Harrell Advances New Denny Station Options That Could Delay Ballard Link

In a letter to the Sound Transit Board last week, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell again was going off menu, as the board very slowly and laboriously zeroes in on preferred alternatives to advance to the final study clearing the way for Ballard Link light rail construction. The board must make a decision in July or risk further delay regardless of the alternative selected.

At issue is a four-year closure of Westlake Avenue that Sound Transit’s preliminary analysis has indicated would be necessary to construct the agency’s baseline alternative for Denny Station underneath Westlake Avenue. Amazon and other major employers have balked at such a closure, raising concerns about construction traffic impacts in the vicinity of their headquarters.

Harrell was absent from the Thursday board meeting as the agency shared its Denny Station presentation, but he did send Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Director Greg Spotts in his stead to reiterate the points in his letter, which centered on the board’s “duty to our communities to mitigate construction impacts.”

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The Shifted North alternative would entail a $170 million increase in costs over the Westlake baseline, according to Sound Transit estimates. Meanwhile, the agency revealed the cost for the Terry alternative is now projected at $340 million more than the baseline alternative due to additional work related to construction mitigation and relocating a major fiber (high speed internet) line serving the area. The Shifted West alternative saves $440 million, but only by jettisoning an entire station that was projected to serve 10,500 daily riders.

https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/06/01/harrell-advances-new-denny-station-options-that-could-delay-ballard-link/