Link light rail: Dan Strauss Restarts Downtown Tunnel Debate, Everett Mayor Franklin Prioritizes Everett Link

Dan Strauss Restarts Downtown Tunnel Debate on Eve of ST3 Plan Update

With the Sound Transit board days away from voting on a update to the Sound Transit 3 plan, a move that is poised to take completion dates for numerous major transit projects off the calendar, Seattle Councilmember Dan Strauss has reignited a conversation about whether funding to build a second light rail tunnel in Downtown Seattle could be shifted elsewhere.

The second downtown tunnel is a central part of the ST3 plan, planned to carry riders heading from Tacoma and the Rainier Valley through South Lake Union and onto Ballard. Unlike other transit projects that voters approved in 2016, it's being funded jointly by taxpayers regionwide from Everett to Lakewood and Sammamish – an exception to the longstanding policy tying investments to dollars raised locally in that "subarea" of the region.

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As an area of the region where voters turned out in high numbers to support ST3, Ballard residents have been loudly crying foul on any recalibration of the plan that leaves out the neighborhood, pointing to the highest ridership projections out of any ST3 project. The agency expects the full SoDo to Ballard line to generate 90,000 to 137,000 daily riders, either boarding or disembarking somewhere between Chinatown International District and Ballard every single day.

That said, Sound Transit expects only 25% of those riders to be using stations north of Seattle Center. The bulk of those other riders would use stations somewhere downtown, where they could potentially use the existing tunnel.

https://www.theurbanist.org/dan-strauss-restarts-downtown-tunnel-debate-on-eve-of-st3-plan-update/

Mayor Franklin: Prioritizing Everett Link makes sense locally and regionally

By Cassie Franklin

Over the past several months, as a member of Sound Transit’s Board of Directors, I have been working with County Executive Dave Somers (chair of the board) and Lynnwood Mayor David Parshall to fulfill the commitment of bringing light rail to Everett that was first envisioned back in 1996. Leaders at that time anchored a long-range plan around a future light rail system that would connect Puget Sound’s job centers across three counties — what we now refer to as the “spine”.

As Sound Transit faces a $35 billion funding gap, future light rail stations and other investments are all being considered for delay, redesign, or elimination. To the surprise of no one, I have been a vocal advocate for the Everett Link Extension. I’m an advocate not only because I am mayor, but because the investment is rooted in sound policy and financial sense. We must complete the spine for both local and regional benefits.

As of today, I am pleased to report that the Sound Transit board chair’s plan includes no cuts and no delays to completing the six stations in Snohomish County and Everett. But we need to hold the line and continue to make our case to the public and the board.

Affordability. First and foremost, compared to the ballooning costs of other parts of the system, light rail to Everett is affordable in Sound Transit’s budget. Our project remains one of the most cost-effective across the entire system envisioned in ST3. Snohomish County taxpayers have been paying into regional transit since 1997 – a nearly three-decades commitment that deserves to be honored. As the board makes difficult prioritization decisions, completing light rail to Everett is a matter of keeping faith with a community that has long invested in the regional system. We have waited patiently to see that investment realized.

https://www.heraldnet.com/2026/05/25/mayor-franklin-prioritizing-everett-link-makes-sense-locally-and-regionally/