Completion of a new Kent parking garage for Sounder train commuters will be pushed out one year to 2025 under a realignment plan adopted by the Sound Transit Board.
“The steep rise in real estate and construction costs in the region in combination with advancing environmental review and project designs have driven up cost estimates for future transit expansions, contributing to a $6.5 billion affordability gap for delivering projects on earlier schedules,” according to an Aug. 5 Sound Transit news release after the board approved the plan.
While projects already in construction are not affected, the adopted realignment plan will guide the delivery dates for the next generation of voter-approved projects.
Sound Transit remains poised to open the $3.1 billion, 7.8-mile light rail extension in 2024 from Angle Lake in SeaTac through Kent to Federal Way.
“In the next three years Sound Transit will nearly triple the length of our light rail system from 22 to 62 miles,” said Kent Keel, Sound Transit Board chair and University Place Councilmember. “The realignment plan will guide our work to expedite the next waves of projects, including reaching Tacoma, Everett, West Seattle and Ballard and delivering bus rapid transit and Sounder expansions. These projects are critical for keeping people moving in the face of our population growth and for protecting our economy and environment. To succeed, we will need expanded collaboration at the local, state and national levels.”
Despite the affordability gap, current financial projections are sufficient for delivering many projects with minimal delays, according to Sound Transit. Through securing additional funding and reducing costs, the realignment plan reflects the board’s commitment to seek to eliminate financially necessitated delays altogether.
Completion of the Operations and Maintenance Facility South for light rail vehicles has been delayed one year to 2029. Sound Transit is considering one site in Kent (at the former Midway Landfill) and two sites in Federal Way for the maintenance facility. The board is expected to select a potential site later this year.
Kent Sounder Station
Sound Transit plans to build a new parking garage downtown for train commuters with 534 stalls plus bus, pedestrian and bicycle improvements. The garage is slated to be built along Railroad Avenue North, just south of West James Street. Construction is expected to begin in 2023.
Voters approved additional Sounder parking garages in Kent, Auburn and Sumner in 2008 as part of the Sound Transit 2 package. The Sound Transit Board suspended the projects in 2010 because of the Great Recession when sales tax revenue for the agency came up shorter than projected. The agency’s board restored funding for the garages in 2016, and now has delayed the projects one more year.
“We have been waiting for a while,” said Matt Gilbert, city of Kent economic and community development deputy director, in a July 20 presentation to the City Council. “It moved forward in 2020 when we picked a site for the garage.”
Commuters now park at the Kent Station garage, 301 Railroad Ave. N., which opened in 2001, just north of West Smith Street. The garage and surface lot provide 996 parking spaces, but they fill up quickly (at least they did prior to COVID-19), which is why the agency decided it needed a second garage.
The cost of the Kent Sounder Station project is an estimated $116 million, which includes planning, permits, design, and construction of all project elements including traffic mitigation, bus layover space, bike-pedestrian improvements and the parking garage, according to Sound Transit.
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