Across the region, the Sound Transit system shows what can happen when the public makes major investments toward building the kind of mass transit system other major metropolitan regions depend on.
In 1996, voters ended decades of debate and inaction by passing Sound Move and putting in place the foundation of a regional transit system. Today, that system moves more than 50,000 people each weekday on ST Express buses, Sounder commuter trains and Link light rail. More is on the way with light rail from downtown Seattle to the airport starting in 2009 and construction of the University of Washington light rail extension starting in 2008. These two major projects that are among the final Sound Move investments to come online will add tens of thousands of additional daily riders to the system over the next two decades. Click on the links at right and check out what Sound Transit has built in the course of becoming an agency known for effectively delivering complex projects.
Continue reading below to learn about the pressing reasons the Sound Transit Board wants your help forming a ballot measure to give people a choice on expanding the regional system.
Sound Transit delivers mass transit projects and services across the most populated areas of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties, connecting more than 50 cities. Nearly half of Washington’s population now calls the Sound Transit District home. Our fast, convenient and reliable commutes become more and more important as the region’s population continues to grow by approximately 50,000 each year.
Many existing regional transit services are already at or near capacity today. Continuing population and job growth will only increase demand. Since 1960, the population of the Sound Transit District has more than doubled, and it will grow by another 30 percent by 2030, creating a situation in which "rush hour” could last all day in our most heavily traveled corridors.
And the population growth is not happening exactly in the same places as the job growth. 24% of Pierce County residents, and 36% from Snohomish County, cross the county line each day to go to work, vividly illustrating how much driving area residents do on a daily basis.
Transit demand in the region’s major corridors is projected to nearly double or triple, with expected increases by 190% in the I-405 corridor south of I-90, 150% across Lake Washington, 160% across the Ship Canal Bridge on I-5, 180% in South King County (taking both I-5 and SR 167 into account), and 70% on I-5 at the King/Snohomish County line.
The growth and resulting congestion already has a profound impact on daily commutes, and the impact will only increase. One measure is travel times. Because one can never know if that day’s trip will be smooth sailing or a series of accidents, a commuter needs to leave earlier and earlier to reliably get to work (or home) on time.
Studies show that a trip from downtown Seattle to Redmond would take about 16 minutes if driven at posted speed limits. However due to congestion and risk of accidents, a driver leaving Seattle for Redmond in the evening needs to allow double that time—31 minutes—to reliably arrive home on time 95% percent of the time. Similarly, a 10 minute trip from Renton to Auburn needs 31 minutes; a 16 minute trip from Bellevue to Bothell needs 44 minutes. These are minutes every day that are dedicated to travel in the region, rather than work, home, or play.
Potential investments in the regional transit system would be designed to offer more, and more reliable, service—taking pressure off our roads and, wherever possible, increasing the reliability of travel times. For more information on potential investments, visit our what's proposed page.
To view Sound Transit’s draft needs assessment, visit our documents page.