Wilson, Zahilay, and Mosqueda Propose Plan to Save Graham St Station

Mayor Wilson announced the Graham St station amendment at an event outside the Filipino Community Center on Wednesday (Michael Smith).

On Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson unveiled an amendment to the Sound Transit 3 realignment plan that would keep the Graham St infill station on track to open in 2031. The ST3 realignment plan was proposed by Board Chair Dave Somers in early May as a means of aligning the agency's future Link extensions with the available funding. In the plan, Link extensions to West Seattle, Everett, Tacoma, Issaquah, Kirkland, and the new downtown tunnel would be built first. The extension from Seattle Center to Ballard and the infill stations (Graham St and Boeing Access Rd) would be designed with current funding but construction would be deferred until additional funds are available in the future.

Mayor Wilson teamed up with King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and King County Councilmember TeresaMosqueda to propose an amendment to Somers' resolution. The amendment directs Sound Transit to incorporate $25M in secured federal grant funds for project construction, apply identified cost savings opportunities, and pursue additional local and federal grant opportunities". In addition, any cost savings from Pinehurst station should be allocated for the Graham St station. As Seattle owns the right-of-way on MLK Way, Wilson is committing that the City will expedite permitting, resolve ROW-related risks, and support cost reduction efforts".

If this amendment is adopted, Sound Transit will have to provide a plan with cost saving opportunities and additional funding sources by June 1, 2027. If the agency is not able to fully fund Graham St station in this plan, the City of Seattle will contribute up to $30M dollars to close the gap. Seattle Councilmembers Eddie Lin, Dionne Foster, and Alexis Mercedes Rinck voiced their support for the amendment.

Graham St station is a planned at-grade infill station on Martin Luther King Jr Way S between S Graham St and S Morgan St. The station was added to the Central Link Environmental Impact Statement in 1999, but deferred in the early 2000's (along with the Boeing Access Road station). In 2016, Sound Transit included both stations in the ST3 package passed by voters. Following years of community outreach, Sound Transit decided to build the station with a center platform south of Graham St. New crossover tracks north of Graham St will also be needed to minimize 1 Line service disruptions during the station's construction.

Graham Street Station Map (Sound Transit)

Graham St station is a one example of how a project can be significantly more complex than it looks. Sound Transit has strict requirements for track geometry at stations. Specifically, the agency allows a maximum of 1% vertical profile grade and zero horizontal curves. The existing track near Graham St has slight horizontal curves so it would need to be rebuilt to meet these criteria. Additionally, a 42'' sewer main runs under the southbound track. Any construction that requires moving this pipe would likely be prohibitively expensive. Finally, MLK Way runs on either side of the current tracks. In its analysis so far, Sound Transit has assumed the need to preserve all 5 lanes (2 each direction and a turn lane) on MLK Way. As a result, the agency has priced in buying additional property adjacent to the station to accommodate road lanes displaced by the platforms.

These complexities, along with broader inflation and cost increases, have increased the station's estimated cost from $115M to $214M. Despite this higher cost, Graham St remains as one of the best value (dollars per daily boarding) ST3 projects. The station is expected to have 2,700 to 4,100 daily riders by 2046.

As Andrew Lindstrom outlined in a recent article, Sound Transit will likely find significant cost savings by not expanding the right-of-way around Graham St station. This will require support from the City of Seattle as it will impact the lane configuration on MLK Way. Sound Transit's analysis may find other cost saving measures that reduce the project's cost to an affordable level.