The Logic behind a 6th Avenue LINK Corridor

Tacoma General Hospital, a major employer on the B1 corridor.
Right: Stadium High School Wright Park in Background

This post comes out of the frustration that I feel when I read editorials like this in the paper about corridors like C1. I understand where the author is coming from, but in corridor evaluation, you need to try to back up your claims with numbers and with specifics. I try to do that here.

Here's why 6th Avenue needs to be given more serious consideration. The bold parts are categories of criteria for evaluating the project that were designed by the stakeholders group and were prioritized in part by public comment. If you have more to add to this, mention it in the comments.

Improve mobility and transportation access for Tacoma residents and visitors.

Long Range Bicycle Map around 6th Avenue
11 streets with bike lanes and bike boulevards intersect with B1

The B1 corridor along 6th Avenue between Central Tacoma and the North End is slated to have a ridership response of 3.0 to 3.5 million additional riders per year or greater than 10,000 riders per day, matched only by the E1 corridor.  The B1 corridor would link together Tacoma Dome Station, Downtown Tacoma, the Stadium District, Hilltop, and 6th Avenue - tying E1 for the number of distinct neighborhoods and mixed use centers served by a corridor.  

Bicycle connections are planned at eleven - yes eleven - cross streets to the corridor, making it easier to expand access to more than just areas that are within ¼ mile to the line.  Federal regulations on transit investments allow federal grant money to be used to expand bicycle access within 3-miles of each station.  The eleven cross streets slated for bike access along B1 are: Union Ave, Puget Sound Ave, Alder St., Pine St., State St., Ainsworth Ave, J St., I St., Yakima Ave, St. Helens Ave and Tacoma Ave.  Also, local transit service from Pierce Transit routes 1, 11, 13, 14, and 16 would be available for redeployment to act as feeder and connecting services. Bus service from these routes could also potentially be redeployed to other parts of the city, further enhancing ridership and access to Downtown.

Increase transit ridership within the City of Tacoma.

The B1 corridor has the largest existing population center in Tacoma.  The 98403 zip code, which represents the North Slope neighborhood of the Stadium District is the 12th most dense zip code by population in the state and it is the densest in Tacoma by far at 7,830 people per square mile.

The Stadium District and 6th Avenue are rivaled again only by similar, but lower, existing population density along the MLK E1 corridor.

10,000 students, including those from UW Tacoma (3,662), UPS (2,600), Stadium High School (1,699), Tacoma School of the Arts (515), and others would have access to the line.  Students are very reliable users for public transit during all periods of the day.

Commuters would benefit by being connected with Tacoma General/Mary Bridge Hospital, the Downtown Tacoma regional growth center and connecting regional transit services at Tacoma Dome Station.  Tourists and visitors would be able to visit entertainment venues and green open spaces on 6th Avenue and at Wright Park in the Stadium District, not to mention the many festivals and farmers markets that take place in these areas.  Shoppers would have more choices in the Stadium District and on 6th Avenue.  Tacoma Link service would run late at night to match demand from existing night life venues in Downtown and on 6th Avenue.

Goal Criteria and B1 (Source: Sound Transit)

Serve underserved neighborhoods and communities in the City of Tacoma.

The B1 corridor would serve significant portions of low income and minority populations and more than twice the proportion of households without a vehicle when compared to the C1 Portland Ave corridor. In fact the number of households without a car adjacent to B1 is higher than that found on average in Seattle or Los Angeles (also see Goal Criteria; right, for B1 reference).

Use transit to spur economic development and other types of investments

The Stadium District is zoned for mixed use development and there are a number of vacant parcels capable of being built upon.  The entire 6th Avenue corridor all the way to TCC is either zoned for mixed use or for commercial development and has many opportunities for additional density. At least one six story mixed use project is in the works for the corner of 6th and Alder St that might better pencil with light rail.

Jazzbones, an example of vibrant nightlife entertainment on 6th Avenue.

10 minute frequencies would be viable for up to 20 hours a day because of high ridership and proximity to businesses that stay open late.  New businesses would fill existing buildings currently for lease and in new buildings that would be constructed.  Proximity to entertainment venues as well as the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center would make development of hotels a possibility in the Stadium District.

Wright Park in the Summer time.  Wright Park would be served by B1 and E1.

Ensure that the project is environmentally sensitive and sustainable

High ridership means fewer cars on the road.  Fewer cars means better quality air and less pollution into Puget Sound.  B1’s high ridership makes it easily one of the most environmentally beneficial routes considered.

