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Tacoma, Wash.-Area Transit Board's Plan Prepares for Future Influx

Posted on: Friday, 8 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Jul. 8--Sound Transit's board unanimously adopted a long-range plan Thursday that lays the foundation for sending another tax package to voters to build more transit lines.

The plan adopted by the agency, which serves parts of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties, broadly outlines what transit in the central Puget Sound area should look like by 2030. Specific transit projects won't be decided until later this year for a ballot measure that could go to voters in 2006.

"This process will determine how we will connect communities not only for our existing residents, but also for the more than the 1.2 million people who will move here over the next 25 years," said Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, chairman of Sound Transit's board.

Highlights of the plan include:

--Narrowing the options for installing high-capacity transit lines on Interstate 90 to light rail or "Bus Rapid Transit," which are bus-only lanes that would be convertible to light rail.

--Operating bus-only transit in the car-pool lanes of Interstate 5, Interstate 405 and Highway 167, with other improvements including Park & Ride lots and direct-access freeway ramps.

--Running light rail from Everett to Tacoma, and extending Tacoma's streetcar westward.

--Potentially operating light rail on I-405 and extending it to Burien.

Voters in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties approved the $4 billion initiative to create Sound Transit in 1996.

The plan envisioned a regional system with light rail, commuter trains and express buses. The bulk of funding comes from local taxes, including a 0.4 percent sales tax and a 0.3 percent vehicle license tax.

ON THE NET: Visit Sound Transit at www. soundtransit.org

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Copyright (c) 2005, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.

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Source: The News Tribune

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