Sound Transit links tall buildings in a single bound

Sound Transit will save the republic, the economy and our American way of life.

Perhaps I overstate a bit, but the recognition by Eastside communities that their fates and Seattle's are linked, and together they are best served by high-capacity transit — light rail — is a huge breakthrough.

Sound Transit will bind a strong, mutually dependent region with predictable, dependable transportation. Legions of claustrophobic commuters desperately and devoutly wish it to be so.

Local elected officials closest to the civic devices, desires and frustrations of their constituents in Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland and Redmond have pointed Sound Transit toward more work and further study of light rail in the Interstate 90 corridor, and bus-rapid transit on Highway 520 and Interstate 405.

These options have a 15-year horizon and feel a long ways away, but they are downright prescient in anticipation of the population and employment growth forecast 25 years out.

The public craves alternatives to $3-a-gallon gasoline. Look at the jump in ridership on the Sounder commuter-rail service between Seattle and Tacoma. Four daily trains carried 334,183 passengers in the first quarter of 2006, compared with 228,302 in the same period of 2005.

People will ride mass transit if it is available and reliable. And they will ride it as the daily automobile commute becomes all the more hideous and unpredictable. Time is money on the job and with day-care centers, where fees go platinum after 6 p.m.

In response to surging demand, Sound Transit will add two more Sounder runs next year, and, in a nod to the true ebb and flow of people's working lives, one will be a reverse commute to Tacoma in the morning.

The region is getting a better sense of itself. Bellevue and Seattle are not mutually exclusive economic zones. A rational transportation plan that supports Seattle's increasingly residential downtown vision works for the owners of 2.5 million square feet of office space in Bellevue. Eventually, a broad plan will have to be tailored to local considerations. In Bellevue, for example, Deputy Mayor John Chelminiak thinks about reconciling light rail to the downtown's extra-long blocks and fewer crossing and turning opportunities for automobile traffic. He was a slow, deliberate convert to light rail, but he wants a good fit for his community, and for him that could mean a tunnel through downtown, not unlike a slice of the Washington, D.C., Metro.

The vision will evolve, and plain, vanilla bus service — with direct access ramps to I-90 and 405 — will not be forgotten. Fast and reliable sells.

Oh, and saving democracy and our American way life is still on my to-do list for Sound Transit.

Recent national surveys found a kind of apathy creep into the early 30s. Old political-science truisms about an early, transitory disconnect with voting and civic involvement is lasting longer. The antidote was thought to be the tendrils of employment ties, marriage and buying a house. An accumulation of physical and emotional stuff takes root and creates a sense of place. Nothing like a hefty mortgage to focus the mind.

As real-estate prices grow ever wackier and make homeownership all the more improbable for many, I think transit-oriented development is the key to helping more people get a stake in their community and a share of the American dream.

Housing of modest square-footage clustered near shops and transportation is the ticket for young homebuyers to have a place of their own, build equity and, sure, register to vote and complain about City Hall and the school board.

Compact transit villages will be built farther out, with narrower streets, walkable shopping areas and strong transportation links to urban centers.

Transit-oriented development is the Levittown of the 21st century. William Levitt housed postwar America in 850-square-foot, mass-produced, single-family homes. Today's route to a home of one's own can begin near transit centers in Federal Way or Renton. It's a good thing.

Sound Transit is the medium for getting something done. Eastside communities recognize what they need, and they will dog Sound Transit to make it happen. Light rail and the American way. That's super, man.

Lance Dickie's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is ldickie@seattletimes.com