The B1 corridor would be next to the 27 acre Wright Park with playground and sprayground facilities, a one mile trail, a botanical conservatory and pond.

The B1 corridor is consistent with the City of Tacoma’s Climate Action Plan, Comprehensive Plan, and Streetcar Feasibility Study.  No habitat corridors are affected by a B1 route.

Establish a project that is competitive for federal funding

The B1 corridor easily can match any other corridor in project justification for federal funding.  The mobility benefits of a B1 corridor would be profound, ranging from increased bike access to a 30% increase in transit reliability between 6th Avenue and the Downtown core.  High ridership again means more environmental benefits for the region.  It is a cost effective use of resources because it will save on the order of 2-3 minutes per trip between 6th Avenue and Tacoma Dome Station.  Local land use patterns are incredibly supportive of public transit, as is evidenced by high ridership on Pierce Transit’s Route 1. Economic development is zoned for and vacant land is available for development.  And finally, a local improvement district for a B1 corridor, that is the local match, is incredibly viable because local property values are high enough to support it.

Tacoma Link Delayed, Open house 4/11, 2 new hybrid corridors

David Boe's E2/C1 corridor

Take the Sound Transit survey on Tacoma Link expansion.  Tell everyone else you know to fill this out.  The more public comment on the alternatives, the better.

Tacoma Link Recommendation Delayed

The selection of the Tacoma Link recommended alignments to move forward for environmental review has been delayed due to schedule conflicts with the Tacoma City Council (apparently).  This pushes back the ability of the Sound Transit Board to approve the corridors and to move them into environmental review and conceptual engineering.  That meeting is now likely to occur on May 23rd, instead of April 25th.

Two new hybrid corridors under consideration

Additionally, two new hybrid corridors are now consideration in addition to the three corridors previously analysed by Sound Transit staff (B1, E1, and C1).  David Boe's alternative, an amalgam of E2 and C1 and the Tacoma Link Stakeholders group [yeah remember them?] combination of C1 and E1.  More than twenty corridors have been evaluated so far and the same three corridors keep rising to the top, so it'll be interesting to see what comes out of the analysis.

Open House April 11th @ Tacoma Dome Station

Sound Transit will be holding yet another open house on Tacoma Link expansion on Thursday, April 11th from 4-7pm just off the Tacoma Dome Station light rail stop.  Feedback will be gathered on the three corridors plus the two hybrids.  So, you might want to make it, especially if you want to put in good word for the fairly unrepresented B1 6th Ave corridor.

These hybrid corridors are very different from what I am hearing in the community, which is the hope that B1 and E1 move forward into environmental review - on the basis of projected high ridership, economic development, potential connection to TCC, bicycle connections and other very good things.

Please, please, please take the Sound Transit survey on Tacoma Link expansion.  Thanks.

Quick update: Yes, $29m was cut from Tacoma Link.

Click the image above to get access to Sound Transit meeting video

This is a follow up post to the one that I did a few weeks ago - "Has $29m gone missing from Tacoma Link"?

A couple of days ago I spent part of my weekend watching a recording of the March 14th Sound Transit Capital Committee meeting, where they were getting a general update from Val Batey, who is managing the Tacoma Link project.

At the end of the presentation, Joni Earl, the Sound Transit Chief Executive Officer, answered a question from Seattle Mayor and ST Board Member Mike McGinn about whether the $50m number in the presentation was the right number.  Here's how the exchange went.  If you want to view it for yourself, it is at time index 1:00:40.  It only lasts about a minute and a half.

Is $50m the right number?

Chair: "Are there any other pressing questions?" 

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn

Mike McGinn: "Well I'm not sure it's pressing, but just to make sure that I understand. So there was 50-million in Sound Transit 2 for this purpose and the goal was to federal funding and then partner funding would be uh, municipal governments, LID?  What's the thinking on partner funding under contemplation? 

Joni Earl: "It's a combination.  It's a cobbling together of dollars, the city has already talked about waiving fees, utility... you know being able to lower what would be our costs... 

McGinn: "I see.  And so they might be able to pick up some genuine, in-kind costs that would reduce actual capital costs." 

Earl: "Right.  Yeah, and and keep in mind this was ST2 prior to the recession and so you know, I mean it was putting the concept together before everybody knew that City of Tacoma's budget would be down, Pierce Transit's budget would be in such bad shape, so..." 

