Light rail is the right choice for Seattle-Eastside connection

It's time to build light rail to the Eastside.

The debate over whether we should invest in more highways, buses or trains has gone on long enough and it's time that we stop talking and start building.

This means we must invest in the transportation mode that makes sense for each corridor and does the best job of moving the most people. In the case of connecting the Eastside and Seattle, the right transportation choice is building light rail across Interstate 90.

The Eastside is growing at an unimaginable rate. New office buildings, condominiums and retail centers are increasing the urban density in downtown Bellevue. In the very near future, the Eastside will be equal to Seattle in the number of jobs and residences.

It makes sense that we build infrastructure that will connect the two economic engines of the state of Washington because it is where the jobs are and most of the people live. Only light rail has the capacity and reliability to serve the cross-lake connection at the level that we are going to need.

There are some who are saying it is not safe or feasible to put light rail on the I-90 floating bridge. Don't believe it. This is a tactic from those who don't ever want to see light rail built to the Eastside. Every test, model and study that has been conducted on the I-90 bridge demonstrates that light rail can be built with the highest safety standards in place.

In fact, last year the Legislature commissioned an independent review team made up of bridge and light-rail engineering experts from all around the country to study the impacts of light rail on the I-90 bridge. They looked at everything, including stray current, seismic vulnerability and life span of the structure and concluded all could be addressed. This independent team of experts released their findings this summer and has left no question about it: Building light rail on the I-90 bridge is feasible.

And that's great news for the Eastside and the entire region. Everyone will benefit from this investment.

When I-90 was built nearly 20 years ago, planners and engineers designed it then for high-capacity rail transit. We always knew that it would make sense to one day connect the east and west sides of the lake. We knew that population growth and density would warrant it, and now the time has come.

We enjoy an incredible quality of life in the Puget Sound region; however, delaying action on this issue puts all of it at risk. We know that more people will be moving here. We know that we need to take measures to preserve the environment. We know that we run the risk of losing more great Washington companies if we don't build for growth.

We had the chance in 1968 to pass a measure that would build high-capacity rail transit. That measure failed and the result is that we are far behind other regions and cities who figured this out a long time ago. We cannot afford to make the same mistake again.

This November, Sound Transit, the agency tasked with building a regional high-capacity transit system, will ask voters to approve more light rail for Pierce, Snohomish and King counties — including to the Eastside

The Eastside line would run from Seattle, over I-90 with stations on Mercer Island, downtown Bellevue, the Bel-Red Corridor and Redmond's Overlake area. It would connect the largest job centers in the state; including a stop at the Microsoft campus. I urge you to vote yes on this proposal. It's time to stop talking and start building.