Seattle area voters will have an opportunity to fund a major transit expansion this fall. In late July, Sound Transit board voted 16-2 in favor of a $17.9 billion plan to extend light-rail lines to Lynnwood, Redmond and Federal Way by 2023 and beef up regional bus service and Sounder commuter trains between Lakewood, Tacoma and Seattle.
Last November, voters rejected a $47 billion proposal that included billions of dollars of highway work in addition to a bus-and-rail expansion. Many opposed the measure believing that a higher share of funding should have been directed to increase public transit.
"We heeded the public’s call to deliver a mass transit system that responds to high gas prices and rising congestion. This faster, better and cheaper plan will provide serious relief for our commuters," said Sound Transit Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.
Funding would come from a 0.5 percent increase of the local sales tax, or five cents on a $10 purchase. The approximately $69 annual cost of the increase for each adult is around the cost of a single tank of gas at current pump prices.
Also recently placed on November’s ballot:
- Sonoma and Marin counties, CA— a quarter-cent sales tax measure to fund the 70-mile Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) passenger rail-and-trail project
- Arizona, statewide– a 30-year, $42 billion transportation plan, raising the state sales tax by a penny for a mix of highway and transit projects
- Washoe county, NV– an increase to the sales tax of 1/8 of a cent and adjustment of gasoline and diesel taxes to help offset a multibillion-dollar shortfall for street repairs, highway and transit systems
More than a dozen others are being monitored but have yet to be formally placed on the ballot.