Sound Transit OKs East Link Agreement, Pending Bellevue Decision

The Sound Transit Board this week gave the OK for the agency to approve a binding agreement with the City of Bellevue that would enable the East Link light rail project to serve downtown Bellevue via a tunnel.

The Board authorized Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl to sign off on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Bellevue after . The council's action will be taken after a Nov. 7 public hearing on the Memorandum of Understanding.

The transit agency had set a deadline of this week to come to the agreement, which would outline how the city and the agency would split tunnel's $276 million cost, which would be added to the expected $2.5 billion cost of the entire East Link project.

Bellevue Mayor Don Davidson presented the Board with a letter stating the city’s commitment to take action on the MOU on or before Nov. 14.

, Bellevue city officials have also angled to include provisions on how the transit agency will minimize the impacts to the Surrey Downs, Enatai and other neighborhoods that fall along the above-ground path of the East Link line.

According to Sound Transit, benefits of the partnership include saving time for transit riders as well as motorists by avoiding at-grade street crossings in downtown Bellevue and establishing a grade-separated light rail alignment all the way from Seattle to the Bel-Red Corridor.

“Building the voter-approved East Link line is critical for the mobility and prosperity of our region. This agreement is good for the people of Bellevue and good for the people of King County,” said Sound Transit Board Member and King County Executive Dow Constantine, in a prepared statement.

The city and the agency have been negotiating since July, when the Sound Transit board selected the East Link route, which will connect the Eastside through Redmond to the already established Central Link light rail line in Seattle via Interstate 90 and Mercer Island.

Constantine and Sound Transit Board members Fred Butler and Richard Conlin represented Sound Transit in discussions with Bellevue City Council members Jennifer Robertson, Grant Degginger and Kevin Wallace.

Following the issuance of a Record of Decision by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Sound Transit will move the East Link project into final design. Sound Transit is expected to start construction of East Link in 2015 or 2016 and launch passenger service in 2023.

The tunnel is estimated to cost an additional $276 million beyond the cost of an at-grade alignment through downtown after factoring in cost savings from locating East Link’s South Bellevue alignment along 112th Avenue Southeast. The MOU establishes a firm funding commitment by the City of Bellevue for up to $160 million (in 2010 dollars), identifies the City’s preferred design for the alignment along 112th Avenue Southeast and commits Sound Transit to review and consider  the design changes.

Other key elements of the agreement include mechanisms to share risks and benefits between the parties and commitments to work collaboratively in the final design process to manage the project’s scope, schedule and budget. The agreement provides that Bellevue will process land use code amendments to establish a consolidated permit process and other actions including resolving technical code issues.

A Transitway Agreement slated for approval alongside the MOU grants Sound Transit non-exclusive use of City right-of-way to construct, operate, and maintain the East Link project, at no cost to Sound Transit; and outlines typical standards for construction, operation and maintenance of the Project in City right-of-way generally consistent with existing transitway agreements in the cities of Seattle, Tukwila and SeaTac.

East Link documents including the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement are available at http://projects.soundtransit.org/Projects-Home/East-Link-Project.xml

Riding East Link between Seattle and downtown Bellevue is projected to take less than 20 minutes. By comparison, in the afternoon peak period it can currently take approximately 45 minutes to travel between Seattle and Bellevue via I-90.

-- Information from Sound Transit, Bellevue Patch archives