Sound Transit To Receive $3.84 Billion in Federal Loans

In a press release from the U.S. Department of Transportation, USDOT "announced it has provided a package of Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans of up to $3.84 billion for the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) for the financing of the Downtown Redmond Link Extension and refinancing of an additional five projects." The loans will save Sound Transit over $630 million "while helping move projects forward that will create and sustain tens of thousands of jobs." The Build America Bureau, the Obama-era agency that administers the TIFIA loans, was created to "streamline credit opportunities while also providing technical assistance and encouraging innovative best practices in project planning, financing, delivery, and operation."

Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff claims that "[r]efinancing our earlier TIFIA loans will create more than $630 million in savings for our region’s taxpayers, helping us deliver the largest transit infrastructure program in the country as quickly as we can. Expanding the program to include the Downtown Redmond Link Extension expands our savings still further." According to the press release, "[t]he Projects will provide benefits to the central Puget Sound area, including reduced congestion greenhouse gas emissions, expanded routes and more reliable service, and increased ridership capacity."