Regional Transit Investment Priorities Set for Puget Sound

"On Thursday, the Puget Sound Regional Council’s (PSRC) Transportation Policy Board (TPB) recommended that five transit projects [pdf] receive additional Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) funding in 2021-22," reports Peter Johnson.

According to Johnson, PSRC staff pursued the funding through a competitive bid process with the Federal Transit Administration earlier this year. But three of the five projects received less funding than the agency had hoped. In total, PSRC recommended $24 million in spending for the five projects:

1) Construction of the East Link Light Rail extension from Redmond Technology Station to Downtown Redmond.
2) Station construction on the Community Transit Swift Orange Line bus rapid transit route.
3) Purchasing high capacity buses for Sound Transit's I-405 bus rapid transit line between Burien and Bellevue.

4) Purchasing buses for the planned Pierce Transit bus rapid transit route on Pacific Avenue and the State Route 7 corridor.
5) Construction of a new King County Metro RapidRide line that will connect Totem Lake through Kirkland to downtown Bellevue and Eastgate.

The TPB also recommended a list of contingency projects should more FTA funding become available.