McGinn: "So is the 50-million-dollars, then now that you've raised that - what is then the status of that $50m contribution in our resizing of the finance plan for the work? 

Earl: "That's what's left in the resizing."

McGinn: "Oh." (yeah, 'oh' is right.)

Earl: "So we started - we've already cut it back."

McGinn: "So 50 is the number?"

Earl: "50 is the number now, yes."

McGinn: "So we've approved this now and 50 is in the financial plan."

Earl: "Yes."

Reactions?

Sound Transit has made a cut in the capital contribution to Tacoma Link.  $29m is a steep cut to a project that is already cost constrained.  Is there something else that Sound Transit can do to make up for this drastic reduction in our budget?  Can they up front some more planning dollars to allow us to move a second corridor into environmental analysis, perhaps?  I'm open to ideas.

We don't have time for this

The Tacoma Link Alternatives Analysis schedule

David Boe, from his comments in the articles in the Tacoma Weekly and The News Tribune, indicate that he doesn't just want to look at a "hybrid route," he doesn't just want to look at wireless electrified bus rapid transit, he wants to see if we can delay this process to do a comprehensive, citywide transportation study.

Let's look at what that might entail

Rather than try to argue semantics and strategy, I tried help evaluate that course of action.  The first stumbling block for such an idea is that it is currently unfunded.  There is no line item anywhere in any budget to help pay for such a process, which if Seattle is any measure, would cost no more than $600,000.  It is not included in the six year transportation plan or in the Transportation Benefit District's list of priority projects. 

However, if this were to change, let's say at an emergency meeting of the City Council tomorrow, we might be able to have it included in the funds that will begin flowing from the vehicle license fee in three months time.  At the same time Council and staff could develop a scope of work, a public involvement plan, and develop a request for proposals from an outside consultant.

It took Seattle 12 months to work on their transit master plan.

If all went well, a kickoff could be arranged sometime in July or August, but probably in September, to allow for evaluation of the proposals, and the bulk of the work would last about 12 months in duration.  The City of Seattle and the City of Bellevue encountered similar timelines in the development and update of their transit master plans.  At the conclusion of that timeline we would be in late 2014.  Council adoption of the plan could then take place as early as January 2015.

There is one issue with this plan that should be highly concerning to Tacoma residents.  It would completely delay the start of development of environmental analysis and engineering on a Tacoma Link extension until January 2015.  I highly doubt that the Sound Transit Board is willing to keep the contractor on standby for that long.  Preliminary engineering and environmental analysis on the Sound Transit side are both funded and scheduled and contracted to occur after ST Board approval of a preferred alternative.

However, the very same timeline has a lot of merit if we want to have appropriate levels of study done to include a second phase of Tacoma Link expansion in ST3 and potentially additional targeted transit service from a state transportation package.  ST3, by all indications from rumblings in King County (Legislature willing, of course) will be in November of 2016.  We obviously have to have some analysis completed by then to have any projects included in the package.

The clock is ticking.  Let's not waste anymore time delaying what's already in the pipeline

Tacoma Link may be delayed by Boe, Campbell, Strickland

Does Council really think we need to study more corridors?

If you haven't already, please take the latest Sound Transit survey.

Lewis Kamb at The News Tribune is reporting today that the Tacoma City Council has sent a letter to Joni Earl requesting that the schedule for Tacoma Link alignment adoption be pushed back two weeks, and Board adoption by at least a month to study David Boe's "hybrid" corridor.

The concept was introduced with support by Mayor (and ST Board Member) Marilyn Strickland, was outlined by David Boe (At-Large), and was later supported by a number of city councilmembers like Marty Campbell (Eastside) at the Committee of the Whole meeting on March 19th.

I don't think that I can mince words about how foolish this kind of reality-divorced groupthink makes the Tacoma City Council look to Sound Transit and to the rest of the Puget Sound.  This only serves to embarrass the city and to show how little they understand the factors that influence how public transit operates.  They are attempting to hijack a process without a system plan or Transit Master Plan, and jumping in with their own uninformed long range vision.  By making this request, the City Council has actually weakened their own position in the process of selecting a preferred alternative, and has strengthened the voices of the community calling for other well-documented corridors.  I only hope that Sound Transit will see this for what it is and continue with the established schedule.

