West Seattle light rail extension costs billions more | FOX 13 Seattle

A new update from Sound Transit on its plans to extend the light rail into West Seattle was met with backlash from the community.

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[jamesthompson]

I live in East Pierce Co and help pay for that trough taxes yet we don't even have bus service. Thanks people.

[andrewzheng]

Seattle city government (and really everything in the US) needs to stop with the incessant reviews and surveys. Set firm deadlines, and when voters approve a plan actually go through without introducing costly delays.

Voters approved for Ballard Link to connect at Chinatown to form a hub - so why are they allowed to ignore that and instead decide to straddle Chinatown with two useless stations? Why did we even *consider* Amazon’s suggestion to shift alignments in SLU west - a suggestion that in exchange for Amazon not having to deal with construction for three years would instead delay construction as a whole by two and add billions of dollars to costs?

Once alignments have been set and voted upon, they should be considered sacred barring the discovery unconscionable safety hazards. The light rail *will* go either under, over, or through somebody’s backyard and interests no matter where it goes - arguing over that is a moot point. Benefit to the entire city as a whole should be the the overriding factor by a long shot

[useff]

Not worth our money even when working.

[bocephusmcclintock]

Whhhhaaaat you mean everything cost more now than it did in Shocking 😲

[carebear]

Did they say 7 billion for a train on 4 miles of track? Contractors always go cost over runs on government and to start off with there bids are astronomical. The other problem is they usually have only 3 contractors that bid to be the contractors so the three contractors know they will get a high paying contract from the government so the three just rotate in shafting the government, if there doing that that practice has to stop of only using three contractors to get the bid….I know how this works I worked for the government and two of the three bidders didn’t want to bid on a job so the three got the bid because he was the only one who bid, it was a bid to re roof a barn, $750.000 barn roof lol, and you wonder why you pay high taxes…..

[tech-test-break-fix]

I remember the adds on TV telling me to vote yes for St3. It would only cost the average family $100 a year.

[Hoshimoto]

Building Gotham city isn't cheap.

[destiny]

There goes your house taxes.. Wake up people!

[judd]

NO MORE COST OVERRUNS. Sound Transit leadership needs to be FIRED.

[ronlee]

DON'T BLAME IT ON COVID !!! . . . BLAME IT ON POOR MONEY MANAGEMENT & INTENTIONAL DECEPTION WITH UNREALISTIC ESTIMATES . . . HOW MANY MORE TIMES ARE PEOPLE GOING TO BELIEVE THEIR "LIES" !!!

[paulroberts]

It was cheaper in 1967 the first time they proposed a train to West Seattle. At the presentation I asked "how long will it take from West Seattle to the University of Washington?" The reply was one hour 10 minutes the same as the three transfers bus ride when I could drive it in 20 minutes. Whats new?

[Golfnut_]

Sound Transit... Not meeting timelines... Over Budget... Shortened lines.

Why should we be Nothing ever changes.

[shaecloud]

Will it be 'the big one' proof?

[RedWork]

How about no more light rail, no more busses, if your poor, get a city bike....

[rurban]

The homeless love the free ride on the light rail, thanks tax payers.

[jeremiah]

The biggest issue I have we paid for it and there is no restrooms is BS. You have seats being peed on and is gross.

[walawala-fods]

pay up or you can keep driving and get stuck for hours in traffic. easy choices. traffic is only getting worse

[Prxyshj]

The entire light rail system is a waste of time and money

[chrisaycock]

Hi California here we’ve been doing this with the high speed rail for a long time now lol. Cost overruns are common at this point lol.

[freesk]

I live North of Lynnwood and commute to Seattle each day. Every time I pass one of the new light-rail trains, I count the passengers, or try to estimate how full the trains are. Most of the time they are less than 10% full. Only once have I seen a full train. A few times, I saw half-full trains. My bet is, whatever they promised us that they would achieve in ridership was a total lie and will never be even 50% achieved. They lied to us to sell us their boondoggle. They got campaign contributions from construction contractors. Lots of people are hoping that OTHER people will use this train, but it is not happening. And we are still getting robbed for this via our vehicle tabs.