access and regional bus service.
• Sounder Commuter Rail: Tacoma-to-Seattle commuter rail has been exceptionally popular, with three trains running daily. Track and signal improvements will increase the number of trains to nine. Freight mobility, a vital key to our economic health, will also be enhanced. The service between Everett and Seattle is newer. As more departure times are added, ridership numbers are projected to meet expectations. Additionally, the population in north King County and Snohomish County continues to skyrocket. That makes a choice of transportation modes increasingly important.
• Tacoma Link Light Rail: Construction of the first light rail system came in under budget and two weeks ahead of schedule. In addition, the Tacoma Link is already exceeding ridership numbers projected for 2010. Approximately 2,400 people ride Link everyday and some businesses along the alignment point to it as the reason for profits climbing by as much as 30 percent.
• Central Link Light Rail: Sound Transit broke ground for the Central Link on November 8, 2003. It is the Seattle backbone for the regional high capacity transit system. The initial segment will move more than 40,000 people a day; a much higher number than most new rail lines have experienced. When granting $500 million for the project to begin construction, the Federal Transportation Administration called it one of the two most important transportation projects in the nation.
Sound Transit also has an agreement in principle with the Port of Seattle to provide a direct connection to the airport once the airport’s construction plans are finalized. In the other direction, planning and environmental review are well underway for light rail heading north of Seattle.
There are 3.2 million people living in the Puget Sound region right now and 1.4 million more coming in the next 16 years. If we want to hang on to our economic vitality and quality of life, we simply must act now to provide those five million citizens with a reliable way to get around.
Sound Transit is doing just that. We can continue to talk about it all we want, but the last word belongs to the voters. As far as I’m concerned, they have spoken.
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