News
Bellevue Council Comes Up with Compromise Rail Alternative
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At last night's meeting of the Bellevue City Council, council members decided to ask the Sound Transit board to look at an alternative route for light rail on the Eastside that would both serve the South Bellevue park-and-ride and run along the Burlington Northern right-of-way through South Bellevue. (The council was looking only at the so-called "B" segment of the route, which does not include downtown Bellevue). They did not take a vote or choose a preferred alignment.
The new compromise alternative, according to council member (and Sound Transit board member) Claudia Balducci, would cross the Mercer Slough north of I-90 after passing next to the South Bellevue Park-and-Ride. A competing proposal, which council member Kevin Wallace has dubbed the "Vision Line," would skip the park-and-ride and the slough and travel through south Bellevue and past downtown next to 405—a route that Sound Transit and others have said would depress ridership. Balducci opposes the Vision Line, as do two other members of the seven-member council.
Although Balducci agreed to move the new route forward, she says "there clearly isn't enough information about this idea yet to give it a full assessment, let alone call it my 'preferred alternative.' I think it deserves full and serious consideration."
She adds: "I remain very committed to having light rail serve the heavy concentration of transit users in West Bellevue, South Bellevue, Newcastle and elsewhere who are dependent on the South Bellevue Park and Ride and that is the piece of the new alternative that is of interest to me."
In addition to choosing a preferred alignment through South Bellevue, the council still has to decide how light rail will get through downtown Bellevue—by traveling through the downtown core, which includes thousands of residences and jobs, or off to the east, or along next to the I-405 freeway to the east. A majority of the council now supports moving the line outside downtown, and Sound Transit staff are currently studying what impact a 405 route would have on rail costs and ridership.
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At last night's meeting of the Bellevue City Council, council members decided to ask the Sound Transit board to look at an alternative route for light rail on the Eastside that would both serve the South Bellevue park-and-ride and run along the Burlington Northern right-of-way through South Bellevue. (The council was looking only at the so-called "B" segment of the route, which does not include downtown Bellevue). They did not take a vote or choose a preferred alignment.
The new compromise alternative, according to council member (and Sound Transit board member) Claudia Balducci, would cross the Mercer Slough north of I-90 after passing next to the South Bellevue Park-and-Ride. A competing proposal, which council member Kevin Wallace has dubbed the "Vision Line," would skip the park-and-ride and the slough and travel through south Bellevue and past downtown next to 405—a route that Sound Transit and others have said would depress ridership. Balducci opposes the Vision Line, as do two other members of the seven-member council.
Although Balducci agreed to move the new route forward, she says "there clearly isn't enough information about this idea yet to give it a full assessment, let alone call it my 'preferred alternative.' I think it deserves full and serious consideration."
She adds: "I remain very committed to having light rail serve the heavy concentration of transit users in West Bellevue, South Bellevue, Newcastle and elsewhere who are dependent on the South Bellevue Park and Ride and that is the piece of the new alternative that is of interest to me."
In addition to choosing a preferred alignment through South Bellevue, the council still has to decide how light rail will get through downtown Bellevue—by traveling through the downtown core, which includes thousands of residences and jobs, or off to the east, or along next to the I-405 freeway to the east. A majority of the council now supports moving the line outside downtown, and Sound Transit staff are currently studying what impact a 405 route would have on rail costs and ridership.
