Sound Transit is seeking public input on how we can improve the experience of getting to and from Sounder trains and regional buses at South Tacoma and Lakewood stations. Access improvement projects can mean investments in safer walking, rolling and bicycling connections between stations and their surrounding neighborhoods; better pickup and drop-off areas; additional station lighting and weather shelters; and parking options.
An online open house will be available starting today through April 20 at https://soundersouth.participate.online/. It will be available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog.
Public input will help Sound Transit identify potential improvements, which will then be evaluated and shared with the public later this year. Future phases of the project are subject to direction from the Sound Transit Board.
While projects currently in construction continue to move forward on schedule, further voter-approved expansions face an unprecedented and extremely challenging financial environment. A pandemic-driven recession that has severely reduced consumer spending and tax revenues has converged with increased cost estimates driven by real estate and construction market pressures.
The Sound Transit Board has begun a realignment process that is moving forward under a two-pronged approach. The first prong prioritizes aggressively seeking new federal and state funding to help bridge an $11.5 billion affordability gap for completing projects on their original schedules. To the extent that sufficient new resources are not secured, the Board’s second prong, as required by the ST3 Plan, will utilize the plan’s identified tools to ensure affordability under updated projections for current revenue sources.
Information on the realignment process is available at https://www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion/realignment.
More information on the projects and public involvement process is available at www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion.
