Overview
- The Sound Transit Board voted Thursday to revise the ST3 expansion and stop construction of the Ballard extension at Seattle Center while approving $300 million to complete design work for the full Ballard route.
- Board members recorded a $7–$9 billion funding gap for the Ballard segment and ordered Sound Transit to publish a public timeline for finishing the line by Aug. 1 and to pursue new financing options if needed.
- The board preserved funding for major corridors including West Seattle, Tacoma/South Sound and Everett/Lynnwood but pushed some projects back, such as the South Kirkland–Issaquah line moving from 2041 to 2050.
- Seattle City Councilmember and board member Dan Strauss cast a dissenting vote and proposed options to close the Ballard gap—75‑year tunnel bonds, higher debt limits and construction efficiencies—though each faces legal, legislative or political hurdles.
- The change follows years of rising land and construction costs and repeated plan realignments since voters approved ST3 in 2016, leaving residents who have paid transit taxes frustrated and the agency under pressure to restore trust.