Today (March 28, 2024), in two separate actions, the Sound Transit Board approved an array of projects to provide better access to the South Tacoma and Lakewood Sounder stations. The projects include new station-supportive bicycle infrastructure, sidewalks and ADA improvements.
Some of the highlights, developed in conjunction with the cities of Tacoma and Lakewood, are:
- South Tacoma
- New station curb ramps, sidewalk improvements, tactile pavers, PA system and lighting
- Approximately six miles of new bike lanes
- Additional improvements depending on funding remaining following completion of priority projects
- Lakewood
- New station curb ramps, sidewalk improvements, PA system and tactile pavers
- Approximately five miles of new bike lanes and transit stop improvements
- Additional improvements depending on funding remaining following completion of priority projects
These improvements were initially conceived, and approved by voters in 2008, as additional parking for the two Sounder stations, but the conceptual projects included options for the Board to select alternative access improvements. Existing parking at both stations is currently underutilized. The surrounding sidewalk network is incomplete and not ADA accessible, and bike access is limited.
Because these project selections were for the voter-approved alternatives in Sound Transit 2 conceptual projects, a supermajority Board vote was required.
The South Tacoma Station Access Improvement Project’s planning estimate is $56 million. The Lakewood Station Access Improvement Project’s planning estimate is $54 million.
Sound Transit’s Sounder S Line train service gives Pierce County residents a dependable, traffic-free commute to and from Seattle. The trip, with Wi-Fi, from South Tacoma Station to Seattle’s King Street Station takes about 70 minutes; from Lakewood, it’s 75 minutes.
We are spending 54 million on “Existing parking” in Lakewood that is “currently underutilized”?
“These improvements were … approved by voters in 2008” so why has It taken the Sound Transit Board more than 15 years to act? 15 years of inflation surely will limit what we can get for our dollars.
“Include options for the Board to select alternative”… why are there options for the Board to do something different that what the voters approved?
Exactly!
ABSOLUTELY AGREE with EVERYTHING KMHills has written !!!!
Just one more example of Sound Transit’s “illicit ripping off our dollars for vehicle fees” and then ripping us off again with uber-expensive “projects” that are absolutely worthless to we folks in the South Sound.
Nearly every dollar they took from us has gone to Seattle/King County’s Transit infrastructure and even that has been a boondoggle mess.
Do something USEFUL and COMMON SENSE for us for once!!
With the South Tacoma station area improvements: “6 miles of additional bike lanes”? Did someone forget about South Tacoma’s nightmare of a mega-warehouse building plans located just less than 1 mile from the South Tacoma Sounder Station??!!
When this new Bridge Industrial ‘fulfillment center'(2.5 million sq ft) is completed and operational, an additional 10,000+ vehicle trips (with thousands of diesel truck trips) daily will be sharing the roads with these bicyclists and local traffic (24/7). Good luck to commuters trying to reach the station on time as South 56th Street and STW will be clogged with traffic daily. Also, who believes that bicyclists want to be exposed to higher air pollutants while using those new bicycle lanes in South Tacoma. Clearly the City of Tacoma Planners did not consider the ‘Bridge Point Tacoma’ warehouse project’s impact on the transportation/transit system plans for South Tacoma.!
That’s Sound Transit for ya.
Condemn your property for fifty cents and spend fifty million on bike lanes, after years of planning meetings and false promises, making it up as they go along.
These people are virtually unaccountable to anyone but the politicians who sit on their board.
No private business could ever afford to operate the way this outfit does with the many billions of our dollars at their disposal.
An entity that runs scheduled transportation as a core function should be all about efficiency.
That’s certainly not the case.