King County Councilman Dow Constantine on Light Rail

Here’s a pro-light rail expansion opinion piece from Dow Constantine that is running in today’s Seattle Times.

We as a region are about to complete the first phase of a new transit system — Sound Transit’s Link light-rail line. Next year, you will be able to ride the 14-mile line that connects downtown Seattle, Beacon Hill, the Rainier Valley, Tukwila, and Sea-Tac Airport. A few years after that, light-rail expansion will take you north to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington.

Sound Transit has done extensive planning and public outreach over the past three years on extending our rail system. But, our plans to extend this first line to the north, south and east are mere lines on a map until regional leaders and voters summon the will to move forward.

I believe that now is the time for Sound Transit to present to the voters a modified light-rail and bus-rapid-transit plan, freed from last year’s legislative mandate that married it to the roads package.

Good stuff, he even comes up with a mitigation plan in the event Sound Transit cannont come back to the ballot this year, the first time I’ve heard a politicain mention this idea:

If agreement cannot be reached on a Sound Transit expansion proposal, local jurisdictions should consider other options for moving forward. State law provides that both counties and cities may form “transportation benefit districts.” The people of a single county could decide, in the absence of a regional package, to forge ahead with the creation of high-capacity transit service, such as new bus-rapid-transit corridors or the extension of light rail.

I’d much rather Sound Transit do it than resorting to a King County expansion, but it’s nice to see the politicans thinking outside the box.