Commuter rail's foray to Lakewood delayed

A steep hill and dangerous street-level crossings add up to delays — and a possible cost increase — for Sound Transit's commuter-rail extension into southern Pierce County.

The transit agency's governing board on Thursday temporarily halted final design work for a 1.2-mile section of the 8.2-mile corridor from the Tacoma Dome to Lakewood, and told staff members to look for possible funding help from the state or elsewhere.

Most of the line follows an old freight corridor Sound Transit bought two years ago. But near downtown Tacoma, where the agency must build a new track section for its Sounder spur, two problems were discovered:

• Steep slopes

During tests, a locomotive could not continue uphill on a 3 percent grade after stopping on wet tracks. The wheels slipped.

Sound Transit could flatten the existing 3.4 percent grade somewhat, but the agency hasn't decided yet how to solve the traction problem. Managers knew of the slope in the 1990s and required that the General Electric locomotives be able to restart on a 3.5 percent grade while pulling 10 cars. But the specifications sent to General Electric didn't specify whether that meant in wet conditions.

• Road crossings

The route crosses both Pacific Avenue and South Tacoma Way at odd angles, a condition that expert reviewers outside Sound Transit considered hazardous.

Trains could slow to 16 mph, instead of the planned 35 mph. Even so, the agency thinks it couldn't ever safely increase the currently planned nine roundtrips per day — which rules out future growth on either Sounder or Amtrak passenger lines.

Sound Transit will study overpasses, which would require condemning real estate for an altered route.

Besides boosting capacity, overpasses would prevent crashes between trains and motor vehicles. But construction would delay the scheduled 2008 opening by at least two years. The voter-approved Sound Move plan of 1996 originally called for a 2001 start date.

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