If this were China, our light rail system would be finished and probably running to Olympia, Mount Vernon and Cle Elum. In this state, though, we have labor laws, higher wages, votes on construction bonds, public input, environmental regulations and no politicians with the power to command things to happen.
Enough of Sound Transit’s train system has been built that we know it is a good thing, and folks in Ballard, West Seattle, Issaquah, Everett, Tacoma and beyond are eager to have tracks laid to their communities. But it hasn’t been cheap or easy. In the decade after construction on the first line began, overruns were 86% above initial cost estimates. And through all the years of digging and building, inflation skyrocketed. Now, the estimated cost of the third phase of the project is $185 billion (which, of course, will be higher, once cost overruns and inflation goose the price).
Completion dates are set in the 2030s and 2040s, which really means the 2050s, if history is a guide. As a result, plenty of people who have been paying their tax dollars for light rail will die before they get a ride from their home communities. That is not because they are old (or at least they weren’t when this mass transportation system got launched). It means these things take time in this part of the world.
If you want infrastructure projects to speed along, move to China. Such is the price of freedom.
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
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