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Sound Transit’s ST3 Draft Released and More News

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

By Mike Pearce March 25, 2016

A map of the transit system in seattle.

Sound Transit has released a draft of its ST3 proposal. The 25-year plan heavily emphasizes the importance of light rail at a cost of $50 billion. Some of the highlights include much-needed connections to West Seattle and Ballard, DuPont, east to Issaquah and north all the way up to Everett, the Seattlepi reports.

The final proposal will be on the ballot for voters this fall. The plan also comes with three tax increases which will account for nearly half of the $50 billion in funding necessary to complete the project. If approved, there would be a 0.5 percent sales tax increase, a 0.8 percent motor vehicle excise tax increase and property taxes would see an added 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

If voters approve the plan, ST3 would bring the total length of light rail in the region to 108 miles. As both a “stop gap” measure during the extensive and lengthy construction of ST3, and as a compliment to the rail itself, bus rapid transit in the region would be greatly expanded as well. Buses would run from Lynnwood to Burien along Interstate 405, taking advantage of the toll lanes, and from the future 145th Street rail station to State Route 522.

Dow Constantine, Sound Transit board chair and King County executive, when speaking on the project said, “This region has debated whether to have mass transit for more years than most people in this room have been alive. That debate is over. Light rail is here.”

Right. And at this rate, many of us will be dead before it gets here.

Google is moving into South Lake Union. Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. will be developing four six-story buildings on behalf of Google very near the existing Amazon campus, according to GeekWire. Google will be moving out of its offices in Fremont and into the much larger digs on Mercer Street.

Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders is holding a rally at Safeco Field today, March 25. The event is free and open to the public, beginning around 4 p.m. Expect large crowds and plenty of traffic. Plan accordingly.

North America’s oldest zoo-born orangutan has died. Woodland Park Zoo’s 257-pound great ape, Towan, died at the age of 48. Zoo officials are planning to do a necropsy on Towan, who is thought to have succumbed to respiratory issues, KIRO7 reports.

 

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