Refuting the "Hybrid's" Expandabilty Argument

Additional graphic on C1/E2 Hybrid Corridor

If either a B1/E1 alignment were chosen for expansion, more neighborhoods would have "last mile" access to Tacoma Link than the Hybrid: Tacoma Ave, Market St., MLK, 6th Avenue, Portland Ave, Lincoln, Old Town, and "I" St.  The Lincoln District on 38th and G St. would still be just as accessible from a Tacoma Ave line intersecting with the Stadium District at North 1st and Tacoma Avenue, but would still face significant engineering challenges getting across the valley.  So after all of the budget is exhausted, we would still be no closer to expanding Tacoma Link to any additional neighborhoods in Tacoma.  Council is really proceeding down a path that is not recommended by anyone - not staff, not constituents or transit riders, not the stakeholder committee, nor any previous studies of Tacoma Link extension.

The idea is to build, "a parallel line to the existing line, within walking distance, that travels through no dense residential areas, exceeds the possible budget substantially, and potentially has a circuitous double-back on itself north to south to reach St. Joseph Medical Center."

If I were to suggest this as a transit planner, I would be fired for gross incompetence.  It is divorced from the reality that we already have 1.6 miles of track in the ground, that the City has already invested millions in the reconstruction of Stadium Way to make it streetcar ready, and the fact that there are significant sections along Pacific Avenue and S. 25th St that are single track and capacity constrained.

Are we dealing with one new last-minute proposal or three?

Tacoma Link as it exists today is
practically ignored by David Boe's Hybrid

This bit from the article is particularly astonishing (emphasis mine).

...city officials are “fully aware” the hybrid route is longer than any of the three recommended corridors, Broadnax said the city is “open to the terminus of this corridor being located in another location” other than Sixth Avenue within the MLK mixed use center. He suggested other potential terminus choices as South 19th Street and MLK Way, or South 11th Street and MLK Way.

They don't even know where the terminus should be.  How are you supposed to evaluate an alternative without knowing a specific terminus?  That sounds more like three different alternatives than just one.  The city obviously has no clue about what it's doing. They failed to create a plan to prepare for this decision and now they are grasping at straws, desperately trying to retain some level of relevance.

The saving grace of the City Council at this point seems to be the levelheadedness of Ryan Mello, who at least put to bed the concept of recommending a BRT alternative when he said, "For these monies and this purpose, we've chosen the mode. That train has left the station.”

Ryan's levelheadedness, unfortunately is matched by Marty Campbell's ... interesting grasp of basic laws of physics, when he indicates that regenerative braking from a hybrid-electric bus down Tacoma's slopes could be used to propel the vehicle.  What's even more ludicrous is his insinuation that light rail is an antiquated technology that has been surpassed by improvements in bus technology.  To him, I say, go ride Central Link in Seattle and then take a trip on RapidRide.  There's a world of difference in ride quality, vibration, speed, and reliability.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/03/23/2526500/hybrid-corridor-idea-for-link.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: 'Hybrid corridor' idea for Tacoma Link modifies timetable

Again, if you haven't already, please take the latest Sound Transit survey.

An Open Letter to the Tacoma City Council on Tacoma Link

Tacoma Link, Summer of 2006.

Tacoma City Council-

I know that you don't want to hear this, but Tacoma Link is bigger than you.  I'm not talking about the 30-ton streetcars themselves, but rather the marathon-like process that the community has gone through to get this far.  Now, you may think that it's your opportunity to leave a mark on the city and do well by your constituents at the same time.  You may think that it's your duty to see that "the best line gets built," even if that line isn't in the scope of what's been under consideration for ages.  But you know what, this process is not about you, it's not about what's perfect - it's about what's a step forward, it's about what's attainable, and it's about what's supported by the community today.

David Boe's Hybrid Alternative

David Boe's Hybrid E2 & C1 alignment.

While some on the Council may be intrigued by the new "hybrid" of E2 and C1, it has some pretty serious flaws not the least of which is that it has not been properly vetted by the public at this late stage of Alternatives Analysis.  The hybrid red line, if projected to run from the Emerald Queen Casino along Puyallup Ave to Tacoma Dome to Tacoma Ave to 6th and MLK is roughly four route miles.  Four route miles is about as far as we can possibly hope to extend Tacoma Link with the ~$150m budget allocated.  That, in and of itself is not a fatal flaw, but when you factor in that this route bypasses the population density of the Stadium District AND doesn't reach a neighborhood outside of Downtown, AND doesn't connect the hospitals, AND duplicates a lot of the same corridor that Tacoma Link already serves, you start to see how this idea might be a bit premature.  Ridership and cost figures from Sound Transit will likely indicate that this corridor just doesn't have the market share to be successful at this stage of rail transit expansion.  Maybe later, but not now.

