Saturday, May 22, 2004
Light-Rail Line Will Cost Even More Than Its Critics Predicted
Seattle's rail-transit agency, Sound Transit, estimates that an extension of a light-rail line to the University of Washington will cost $1.7 to $1.85 billion -- and that doesn't include inflation, contingency reserves, or $110 million already spent on the project. Sound Transit is currently spending $2.4 billion to build a 14-mile line from downtown Seattle to Tukwilla.
Seattle voters originally approved a line from the University to Sea-Tac Airport. But cost overruns led Sound Transit to build only from downtown, several miles south of the University, to Tukwilla, several miles north of the Airport. At $170 million a mile, the shorter line, which is now under construction, is one of the most outrageously expensive light-rail routes in the nation.
Seattle's rail-transit agency, Sound Transit, estimates that an extension of a light-rail line to the University of Washington will cost $1.7 to $1.85 billion -- and that doesn't include inflation, contingency reserves, or $110 million already spent on the project. Sound Transit is currently spending $2.4 billion to build a 14-mile line from downtown Seattle to Tukwilla.
Seattle voters originally approved a line from the University to Sea-Tac Airport. But cost overruns led Sound Transit to build only from downtown, several miles south of the University, to Tukwilla, several miles north of the Airport. At $170 million a mile, the shorter line, which is now under construction, is one of the most outrageously expensive light-rail routes in the nation.
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