Have your say; help shape Sound Transit 3!

Read­ers, Sound Tran­sit would like us to remind you that this Wednes­day is the last day to weigh in on the next phase of Sound Tran­sit 3 plan­ning. Our region­al tran­sit author­i­ty wants to know what you think should be part of next year’s like­ly vote to bring light rail and improved bus ser­vice into more neighborhoods.

There are sev­er­al ways you can make your voice heard:

1. Take the online sur­vey
2. View the new ST3 web­site with the draft pri­or­i­ty list and map
3. Email the agency at soundtransit3@soundtransit.org
4. Mail com­ments to: Sound Tran­sit | 401 S Jack­son St | Seat­tle, WA 98104
5. Tweet to @SoundTransit

Your input will help Sound Tran­sit staff and board­mem­bers decide what projects are wor­thy of fur­ther study for inclu­sion in an ST3 proposal.

Sound Tran­sit’s juris­dic­tion includes urban King, Sno­homish, and Pierce coun­ties, encom­pass­ing the cities of Seat­tle, Taco­ma, Everett, and Belle­vue. Sub­urbs of those cities, like NPI’s home­town of Red­mond, are also in ST’s ser­vice area.

ST3 is so named because it will be the third phase of Sound Tran­sit’s sys­tem build-out. The first phase was approved in Novem­ber 1996; most of what was pro­posed then has since been con­struct­ed, though the planned light rail line run­ning through Seat­tle had to be scaled back until more fund­ing could be secured.

Sound Tran­sit 2 was approved in Novem­ber 2008; that set of projects is either in the con­struc­tion phase already, or near­ing ground­break­ing. Pas­sage of Sound Tran­sit 2 pro­vid­ed fund­ing to bring Link to North­gate (as had been promised in 1996 with ST1) and beyond to Lyn­nwood, as well as east to Red­mond and south towards Fed­er­al Way. If vot­ers approve ST3 next year, it will autho­rize ST to bring bet­ter tran­sit ser­vice into even more neighborhoods.

Before ST3 goes to the bal­lot, though, the Sound Tran­sit board needs to fig­ure out what the best mix of projects is. Rid­er­ship, acces­si­bil­i­ty, and tran­sit-ori­ent­ed devel­op­ment poten­tial will fac­tor into the board­’s deci­sions. But so will your input! So if you want your voice to be heard… take the sur­vey today and have your say.