The Sound Transit board last week made a series of changes to the Sound Transit 3 package headed to voters this fall, including moving up several completion dates and adding an additional Renton station to the bus rapid transit project.
“I’m pleased that they added that back in,” Mayor Denis Law said this week, adding that while it should feel like a “big win” for the city, the station not only makes sense but could have posed a “real issue” if not included in the package.
Renton officials have been complaining for months that the $50 billion ST3 package continues a 20-year trend of the group seemingly ignoring Renton. Officials estimate that Renton taxpayers contribute about $23 million per year in sales taxes to the transit district for a total of more than $237 million over the two decades the money has been collected.
Thus far, the city has only about 1 1/2 Sound Transit bus routes to show for their contribution.
“We are one of the only jurisdictions in King County that has received no infrastructure from Sound Transit,” Law said.
Renton officials attended the May 26 meeting of the Sound Transit Board to request three amendments to the plan, including a return to the “capital intensive” bus rapid transit project originally proposed that would include additional Renton stations, an increase in number of parking spaces from 700 to 2,000 at the proposed South Renton Transit Center and a study to determine the feasibility of light rail in Renton.
According to a press release sent out by Sound Transit following the meeting, “Changes would expand early projects slated for completion within the first eight years, including improvements to bus rapid transit on I-405 between Lynnwood and Burien with added facilities in Kirkland and Renton.”
A second release detailing some of the changes notes a “freeway station, direct access ramps and surface parking in Renton at Northeast 44th Street.”
Also included in the details is the inclusion of exploring “potential future service to Renton via Tukwila” in a high-capacity transit study.
In addition to adding in the new station, the board moved up the timetable several of the light rail projects.
Renton Chamber of Commerce CEO Vicky Baxter said the new elements in ST3 still fall short of what a city this size should expect.
“No, it is not enough considering what Renton taxpayers deserve for all the millions they have paid for the last 20 years, but it is a start,” Baxter said in an email.
Baxter also said that she hears from employers in Renton who are searching for employees that the gap between where light rail is going and where it is needed continues to grow.
“Without a desirable innovative transit system, my fear is we will lose companies to cities who have easy highway ‘access and flow’ along with an abundant work force thus allowing ‘just in time’ manufacturing to flourish,” Baxter said. “It appears to me light rail is going where the money is and not where the need is.”
The Sound Transit board was scheduled to vote on proposed updated projects and timelines at a special meeting June 2. The board is scheduled to adopt completed language of the plan on June 23 to meet election submission deadlines.
The package heads to voters in November.
