The Trump Administration is subjecting the West Seattle Link Extension to additional scrutiny and that is pushing the estimated date for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to greenlight the light rail project by 30 to 60 days, Sound Transit announced this week. Originally expected in late February, the publishing of the FTA’s Record of Decision (ROD) is a critical approval point for the project, and summarizes the findings of the federally-required environmental review that will allow it to head toward construction.
The delay comes on top of federal fund freezes that are impacting transportation projects large and small across the region and is part of a growing pattern of procedural delays on other projects.
After the West Seattle Blog first broke news of the delay midweek, Sound Transit CEO Goran Sparrman Thursday fleshed out details to agency’s board of directors, clarifying that West Seattle Link isn’t being singled out. Nevertheless, the news will be worrying to many transit advocates watching a new administration that is likely to be anything but friendly to public transit projects.
“We recently received word that the federal Record of Decision — the important next milestone in the project — which we had anticipated at the end of this month, will likely be delayed 30 to 60 days until our time for the Federal Transit Administration to work with the Office of The General Counsel at the White House to review and ensure consistency with recent executive orders that have been widely publicized over the last month,” Sparrman said. “We understand that this additional process is not exclusive to our project, the West Seattle Link Extension product, and is it being applied broadly across the country.”
This delay is separate from any decision to award FTA funding, which wasn’t set to happen for quite some time when it comes to West Seattle Link. The project entered FTA’s process to receive a Capital Investment Grant (CIG) in 2022, but Sound Transit has not even yet identified an amount that it’s requesting, according to the FTA project page.
Sound Transit has sparred with Trump officials under the previous administration, but successfully secured a $1.17 billion grant to complete Lynnwood Link in 2018. However, all signs point to a much bleaker situation now, as Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency takes a slash-and-burn approach to federal funding, including in numerous areas where Congress has already appropriated funds. That grant represented more than a third of Lynnwood Link’s funding, with a federal loan providing Sound Transit with an additional $658 million.
West Seattle Link already has to contend with a big escalation in expected cost. An initial price tag of approximately $4 billion grew to $6.7 and $7.1 billion, as the project was hit with inflation (which is affecting many transportation megaprojects) and Sound Transit has more fully fleshed out its design.
Navigating a federal funding landscape that changes by the day will be a major challenge for Sound Transit’s incoming CEO, expected to be announced in the coming days. King County Executive Dow Constantine, the only publicly known candidate among a field of five finalists, does have experience guiding the agency through tough financial waters, but those eras have generally left Sound Transit with a slew of delayed projects.
Across the broader the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), routine funding sources that states and local governments depend on are now being subjected to extra layers of review, a fact that is slowing the disbursement of funds planned for projects everywhere in the country. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is in charge of handing out most of these dollars, and has denied that any funding has been “paused,” but local officials and transportation advocates are sounding the alarm. In Puget Sound, this is most directly impacting the Puget Sound Regional Council, a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) tasked with managing federal dollars.
“FHWA’s state offices are giving inconsistent and varied guidance, while U.S. DOT’s Office of the Secretary has been unclear about the reason for modification. It’s an effective pause and it’s being interpreted as such by states and MPOs,” Transportation for America’s Corrigan Salerno told Streetsblog. “When you say something is ‘not a pause’, but then make everyone put billions of dollars in investments on hold for individual approval of plans over an unclear period of time for an undefined review, then what are you doing if not pausing and delaying projects?”
This week the Puget Sound Regional Council’s executive board received an update on the picture coming out of Washington, with few concrete details available that local officials could act on.
“I’ve been in Washington for over 20 years, I went through the financial crisis in 2008… I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Leslie Pollner, a senior policy advisor with Holland & Knight, the agency’s federal consultant firm. “If it feels chaotic and it feels confusing, that is truly because it is, and in many cases it is being done by design, by this administration.”
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including Capitol Hill Seattle, BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
