Light-rail tunnel slated to get $100 million boost

The federal government intends to provide $100 million this year toward Sound Transit's future light-rail tunnel from downtown Seattle to the University of Washington, according to the Bush administration's proposed 2009 budget.

The money is part of a $750 million request Sound Transit made to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to help pay for the three-mile, $1.8 billion line to open by the end of 2016.

Monday's announcement makes it likely that groundbreaking will happen late this year, as local transit officials hoped. The Seattle rail project's status was elevated from "final design" to "pending" in a federal funding timetable.

Previously, federal transportation Secretary Mary Peters praised the University Link project, which received the FTA's highest rating because of the route's high population density.

Trains would stop at Husky Stadium, Capitol Hill and Westlake Center, and continue south to Sodo, Rainier Valley and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on a 16-mile line that's already under construction.

"The U-Link project will triple our ridership and take advantage of the investment we've made in the initial segment," said Ric Ilgenfritz, Sound Transit's policy and planning director. Ridership from the stadium to the airport is estimated at 114,000 weekday trips in 2030.

Project opponent John Niles said more people would benefit if the same amount of money were spent to add bus-rapid transit and bikeways, reaching the whole region instead of one rail route. "A massive misallocation of resources by our federal government," he said of the planned $100 million payment.

Federal aid would also go to a pair of new King County Metro Transit bus routes: an $11 million grant for the Bellevue-Overlake-Redmond corridor, and $300,000 for Highway 99 service south of Sea-Tac Airport. Those lines are part of Metro's "Transit Now" plan that voters approved, along with a sales-tax increase, in 2006.

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