Voters might have to steer their way through three transportation-spending proposals next fall and all have implications for West Seattle.

The latest transportation package is presented by King County last week when county officials announced the biggest expansion in Metro Transit bus service in two decades, to be paid for by a one-tenth of 1 percent increase in the sales tax. An estimated $50 million could be raised during the first year of tax collection.

The city of Seattle faces a $500 million backlog of transportation projects so city officials are assembling the city's own proposal for voters.

There's yet another package of regional road and transit projects that could go before voters come autumn. It would provide money for projects in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties including money for bus rapid transit and light rail.

Announcing the "Transit Now" program at a press conference last week, King County Executive Ron Sims said five heavily used bus routes would be part of a bus rapid transit system Metro is calling "Rapid Ride." Instead of buses arriving every 30 minutes as they do now, Rapid Ride buses would come by every 10 to 15 minutes. Besides the morning and afternoon commutes, the new service would include more frequent buses midday, weekends and evenings.

If approved by voters, King County's plan is to purchase about 190 new buses, half of which would be hybrid vehicles powered by diesel-electric, all-electric and biodiesel.

Part of Route 54 would become one of five Rapid Ride lines in the county. Other Rapid Ride lines are planned along Pacific Highway South, 15th Avenue Northwest in Ballard, Aurora Avenue North and Bellevue-Redmond.

Traffic signals on Rapid Ride routes would be equipped with signal pre-emption devices that could recognize approaching buses and either extend green-light time or hasten signal cycles to help speed Rapid Ride buses on their way, said Victor Obeso, manager of Metro's service development section.

Another 35 "high-ridership" routes throughout King County also would get more buses to provide rides every 15 minutes.

In West Seattle and White Center, Routes 120 and 128 would be among the high-ridership routes getting service every 15 minutes, Obeso said.

Route 120 runs on Delridge Way Southwest connecting White Center and Burien to downtown Seattle.

Route 128 connects the Admiral District, Alaska Junction, Morgan Junction, South Seattle Community College, White Center, Southern Heights and Southcenter Mall.

The Rapid Ride portion of Route 54 would go from Morgan Junction north through West Seattle to the West Seattle Bridge and Spokane Street Viaduct. Instead of heading downtown on the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the altered Route 54 would go north from Spokane Street on Fourth Avenue South and through the downtown bus tunnel.

The transition could mean dedicated lanes for a few blocks of California Avenue, Obeso said. Metro also could add "bus bulbs" instead of turnouts. Buses could just stop to pick up or drop off passengers without having to continually maneuver in and out of traffic, which makes it more difficult to stay on schedule.

Bus shelters would be equipped with electronic schedule boards that could display estimated arrival times.

Metro officials hope to improve travel time by 15 percent over the entire route, Obeso said.

According to King County Metro ridership figures from last fall, Route 54 buses were transporting an average of 2,810 people on weekdays and 480 more passengers on Route 54 express buses during rush hours.

On Saturdays last fall, Route 54 moved an average of 1,800 passengers and another 1,600 on Sundays.

Now the public gets a chance to review the proposal before it goes to the King County Council for finalization. Then voters will decide.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at 932-0300 or tstclair@robinsonnews.com