Seattle council approves $9 million in streetcar funding
Aug 13, 2019, 5:16 AM

Another chapter in the saga of the Seattle streetcar.(SDOT)
(SDOT)
In a milestone vote for Seattle’s First Avenue Streetcar project, city council approved on Monday $9 million in design funding.
Issue of Seattle鈥檚 underfunded streetcar moves on to council
Councilmember Lisa Herbold was the sole no vote (6-1). She says it’s too expensive. SCC Insight’s Kevin Schofield Herbold’s “vocal opposition” to the project as a whole.
“The cost was most recently estimated at $286 million dollars and this is twice the cost estimated in 2015 before we’ve even broke ground,” Herbold told the council.
Supporters say the streetcar is a carbon-neutral transit alternative that would reduce traffic on some of downtown’s most constricted streets.
Back in late July, the Seattle Department of Transportation and Mayor Jenny Durkan asked city council to approve a $9 million appropriation toward the streetcar 鈥渢o perform essential engineering and design work for the Center City Connector project.鈥 This came as the project faced an $87 million gap in funding.
Seattle鈥檚 halted streetcar project will resume, at higher cost
That $9 million represents part of a $285.8 million total estimate for the project鈥檚 cost, almost double its original estimate of $143.2 million in 2015. , if the project were terminated, it would open up $45 million of 鈥渇uture bond capacity鈥 for other transportation projects.