Tacoma Light Rail launched; project 60% over budget

Tacoma's light rail -- 1.6 historic miles
8/23/03
By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

TACOMA -- It may be short, but don't underestimate it, said Tacoma leaders yesterday as they launched the state's first modern light rail system in a hail of fireworks and confetti.

"This is a delicious taste of what's going to be delivered 40 miles north of here," said King County Executive Ron Sims, chairman of the Sound Transit board.

That was a reference to Seattle's long-delayed light rail line, which could begin construction before the end of the year.

But yesterday was Tacoma's day.

The Tacoma Link train glided smoothly from the Tacoma Dome through downtown to the theater district. It's a distance of 1.6 miles, but it will tie the whole world to Tacoma, said City Councilman Kevin Phelps, chairman of Sound Transit's finance committee.

Along that route, the trains will stop at South 25th Street, near a fast-developing area of restaurants, stores and residences; at Union Station, near museums and the University of Washington's Tacoma branch campus; and at the future Convention Center, which is under construction.

But the key stop is the Tacoma Dome Station, where light rail riders can get on a Sounder train headed north, a Sound Transit regional express or Pierce Transit bus in any direction, an Amtrak train or a Greyhound bus.

Parking garages there provide 2,400 spaces.

One of the first non-official riders yesterday was Helen Miller, 72, who lives in Puyallup. Miller, the daughter of a brakeman on the Great Northern Railroad, read about the launch of the light rail line in the newspaper and decided to come in and try it. She plans to use the train to go downtown to shop and look around.

"I think people will go for it," she said. "I'm all for it."

It's hard to beat the price: free.

The Link trains will run every 10 minutes, 14 hours a day Monday through Saturday, beginning at 6 a.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. on Saturday. Sundays they will run every 20 minutes between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The trains, which can carry 30 seated and 26 standing passengers, won't go over the 25 mph speed limit. They get an automatic green light when they're going through intersections. The ride is smooth.

The $80.4 million project cost more than the $50 million predicted in the 1996 Sound Move plan but came in under the budget adopted for it three years ago. It also came in ahead of schedule. Sound Transit predicts the line will carry 2,000 passengers a day by 2010.

In 1993, things were so slow in downtown Tacoma that the city actually celebrated the opening of a coffee shop, Phelps said. In trying to get the city moving, business leaders knew it would take more than just a store here and a restaurant there.

"We knew we needed a way to link it all together," Phelps said. Taken by itself, a 1.6-mile light rail line is not a good investment, Phelps said. But by linking the city's museums, theaters, university, business center, convention center and residences to each other and to the transit hub at the Tacoma Dome, the light rail system will be a major boon to Tacoma's ongoing renaissance, he said.

Some folks eating lunch at Freighthouse Square across the street from the Tacoma Dome Station agreed, though not all.

Becky Summers, 30, a medical records specialist who commutes to Tacoma from Gig Harbor, was positive on the new line.

"I think it's a good idea," she said. Summers said she will probably drive to the Freighthouse Square area and hop on Tacoma Link to get downtown for shopping and entertainment.

Stephenie Kuntz, 28, who works at Frank Russell, an international brokerage company, plans to get on the light rail line at the theater district station at lunchtime and take it to Pacific Avenue downtown or Freighthouse Square.

But Robert Carey, who works at a truck dealership in the port area, does not welcome the new line nor expect to use it.

"I just think it's a waste of spending and government should do something better with their money," he said.

Among those who turned out for the launch yesterday were Rep. Norm Dicks and Rep. Adam Smith, both Washington Democrats; Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma; Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg; former state Rep. Ruth Fisher, D-Tacoma, whom many credited for providing crucial support; and many members of Sound Transit's board.