UPDATE: Latest planning news here >>>
Getting around the region can be challenging today, and the future promises more growth, and with it, more congestion. Current projections show that our population will grow by another 40 percent, adding 1.4 million people to this region by 2040. From more than two years of planning and discussion with the people of the region, it is clear that we must invest in the future of our region’s transportation system.
Sound Transit has been busy building the foundation of the regional mass transit system approved by voters in 1996. Today, Sound Transit’s trains, buses and light rail already help more than 49,000 riders bypass traffic each weekday. And the light rail system from Downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport will open in 2009 and carry more than 45,000 riders. In 2008, work will begin on a northern extension to the University of Washington, which will take another 70,000 riders off the roads each day.
Long Range Plan
Sound Transit updated its Long Range Plan in 2005, using public input to fine tune the overall roadmap to mass transit's future in the region. The Long Range Plan informed the identification of the 2007 Sound Transit 2 Plan and will continue to provide a foundation for future proposals for expanding the regional transit system.
Expanding the regional mass transit system
In November 2007, voters turned down a large package of road and transit investments. Now, the Sound Transit Board of Directors is taking a renewed look at what transit service expansions would make the biggest and quickest improvements for commuters for the least cost.
The website summarizing the Sound Transit 2 projects that were part of the November 2007 Proposition 1 measure is available for public review here >>>. ST2 and Roads & Transit publications are archived here >>>
