Sound Transit Forming Everett Community Advisory Group

September 17, 2021

Everett

There’s a website now dedicated to the Everett extension.

As part of the “realignment” being undertaken by Sound Transit the focus is beginning to turn a bit to Everett, Washington and plans for Light Rail and an Operations and Maintenance Facility to be sited on 60-70 acres in the Everett area. With that comes an opportunity for people living and working in Everett to participate in the process. Here’s more from Sound Transit on how you can get involved with their Community Advisory Group. The initial meeting is set for Thursday November 18th and applications are being accepted through October 18th.

Sound Transit has launched a website to invite community members to learn more about the upcoming Everett Link Extension project. The website, available at everettlink.participate.online, provides an opportunity for visitors to learn more about the Link light rail service from Lynnwood City Center heading north through Snohomish County, with stops close to regional destinations.

The Everett extension as outlined by Sound Transit.

Sound Transit’s Everett Link Extension will add 16 miles and six new stations, plus one provisional (unfunded) station at SR 99/Airport Road, connecting Snohomish County residents to the regional light rail network. The project will also build an Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF) to support the regional network.

In conjunction with the website launch, Sound Transit is also looking for members for a Community Advisory Group (CAG). The CAG will provide a forum for community members to inform the development of alternatives for the project. The group will include residents, transit riders, business owners and representatives of community organizations that reflect the diversity throughout the corridor, particularly communities of color, historically and institutionally underrepresented communities, the systemically disadvantaged, and others whose voices may not have always been heard or prioritized. Sound Transit is committed to becoming an anti-racist organization and ensuring the creation of conditions necessary to achieve racial equality within the agency and the broader community.

The Sound Transit Board will consider recommendations and feedback from the CAG when making decisions. Anyone who would like to be involved with the CAG should complete an interest form online at https://bit.ly/CAGInterest by Oct. 18. Interest forms are available in Spanish, Russian and Korean.

In the fall, the project team will seek public input on different route and station locations to study in more detail through a process called “scoping.” Scoping is an important milestone in the Everett Link Extension project. It is an opportunity for the community to share their thoughts on the Link light rail project and help Sound Transit develop, evaluate and compare different route, station and OMF locations.

In August, the Sound Transit Board adopted a plan that identifies 2037 as the timeframe when the agency can afford to open service to SW Everett Industrial Center and 2041 as the timeframe for service to Everett Station, based on current revenue projections and cost estimates.

However, the Board also identified a more ambitious target of achieving a 2037 service opening to Everett Station through intensive efforts to secure expanded funding and control project costs. This target schedule, which is one year later than the original schedule for reaching Everett Station, requires additional funding and/or savings, and intensified commitments of support from partners at the local, state and national levels.

More information on the Everett Link Extension project is available at: www.soundtransit.org/everettlink.



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