With the final Environmental impact statement due this summer for Sound Transit’s West Seattle light rail extension the group ReThinkTheLink held their second route walk through on Sunday June 9 not to protest the project but as they said, so the public could be better informed of the “scale, scope and impacts” of the plans thus far.

A group of about 35 people joined the organizers on a looping walk from the West Seattle Health Club, whose pool under the current plan is set to be eliminated, up through north Delridge where a series of businesses will be removed, out to mid span on the lower Spokane Street Bridge and back.

It was led by Alan McMurray who has a job in SODO near where the West Seattle link will stop.

RethinktheLink’s preference is for a more fulsome Bus Rapid Transit plan and for Sound Transit to adopt the “No Build Option” instead. 

Despite the efforts of Sound Transit’s outreach to the public to inform them about what they are planning, it’s inevitable that some will be surprised at the changes set to take place.

The organizers of the walk maintain that up to 1400 homes and businesses will be displaced and that construction will cost more than $4 billion for 4.7 miles of track making it the second most expensive transit project in the nation. The original plan passed in 2016 was for $1.6 billion. 

The trains once running will by Sound Transit’s own estimates, carry 27,000 passengers daily, the same number buses carry today. The project is projected to take 6 to 8 years to complete.

The organizers noted they are part of a broader coalition called Smarter Transit.

On hand for the tour were writers for the Seattle Transit Blog Martin Pagel and Mike Orr.

Tour participants walked under the upper level bridge then up and on to the lower Spokane Street Bridge for a better look. 

The new bridge over the Duwamish River will be 160 feet high as per US Coast Guard regulations and will stay at that level heading into West Seattle.

Then it was back down for a look at the area the track will cross the Pigeon Point neighborhood.

As the walk organizers explained, once the final EIS is released, people will have 30 days to share comments.

They urge the public to “Just be heard” and maintain that the project needs to be “thought out a little bit more”.