West Seattle Blog… | VIDEO: What West Seattle light-rail advisory group members said at final meeting

(Sound Transit rendering, possible routing at Genesee looking east toward Avalon)

the Community Advisory Group convened by Sound transit for the most recent planning phase of West Seattle light rail has met for the final time. The meeting this past week was for feedback from the group members, on their preferred routing and station locations as well as on the possible cost-saving ideas ST proposed at their previous meeting. Here’s the recording:

Since the meeting was about feedback, not presentation of proposals, there wasn’t much to the slide deck, but you can see that here. In general, regarding routing and station locations, most participants spoke in favor of as much tunneling as possible, particularly into The Junction. For the Delridge station location, feedback was more mixed, including a few calls for reviving the previously discarded option nicknamed the “purple line” (which would tunnel through Pigeon Point).

Regarding the cost-saving ideas – the idea of ​​saving money by moving the Fauntleroy elevated station option east, avoiding the newly built 4754 Fauntleroy Way SW complex, did not get much traction, mostly because many group members didn’t like the elevated Fauntleroy option regardless of where it would be built. The other big cost-saving idea was potentially dropping the Avalon station. Several reiterated that removing a station should only be an option if West Seattle had something to gain from doing it – like “smart design,” one group member suggested.

WHAT’S NEXT: The ST board members who comprise the System Expansion Committee have a workshop focused on the West Seattle/Ballard extensions 1-3:30 pm Friday (May 20th). Then in July, they and the full board meet about confirming or modifying a “preferred alternative” before going into the final environmental-impact process – the committee on July 14th, the full board on July 28th. The board’s final decision on routing and station locations is expected in what ST now describes as “late 2023.”