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Sound Transit's $54 billion ST3 plan approved, heads to November ballot

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The plan that could bring light rail to the entire Puget Sound region will officially be on the November ballot

Thursday afternoon, the Sound Transit board unanimously approved sending Sound Transit's $54 billion ST3 light rail package to the November ballot where voters will have the final say.

Afterward, Sound Transit board chair (and King County Executive) Dow Constantine led a press conference to discuss the campaign ahead.

The battle to get the proposition approved certainly won't be unopposed. According to K5's Chris Daniels, two opposition groups have already popped up. Daniels also raised a point about the need to convince a certain block of voters to approve the project even through they will probably not get the chance to use it.

And as the Seattle Times reminded us this week, and will probably continue to do so until November, taxpayers will be adding a lot to their bill for the project and there's a chance that number could rise.

If approved, Sound Transit would begin construction on a comprehensive light rail system that would connect Tacoma, Seattle, Bellevue, Everett and tons of neighborhoods, towns, and cities in between. All-told it would be over 100 miles of track with over 75 stations across 17 cities and serving 500,000 passengers daily. Station completiion would begin in the mid-2020s and stretch towards 2040 as lines make their way into neighborhoods such as West Seattle and Ballard.
· $54 billion Sound Transit plan heading to voters [KUOW]
· Seattle Times wants to ‘slow down’ on light rail, which is decades behind [CS]
· Sound Transit Light Rail Stations Could Be Built Sooner Under Revised Plan [CS]
· Sound Transit 3 Plan Calls For Second Downtown Seattle Tunnel, 108 Miles of Light Rail [CS]