City of Tacoma Streetcar Feasibility began in the Summer of 2006

Meetings about Tacoma Link have been held over the course of going-on seven years.  I know, I've been to most of them.  They have been diverse - full of advocates from Lincoln, the East Side, Stadium, 6th Avenue, Hilltop, and so on.  We have heard from sustainability advocates and bicyclists, small business owners and current transit riders.  We have taken into account community priorities like economic development, service to underserved populations, and mobility.  We have, together with Sound Transit staff, evaluated over 20 different corridor alternatives spanning all the way from Point Defiance to PLU, from TCC to Fife.  And we have kept the City Council apprised of the process each step of the way.

It's been nearly ten years since Tacoma Link opened and over four years since ST2 passed in 2008.  You had ample time to mull over your options, come up with your own proposals, and get the City to do some planning of its own.  I encouraged this course of action on several occasions, so that we could all be on the same page - but you didn't really care enough then to move forward with it.  "Tacoma doesn't plan transit, that's Sound Transit's job," one of you once told me.  It's sad that that myopia let you miss your chance to have a real impact on this initial phase of expansion.  But Council's procrastination shouldn't mean that you should be able to manufacture a crisis and have veto authority over conclusions built on all of the time, effort, and resources that have gone into studying Tacoma Link expansion.  Hundreds of surveys, comments, and suggestions have been received by Sound Transit staff about how best to proceed with this project.  The community got on board the train, and it has left the station.

Tacoma's expectation is that the Tacoma Link expansion project should move forward on Thursday, April 25th, when the Sound Transit Board selects a corridor or two to advance for environmental review.  If the Tacoma City Council cannot come to a reasonable recommendation that is grounded in facts by the beginning of April, we will kindly ask you to step aside and allow the community to speak in your place.  We hope it doesn't come to that.  We hope that you can come together and portray the image of Tacoma as a strong regional partner in transit expansion.

There will be time to talk about additional phases of expansion.  If we get started on planning what we want out of the next phase of transit expansion with our own Transit Master Plan, as Seattle has done, we might be able to position Tacoma for more funding from Sound Transit 3 in 2016.  Consider for a moment that that's where your energies might best serve your constituents and the City.

I invite others to sign on to this letter by contacting the Mayor and your city councilmembers.

Onward,

Chris Karnes

Tacoma Link Meeting Today, 3pm at UWT

Planners Conception of possible MLK Streetcar
 (Source: City of Tacoma MLK Subarea Plan)

The final Tacoma Link expansion meeting* is today at 3pm at UW Tacoma's William Phillip Hall.  Between now and the next Sound Transit Capital Committee meeting on April 11th, the Tacoma City Council will make a recommendation to Sound Transit on preferred corridor alternatives(s) to move forward into environmental review.

The Tacoma City Council is likely to vote on a recommendation either Tuesday April 2nd or April 9th.  I will be keeping tabs on the City's website for any draft resolutions.  What's interesting is that it's possible that there may be more than one corridor alternative that may be moved into environmental review.  That has been a position I have supported in my discussions with Council, so I'm optimistic that at least two corridors will move forward and we can start talking about LID formation to secure matching funds.  Whether more than one corridor moves on will be up for the Board to decide, but it is a scenario that would help to maximize the amount of track laid in this phase of expansion and could yield millions of new riders each year.

Feedback from Council

I have been in dialog with several of our Councilmembers about extension plans - providing as much information as I have gathered in the eight years that I've been working on this project.  From my discussions with Council, their priorities are: "ridership" and "land available for transit oriented development."  There is a LOT of steam behind an E1 - Martin Luther King Jr. Way alignment, a.k.a. Medical Mile Hilltop.  The groundwork done includes the MLK Subarea Plan, Transfer of Development Rights ordinance, a 2009 engineering study for MLK streetcar options and recent Urban Land Institute forum on attracting development.  This corridor would be ripe for redevelopment, but would have limited extension potential or mobility benefits.

However, strong mobility benefits, projected ridership, and community support for a B1 alignment play in favor of that corridor - not to mention it being in the PSRC regional vision for transportation and Sound Transit's Long Range Plan.  Not a whole lot has been said about the C1 corridor, which might be a response to the lower level of ridership projected.  If the Emerald Queen Casino and the Puyallup Tribe were to provide matching funds for an extension, that might be in more play, but for now it is not.

* -before an alignment is recommended by the Tacoma City Council and that recommendation is heard by the Sound Transit Board.

