Seattle – Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell joined with local partners to call for Sound Transit action to help better manage costs and deliver Seattle light rail expansion. The mayor emphasized the importance of prioritizing expansion where it will deliver the greatest ridership and serve the densest communities, like the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions, and reaffirmed the city’s commitment to helping deliver these transformative projects to communities.
“Major infrastructure projects like light rail expansion are facing significant cost pressures nationwide, but we cannot allow these challenges to derail our commitment to Seattle voters who overwhelmingly supported this investment,” said Mayor Harrell. “The West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions will be transformative transit expansions for Seattle and the region – generating significant ridership and making it easier than ever to get around. This moment calls for creative thinking and collaborative problem-solving across all jurisdictions to deliver on the projects supported by the voters. Today, my office is proposing actions and strategies to Sound Transit and regional partners to identify cost solutions and advance the vision for an expanded light rail network that we all want to see become reality. And tomorrow, the City will advance budget legislation to expand our staff team to ensure that we are ready to help Sound Transit deliver these investments.”
Earlier this year, Seattle did important work with Sound Transit to cut down on delays and costs through permitting reform earlier this year. Now, Mayor Harrell calls for clear actions with partner agencies, Sound Transit, and the Sound Transit Board in the coming months to reduce costs and increase certainty of project delivery schedules, including:
- The City’s and Sound Transit’s staff teams should work closely together on continued opportunities to streamline processes, and to study value engineering opportunities that will lead to real cost savings for the delivery of these lines and other ST3 projects.
- At Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting, the mayor will ask partner jurisdictions and Sound Transit to build on this effort by requesting that Sound Transit provide third-party review and validation of assumptions related to cost, revenue, and project risk that includes sharing of information and responding to questions from Seattle, Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties.
- The mayor is calling on Sound Transit to pursue innovative cost saving measures and alternative funding strategies, and ensuring we are open to out-of-the-box ideas to deliver Seattle projects as planned and promised to voters.
- The mayor is advancing legislation to front significant budget resources, putting in place staff ready to move these projects forward in partnership with Sound Transit.
- The Sound Transit Board should advance the “regional spine” and West Seattle and Ballard light rail extension projects concurrently, not delay one capital project over another.
Mayor Harrell’s and City’s requests are in response to a financial update provided at the August 28 Sound Transit Board Meeting. At the meeting, Sound Transit shared that the estimated costs to deliver the entire ST3 program have increased 20-25% over the current long-range financial plan. For capital projects – such as building new light rail lines and stations – this means an increase of up to $30 billion when project timelines and anticipated inflation are factored in.
At that same meeting, the Board adopted Motion 2025-36, laying out principles for Sound Transit’s Enterprise Initiative that will strive to address these affordability challenges through cost-savings strategies and new revenue tools. The motion included an amendment proposed by Mayor Harrell that emphasized the principle of connecting the region’s current and future population and job centers. See Mayor Harrell’s initial statement after the meeting.
Mayor Harrell also announced budget legislation that reaffirms the City’s strong partnership to help deliver these investments to Seattle communities. In collaboration with Councilmember Strauss, Mayor Harrell submitted legislation that will be heard at tomorrow’s Finance, Native Communities, & Tribal Relations Committee to advance significant budget resources to ensure that Seattle has the staff ready to move these projects forward in partnership with Sound Transit. This budget action demonstrates Seattle’s full commitment to support the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions.
Earlier this year, Mayor Harrell signed an executive order to expedite light rail delivery, centralized the project staff team under the leadership of an expanded Office of the Waterfront, Civic Projects, and Sound Transit, and rewrote land use code to accelerate the permitting for light rail projects. The land use changes simplify and streamline development standards and permit processes for the entirety of the Ballard and West Seattle light rail projects with a goal of cutting the permitting time in half, from the previous average of 240 days down to 120. The revised code develops comprehensive tree and vegetation management plans, improves accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists, creates a more efficient appeals process, and will sequence construction to keep people and goods moving.
