The wait for light rail often feels a long way off. So long, that some voters who will make a choice about the latest plan wonder if they will ever get to use it. But the promise of light rail is already transforming communities.
2036 might sound far off for Everett commuters, but that’s a five year bump-up from the original Sound Transit 3 plan. After hearing, “we need more and we need it now” for the last few months, the Sound Transit Board responded. It voted to push up timelines across the entire central Puget Sound area. But advocates say the choice to fund light rail is about more than transportation.
“I mean this is an attractive place to live and if we are to accommodate people and be inclusive about how that happens, the strategy needs to include planning around transit.”
That’s Shefali Ranganathan, Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition, a statewide advocacy group. She points to a former industrial zone in Bellevue – the Spring District — which is being transformed into a business center, with housing.
“REI announced they are going to be locating in the Spring District because of light rail, and we’re seeing that with Weyerhauser, we’re seeing that with other big businesses so we think it’s an economic development catalyst, and it’s also an opportunity for us to rethink where people live and work, and how can we make it work for all communities.”
Ranganathan says with new stations and lines rolling out every few years, the wait won’t feel so long. And the planning has to happen even sooner – which she says will ensure thriving communities for the future.