Please attend the meeting and provide public comment.  Info below.

---

Tacoma Link Expansion Public Meeting

March 19, 2013
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm

University of Washington Tacoma
William Phillip Hall Conference Center
1918 Pacific Ave.
Tacoma, WA  98402

Sound Transit, in cooperation with the City of Tacoma and Pierce Transit, has evaluated options for a potential expansion of the existing 1.6-mile Tacoma Link light rail line.

The Sound Transit Board soon will consider which potential corridor alternative(s) should go forward into the environmental review process. Come review the evaluation results and learn more about next steps to get from evaluation to environmental review/design. The potential expansion is contingent on establishing one or more partners and sufficient funding.

To learn more about the project, visit the Tacoma Link Expansion page.

Pierce Transit needs your help passing HB1898

Pierce Transit HQ and Bus base

Pierce Transit needs your help now to pass their Enhanced Public Transportation Zone bill (HB 1898) - or more precisely, to get it a vote on the House floor. Given resistance on the Senate to the measure, this may be our best shot to get it into a potential transportation package.

Please use this link from Transportation for Washington to send a message to your legislators to get this bill a vote.

Reported on previously: 

Pierce Transit bill clears house committee

Transit legislative update - get in the zone

Pierce Transit wants to create enhanced transit zone

Pierce Transit Bill Clears House Trans. Committee

Rep. Jake Fey D-27 (Tacoma)
Sponsor of HB1898

Pierce Transit's bill (HB1898 / SB5793) to allow a smaller zone within the PTBA vote on additional taxes and benefit from additional transit service cleared the House Transportation Committee today, by a 17-14, party-line vote.  The bill had substitute language introduced by Representative Fey.

Here are the changes, according to legislative staff:

• Creates a Zone as a separate, independent local government, governed by the members of the transit agency that created it, with specific authority to impose a sales and use tax.
• Allows a city, town, or county to opt out of a Zone prior to creation of the Zone, or at
• the time of reauthorization of Zone.
• Removes the requirement thata Zone include 55 percent or more of the low-income or minority population of the transit agency area and instead requires the establishing transit agency to include a significant amount of that population.

The companion Senate bill has not had action taken, yet.  It was given a hearing in committee on Feb. 25th (Previously: Pierce Transit Legislative Update: Get in the Zone), which was attended by members of the City Council, Pierce Transit Board, and by local riders.

Here's the roll call on the bill:

Do pass: (17)

Signed by Representatives Clibborn, Chair; Fey, Vice Chair; Liias, Vice Chair; Moscoso, Vice Chair; Bergquist, Farrell, Fitzgibbon, Freeman, Habib, Moeller, Morris, Riccelli, Ryu, Sells, Takko, Tarleton, and Upthegrove. 

Do not pass: (14)

Signed by Representatives Orcutt, Ranking Minority Member; Hargrove, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Overstreet, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Angel, Hayes, Johnson, Klippert, Kochmar, Kretz, Kristiansen, O'Ban, Rodne, Shea, and Zeiger.

Archived video of the House committee session is available here.

Preferred Alternative for Tacoma Link April 25th

Tacoma Link, since 2011

I have been meaning to write up a synopsis post of what happened at the Tacoma Council study session on Tuesday when they received another presentation from Sound Transit about Link Alternatives Analysis.  However, the good people at Exit133 have beaten me to it.  It's a really good post, so I'm not going to replicate it.  Take a look.

Tacoma Link Alternatives - and then there were 3

What I have instead been working on is talking to Councilmembers about the resolution that they will be coming up with in the next month on their recommendation for a preferred alignment.

I've been hammering them on two main points:

1. Regardless of which route is selected, tell Sound Transit to keep the door open for a second EIS and Engineering process for another "last-mile" extension if local funding can be found, and
2. Moving forward on a transit master plan so that Tacoma can be better positioned in the future

We have about a month before Council drafts their recommendation to Sound Transit.  Make sure to be in touch with your district Councilmember, the Mayor, and at-large Councilmembers, because they all represent your interests.

Contact the Tacoma City Council

Finally, here's a rundown of how events will play out in the next two months:

Next Steps
March 14 – Sound Transit Capital Committee Briefing
March 19 – Open House at UWT to present the corridor alternatives evaluation
March 20 – Stakeholder Roundtable to gather input
April 2 – Tacoma City Council Study Session
April 11 – Sound Transit Capital Committee
April 25 – Sound Transit Board