Sound Transit's planned Graham Street 1 Line infill station in the Rainier Valley has a clear path to being fully funded and built, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay jointly announced Wednesday. Release of a proposed amendment that could make it happen came hours before a scheduled vote at the Sound Transit board Thursday that will overhaul the Sound Transit 3 (ST3) plan.
The agency faces a $34.5 billion budget shortfall across the entire agency through 2046. In response, Sound Transit Board Chair Dave Somers' "Affordable ST3" proposal is set to delay several major transit projects by years and throwing others into limbo without clear construction timelines attached. Graham Street had among the projects set to be thrown in deferral limbo.
Currently estimated as a $214 million project, Graham Street fills in a 1.5-mile gap between Columbia City and Othello 1 Line stations in a neighborhood where a significant portion of residents are transit-dependent. Initially considered as a station location in Sound Transit's first ballot measure, 1996's Sound Move, the project was ultimately not funded until voters approved the ST3 ballot measure in 2016, pledging a delivery date of 2031.
Light rail construction in the early 2000s significantly disrupted the area around MLK Way and Graham Street, without the commensurate benefit of direct station access afterward.
If approved by the board, the Graham Street amendment – also sponsored by King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda – would combine a $25 million federal grant and cost savings on North Seattle's Pinehurst infill stations with commitments from Seattle and King County for a "last in" contribution not to exceed $30 million to get the station to a ribbon-cutting. The City of Seattle also commits to working with Sound Transit to "expedite permitting, resolve ROW-related risks, and support cost reduction efforts."
The proposal's terms ask Sound Transit to develop "confirmed cost savings opportunities, identification of alternative financing and funding to support project delivery" by next summer, with potential negotiations over additional funding to follow. Graham Street includes a significant contingency currently baked into its cost estimates — 67% – due to the fact that construction will require disruption of 1 Line service, but that number is expected to be reduced as the project advances through design.
The amendment sponsors say their funding plan should allow Graham Street to stay close to its 2031 targeted opening, potentially even hitting it.
Things are looking more bleak for Seattle's biggest ST3 project, Ballard Link, with Sound Transit set to truncate the line well short of Ballard, at Seattle Center, unless additional cost savings (or new revenue sources) can be located. Ballard Link's timeline had already slipped the original pledge of 2035 to 2041, even before the latest batch of delays and planned truncation. The three deferred stations in Interbay and Ballard would not get a date in Somers' proposal.
Another amendment set to be considered Thursday, put forward by Seattle Councilmember Dan Strauss, would reallocate funds set to pay for the second light rail under downtown Seattle further north to get to Ballard instead. It faces a tough crowd at the Sound Transit board, stacked with suburban elected officials who are unlikely to give up a regional asset or upend plans to help complete a transit line in Seattle.
Wilson told The Urbanist that it took significant work to try and find a path to fully funding Graham Street, which community advocates had been vocally pushing to keep on track.
"It was definitely a lift, and so it involved City staff having a lot of conversations with Sound Transit to figure out how we could close that gap, and then I think the really key piece was that commitment of, if necessary, some third-party funding from the City of Seattle," Wilson told The Urbanist following Wednesday's rally.
She specifically credited Alex Hudson, the former Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC) executive director who is now her Senior Policy Advisor on transportation issues, with doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Hudson's predecessor heading TCC, Shefali Ranganathan, has been consulting for Somers and helped craft the overall ST3 rebalancing plan.
While rebalancing required cuts, Zahilay said South Seattle bearing the brunt is a pattern.
"We heard clearly from the community, that people feel like South Seattle is always shortchanged," Zahilay told community members celebrating Graham Street at the Filipino Community Center along MLK Jr Way S. "For too many residents, there is a very real and painful history of government commitments being delayed or scaled back or never fully realized. Right here in this neighborhood, I heard from community organizations about the long walk between the Columbia City and Othello stations, especially for working people without a car or commuting every single day to work. I heard from seniors, including those who live here at the Filipino Community Village and who visit the SouthEast Seattle Senior Center who want easier access to groceries and health care appointments."
The other ST3-funded 1 Line infill station in North Tukwila near Boeing Access Road remains without full funding. Serving fewer riders than Graham Street, Boeing Access Road is more than twice as expensive. Another amendment put forward by Zahilay would earmark $10 million to mitigate the loss or delay of that station by funding additional bus service, including "innovative, alternative transit options for first and last mile partnerships and programs."
Wilson could not confirm where any City of Seattle funding for Graham Street would ultimately come from, but expressed optimism that it wouldn't ultimately be necessary. Seattle's 2016 transportation levy, approved by voters at the same time as ST3, did include a $10 million City contribution, out of a project that was expected to cost just $70 million.
However, that contribution was ultimately reallocated after Sound Transit postponed work on Graham Street in 2021.
"I think that we are all hopeful that, as the planning and design work moves forward, that the Sound Transit will find more cost savings, and that perhaps in the end that third-party funding won't prove to be necessary," Wilson said. "We've definitely structured the amendment so that is the last money in, basically, and so we're hopeful of that, but obviously can't guarantee it, which is why we are committing that up to $30 million if necessary."
Speakers showing up Wednesday to show their support for Graham Street included Seattle Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Dionne Foster, and Eddie Lin, in addition to King County Councilmember Rhonda Lewis.
Lewis, appointed to fill the Zahilay's former council seat after he was elected Executive, made the case for completing Graham Street and Boeing Access Road in The Urbanist earlier this week.
"South Seattle has been asked to sacrifice for our transit system for long enough, and more delays aren't going to cut it," Rinck said. "Entertaining a delay for this overdue station is one that we cannot stand for, and we haven't. We have stood together as a powerful coalition, our elders, our aunties, friends, advocates, neighbors, and now we're speaking with one voice to the Sound Transit board: approve Mayor Wilson's amendment to fully fund Graham Street Station."
Ryan Packer
Doug Trumm