In the current light rail system, Sound Transit sees up to 3.4 million boardings per month. Once built, the ST3 system anticipates hundreds of thousands of additional boardings per day, with over 200,000 daily boardings at stations along the West Seattle and Ballard extensions. Together, the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions will add 11.8 miles of light rail service and 13 new stations as part of the regional transit system expansion approved by voters in November 2016.
The West Seattle Link Extension will connect dense residential and job centers in the SODO, Delridge, and West Seattle neighborhoods. The Sound Transit Board selected route and station locations in October 2024, following review of environmental documents and years of public feedback. The City recently adopted the West Seattle Link Extension Record of Decision into the City’s Transitway Agreement, a necessary step allowing the City to issue permits to Sound Transit for construction once final designs are complete. Service is currently scheduled to begin in 2032.
The Ballard Link Extension will connect Chinatown-International District and downtown Seattle with stations in South Lake Union, Seattle Center, and continuing on to the Interbay and Ballard neighborhoods. The project proposes a new light rail tunnel in downtown Seattle to operate the regional system efficiently. The project is currently in the planning phase, and service is scheduled to begin in 2039.
What People Are Saying
King County Executive Shannon Braddock
“We must remain focused on forward momentum—delivering both service and infrastructure supported by voters. Sustaining public confidence depends on our ability to keep delivering projects. We must not be paralyzed because of mega project challenges. I look forward to working with Mayor Harrell and the Sound Transit board to deliver on our commitment to voters.”
King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda
“Every single project in ST3 matters—from Everett to Tacoma, from Redmond to West Seattle and Ballard—every line is essential. For Seattle, Sound Transit expansion is not just transit infrastructure—it’s affordable housing infrastructure, small business infrastructure, and the backbone of our growing neighborhoods. Seattle communities are ready and waiting for connections to West Seattle and Ballard. We can build the system voters were promised without sacrificing delivery of this critical investment to our densest and most ready-to-ride communities.”
King County Councilmember Claudia Baluducci
“If we want Sound Transit’s regional vision to succeed, we need strong partnerships with the cities we serve,” said Sound Transit Board Vice Chair Claudia Balducci. “Seattle is not only the biggest city in our network—it also has the highest ridership. That makes its leadership and hands-on engagement critical to tackling challenges, managing costs, and accelerating project delivery. I’m committed to working with Mayor Harrell and the City to bring light rail to Ballard and West Seattle—as voters were promised.”
Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss
“We need to build light rail to Ballard and West Seattle faster. Tomorrow, in my committee, we will be hearing new legislation to hire staff to speed up its construction in Seattle. Since ST3 was passed by voters nearly a decade ago, Ballard has become one of the fastest growing and densest neighborhoods in our region. Connecting it to our light rail system has gone from a worth while investments, to an absolute necessity. Failure is not an option, and the City of Seattle is working to cut red tape and ensure Sound Transit delivers this critical infrastructure as fast as possible.”
Kirk Hovenkotter, Executive Director, Transportation Choices Coalition
“Voters overwhelmingly said yes to Sound Transit 3 in 2016. The promise is clear: build the damn trains. Cost challenges are real but we need to keep projects moving. The longer we wait, the more it costs. We’ve seen Sound Transit and this region overcome challenges to deliver light rail in the past. Transportation Choices Coalition will push to ensure we do it again. No other promise has brought together the three counties around a shared initiative like Sound Transit has. We are in this together as one region. We need to move forward together.”
Monty Anderson, Executive Secretary, Seattle Building & Construction Trades Council.
“Major infrastructure projects like Sound Transit Link extensions are critical for connecting our communities and supporting our economy. These projects provide thousands of good, family-wage jobs for workers and economic opportunity through apprenticeship and training. We must do whatever it takes to keep Sound Transit’s light rail projects moving forward.”
Katie Garrow, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, MLK Labor
“Despite cost increases for Sound Transit 3, now is still the cheapest time to finish the projects. Swedish Ballard is run by people who largely don’t live in Ballard, and the Met Market in West Seattle is run by people who commute in from Yelm and Kent. That is why we need light rail. Our region’s greatest nuisance is traffic. Don’t sacrifice Ballard or West Seattle. Build it all.”