Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, in a coordinated effort with King County officials, today unveiled an urgent strategy to combat a projected $30 billion funding gap in Sound Transit's expansive budget. At the heart of Harrell's plan is a resolute focus on rapidly advancing projects crucial to Seattle, most notably the West Seattle and Ballard Link light rail extensions.

The announcement follows a recent Sound Transit Board meeting where a financial shortfall of $22 billion to $30 billion was acknowledged for the ST3 program, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2016. This substantial deficit is attributed to a confluence of factors, including escalating construction costs due to inflation, widespread supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, rising costs for acquiring rights-of-way, higher financing expenses, and lower-than-anticipated sales tax revenue forecasts.

Direct and Enhanced Focus on West Seattle and Ballard:

Mayor Harrell's strategy prioritizes light rail extensions that serve dense communities with high ridership potential, specifically highlighting the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions. He emphasized these projects are not merely transportation upgrades but "transformative transit expansions for Seattle and the region" that will generate significant ridership and simplify travel.

The city is not waiting for Sound Transit alone to address the issues, demonstrating its commitment through several proactive measures:

• Aggressive Permitting Streamlining: The city has already implemented significant reforms to accelerate project timelines. In July 2025, Mayor Harrell signed legislation and rewrote land use code specifically for the Ballard and West Seattle light rail projects to simplify and streamline development standards and permit processes. This ambitious effort aims to cut the average permitting time in half, from 240 days down to 120. This reform covers the entirety of both projects, also addressing comprehensive tree and vegetation management, improved accessibility, and a more efficient appeals process.

• Expanded City Staffing: Mayor Harrell announced budget legislation to be heard on September 3, 2025, that will front significant budget resources to expand the city's staff team, ensuring Seattle has personnel ready to move these projects forward in partnership with Sound Transit. This demonstrates Seattle’s "full commitment to support the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions".

• Specific Project Timelines and Impact: The West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions together will add 11.8 miles of light rail service and 13 new stations to the regional transit system.

    ◦ The West Seattle Link Extension will connect dense residential and job centers in SODO, Delridge, and West Seattle. Route and station locations were selected in October 2024, and service is currently scheduled to begin in 2032.

    ◦ The Ballard Link Extension will link Chinatown-International District, downtown Seattle, South Lake Union, Seattle Center, Interbay, and Ballard. This project includes a proposed new light rail tunnel downtown, and service is scheduled to begin in 2039.

    ◦ Sound Transit anticipates over 200,000 daily boardings at stations along the West Seattle and Ballard extensions once completed.

Navigating Regional Differences and Seeking Solutions:

While Mayor Harrell champions Seattle projects, the path forward involves navigating differing priorities among Sound Transit Board members. King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, for example, advocates for completing the regional "spine" (connecting Everett to Tacoma), which some suggest could potentially come at the expense of Seattle projects. Balducci has also proposed "big swings" such as re-examining the necessity of a second downtown tunnel in Seattle.

However, the second source provides a more nuanced view from Balducci, who, as Sound Transit Board Vice Chair, stated that "strong partnerships with the cities we serve" are crucial and that she is "committed to working with Mayor Harrell and the City to bring light rail to Ballard and West Seattle—as voters were promised".

Mayor Harrell directly addressed this tension by calling on the Sound Transit Board to "advance the “regional spine” and West Seattle and Ballard light rail extension projects concurrently, not delay one capital project over another". He also proposed several actions to Sound Transit and regional partners, including:

• Close collaboration between City and Sound Transit staff to streamline processes and study value engineering for cost savings.

• Requesting a third-party review and validation of assumptions related to cost, revenue, and project risk.

• Pursuing innovative cost-saving measures and alternative funding strategies, emphasizing an openness to "out-of-the-box ideas to deliver Seattle projects as planned and promised to voters".

Broad Support for Seattle Projects:

The urgency to deliver the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions is echoed by numerous regional leaders and community stakeholders:

• King County Executive Shannon Braddock emphasized the need to "remain focused on forward momentum" and not be paralyzed by challenges, stating, "Sustaining public confidence depends on our ability to keep delivering projects".

• King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda underscored that "Every single project in ST3 matters... For Seattle, Sound Transit expansion is not just transit infrastructure—it’s affordable housing infrastructure, small business infrastructure, and the backbone of our growing neighborhoods," adding, "Seattle communities are ready and waiting for connections to West Seattle and Ballard".

• Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss, who is advancing the budget legislation for additional staff, declared, "We need to build light rail to Ballard and West Seattle faster," and that for Ballard, which has become one of the region's densest neighborhoods, it's an "absolute necessity. Failure is not an option".

• Kirk Hovenkotter of the Transportation Choices Coalition reinforced the sentiment that "Voters overwhelmingly said yes to Sound Transit 3 in 2016. The promise is clear: build the damn trains. Cost challenges are real but we need to keep projects moving. The longer we wait, the more it costs".

• Katie Garrow of MLK Labor strongly stated, "Despite cost increases for Sound Transit 3, now is still the cheapest time to finish the projects... Don’t sacrifice Ballard or West Seattle. Build it all".

Mayor Harrell acknowledged that "a Sound Transit Four might be a possibility in the future," indicating that additional voter-approved funding may eventually be required to fully realize the expansion plans. Sound Transit's Finance and Audit Committee will continue to assess policy and revenue opportunities to bridge the funding gap, with Harrell underscoring Seattle's commitment and the fact that delays would ultimately cost taxpayers more