Lynnwood to Everett Light Rail News

Recently, Sound Transit updated its Long-Range Plan which is used as a guide for further transit development and routings.

In Snohomish County, the planned Link light rail line from Lynnwood to Everett has three alternatives: Option A has the line serving Paine Field and Evergreen Way, Option B has the line following I-5, and Option C has the line following Evergreen Way.

The Everett Herald reported that Sound Transit added the Paine Field route corridor (Option A) to its light rail plan, but appears to have erroneously suggested that Sound Transit had chosen Option A. Looking at the updated Long-Range map, both the Paine Field and I-5/Evergreen Way corridors representing all three alternatives are shown. That said, many local politicians particularly from Everett are supporting a Paine Field alignment and pushed to add it to the plan, so this event could foreshadow future planning events. Many comments on the Herald article spoke against the Paine Field routing.

At the Seattle Transit Blog, Martin Duke interviewed Sound Transit Boardmember and Everett Councilmember Paul Roberts about his views on Link to Everett. Split into two separate articles, several comments debated on if light rail should even go north past Lynnwood, and several more (including some comments from me) debated on the routing.

It’s clear that not including several local politicans, arelative few are happy with the current developments on Lynnwood-Everett Link, and more consensus and debate needs to occur before a finalized routing is chosen and the related ST3 funding bill goes to voters.

I plan on making a post on this in the near future, which would include an examination of the options, and suggested modifications.

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