King County is going hog wild for tunnels these days. As always, South Sounders better keep a hand on their pocketbooks.
At the urging of East Side leaders, Sound Transit has been studying the possibility of sending light rail underground through Bellevue’s downtown core. The regional transit agency has already bored a hole through Beacon Hill and is about to start doing the same through Capitol Hill, to connect Seattle’s about-to-debut light rail line to the University of Washington.
Most controversially, the Legislature has decided to buy into a $4 billion-plus downtown Seattle tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
None of these tunnels is intrinsically wrongheaded. In terms of the final structure, all beat the surface-level or elevated alternatives. The question is, who pays?
Seattle’s transit taxes, plus federal grants, are covering its Beacon and Capitol Hill tunnels. No problem there. The Legislature has committed to pay $2.8 billion for the underground Alaskan Way replacement. That’s OK, too, as long as the Legislature continues to insist that Seattle – which demanded the tunnel – cover any cost overruns.
Now Bellevue wants a tunnel of its own, to carry light rail under its dense downtown. According to Sound Transit, the three down Bellevue tunnel options range in cost from $1.12 billion to $1.61 billion. By comparison, an elevated line could cost $700 million.
This is another case where going underground may produce the superior end result. The surface alternatives would have trains crossing crowded intersections during rush hour – and cars and trains tend to have unhappy relationships. All things being equal, what works best for Bellevue – one of the region’s economic dynamos – would be in the general public interest.
But all things aren’t equal when a rail project in Bellevue might suck precious transit money out of equally worthy rail projects elsewhere, including the planned extension of light rail from Sea-Tac Airport to Federal Way (and eventually Tacoma).
The Sound Transit board – which is meeting today to discuss East Side light rail – should keep the underground option on the table. But there must be an understanding going in that Bellevue itself will have to find either the money or economies needed to pay for a tunnel without delaying or jeopardizing rail expansion into Snohomish County and Federal Way.
Every corner of the transit region deserves the best possible rail service – within the limits of affordability – because they all are part of a single system. This is true of Bellevue. But it’s equally true of the South Sound.
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