beautifulplanet
Lead Service Attendant
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2014
- Messages
- 337
In the last days there were some press reports, that a federal loan for the East Link project, will help Sound Transit to move forward with other light-rail and transit improvement projects, that had been postponed due to the 2008 economic meltdown caused by for-profit Wall Street companies and deregulation policies. Construction of the East Link light-rail extension itself is supposed to start in 2015, with a targeted opening date in 2023 (up to Redmond's Overlake Transit Center, by Microsoft headquarters etc). The DOT press release also states that the new line is expected to serve approximately 50,000 daily riders by 2030. In addition to the loan, DOT also awarded a total of $88.4 million in grant funding towards the East Link project.
Savings of approximately $200 to $300 million caused by being able to take advantage of lower interest of the federal loan (2.38 percent instead of 5.75 percent), will also enable Sound Transit to carry out other projects that were temporarily shelved, for example:
http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-announces-133-billion-loan-sound-transit%E2%80%99s-link-light
The Sound Transit press release can be found here:
http://www.soundtransit.org/About-Sound-Transit/News-and-events/News-releases/ST-recieves-13-billion-TIFIA-loan
Article of the Seattle Transit blog to be found here:
http://seattletransitblog.com/2015/01/17/feds-award-loan-restore-st2-possibilities/
Savings of approximately $200 to $300 million caused by being able to take advantage of lower interest of the federal loan (2.38 percent instead of 5.75 percent), will also enable Sound Transit to carry out other projects that were temporarily shelved, for example:
- ST Express bus service hours – 50,000 of 100,000 ST2 service hours still to be implemented
- Light rail between Kent/Des Moines and South 272nd Street in Federal Way
- Preliminary light rail engineering and right-of-way acquisition from South 272nd Street in Federal Way to the Tocoma Dome
- Improvements for accessing Kent Station
- Improvements for accessing Auburn Station
- Sounder platform extensions
- Preliminary light rail engineering between Redmond's Overlake and downtown areas
- A permanent multi-modal station at Edmonds
- Renton HOV improvements
http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-announces-133-billion-loan-sound-transit%E2%80%99s-link-light
The Sound Transit press release can be found here:
http://www.soundtransit.org/About-Sound-Transit/News-and-events/News-releases/ST-recieves-13-billion-TIFIA-loan
Article of the Seattle Transit blog to be found here:
http://seattletransitblog.com/2015/01/17/feds-award-loan-restore-st2-possibilities/
