The Seattle Monorail Project released details of a contract yesterday to build an elevated train from Ballard to West Seattle by Dec. 1, 2010, and disclosed that the car-tab tax being used to pay for the system is expected to continue until 2050.

Agency leaders are on a fast track to approve the deal with Cascadia Monorail Co. by mid-July, giving the public three weeks to comment on the basic design features.

The voter-approved effort to construct the nation's longest monorail comes with a rising price, which the latest figures show will exceed $2.1 billion. Despite concerns about funding, voters rejected an initiative to block the project last fall, after approving the citywide tax two years earlier.

"We were able to fulfill what we told the voters in 2002," said Seattle Monorail Project (SMP) Executive Director Joel Horn, saying the line still would be 14 miles despite a shortage in tax revenues.

However, the tax will last nearly twice as long as originally predicted.

The agency last night did not display detailed designs of stations, the alignment on Second Avenue downtown or a new Ballard monorail bridge.

Before construction can start on city streets, the City Council must affirm that SMP can pay for the line and the first five years of operation. The council has hired independent experts who have 30 days to study the project, then the council can take up to 30 days more for its decision.

"Wow," City Councilman Richard Conlin said when told of the plan to collect the car-tab tax for 45 more years. "It seems like an awful long time to be paying for a single project."

More than $2.1 billion

The project's $2.1 billion cost is an increase of more than 20 percent from the $1.75 billion price advertised when voters approved the line.

The proposed contract for tracks, stations and trains makes up $1.62 billion of the cost. The rest will be spent on utility relocation, real estate, agency administration, operating subsidies and reserves.

The bid, the only one the agency received, came in higher than an unofficial $1.3 billion target the agency staff considered a year ago.

To guarantee the project, SMP says, it is requiring builders to complete the line or forfeit up to $500 million in performance bonds. The agency says it also is keeping $155 million in reserves to cover unforeseen problems, and if all goes well that money can be spent on trains and stations.

Horn said, "It will be the monorail that voters approved. ... We're actually going to finally ride this monorail in about five years."

SMP is now trying to pay for the deal by stretching out its debt repayments.

A new cash-flow plan last night showed the agency selling $300 million in short-term debt called "commercial paper" over the next two years, and $1.9 billion in bonds through 2014.

SMP Finance Director Jonathan Buchter said the finance plan includes some bonds that would pay 7 or 8 percent interest.

When asked by the board whether those were "junk" bonds, Buchter said they had been given that label, "unfortunately," but "they're commonly used in the market."

SMP would have to offer higher interest payouts for a fifth of its bonds because the agency's available cash would cover its debt payments on those bonds by a relatively narrow margin, leading to either a low bond rating or no rating.

Richard Borkowski, a backer of rival light-rail technology, said there isn't enough money in Seattle for both monorail and Sound Transit's light-rail system. "I don't believe you can build a project that's 20 percent over budget with 30 percent less money," he said, adding that SMP is on "a glide path toward bankruptcy."

Taxes would go beyond 2050 if the agency misses its estimate of 6.1 percent yearly growth in tax revenues, new figures show. Or, rapid growth could pay the debt off sooner. (The average tax per vehicle is $130 a year, with new cars exempt the first year.)

Board member Kristina Hill said it's probably too much to ask one generation to pay the full cost. The monorail is like buying a house, she said: It won't depreciate in value, and taxpayers can benefit from it while they are paying for it.

Train service

SMP is buying 13 trains, enough to run them eight minutes apart at rush hour, 10 minutes apart at other times and less frequently at night. That's not as frequent as the three to six minutes promised earlier. The plan includes extra track switches north and south of downtown, enabling SMP to keep more trains in the city core by moving some back and forth between the Space Needle and King Street Station. If that happens, riders in Ballard or West Seattle will have longer waits — at least, until the agency adds trains.

Only about three miles of the line will use a slow single-track system, where northbound and southbound trains take turns sharing one rail. Those areas are 15th Avenue Northwest from Northwest 65th Street to Northwest 85th Street; California Avenue Southwest; and the West Seattle Bridge deck. Monorail activist Peter Sherwin said it's good news that the agency says the line can still be upgraded to service every six minutes, despite single-tracking on the bridge.

Horn said the contract reflects Seattle's "core values" — for instance, the trains will have a brake system similar to a hybrid car, restoring energy to the train motors and conserving electricity to run the trains.

Three of the planned 19 stations will not be ready opening day: at Elliott Avenue West serving lower Queen Anne Hill; at Madison Street downtown; and the Avalon Way station next to West Seattle Stadium. The Madison station requires buying federally owned land that isn't available yet, while the other two were delayed to save money.

Terry Burrows, who lives near the Avalon site, said some neighbors are upset about losing the stop, a well-used bus hub.

Column designs

The oval support columns would be bulkier than officials had promised.

The dimensions — 4 feet even by 4 feet, 9 inches wide for the basic, side-by-side track alignment that would make up nearly half the route — are similar in size to the existing Seattle Center Monorail, but less blocky. Three years ago, monorail planners said columns would be as lean as 3 feet. Downtown, there would be several two-level columns where the northbound track is 12 feet higher than the southbound track. The layout allows a tall, thin station to serve people going either direction, by stacking the north- and southbound boarding platforms at separate elevations.

A few spots would have bigger columns — 6 feet, 9 inches by 4 feet, 9 inches — where there isn't enough room to place tracks side-by-side next to a building and the columns must support an unbalanced weight. One of the tracks would extend farther over the street.

The special downtown switches require huge platforms that would form a lid shadowing Fifth Avenue near the Space Needle.

The timetable

The agency is already taking criticism for its fast-track public-hearing schedule.

"Nine months of private negotiation, 15 days for public review," said Crown Hill resident Mike Schuh, who criticized the agency for having its public hearings in a holiday week.

However, Sherwin said the city's 60-day review period should reassure people that there will be time to explore the project's affordability.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com