SEATTLE — Sound Transit estimated last year that it would cost, at minimum, $5.1 billion to extend the Link light rail from Seattle's SODO neighborhood to West Seattle.
But now, KING 5 has learned that it may cost as much as $2 billion dollars more than that, and the latest price tag has neighbors questioning everything.
"I don't know, is it worth that?" said Kimberly Kirkland, the general manager at Pegasus Pizza and Pasta on West Seattle's California Avenue. Her restaurant is just steps from a new light rail station planned for 2032.
On one hand, for the locals-favorite eatery, more access to broaden her network of customers.
"The more people that we can get into the doors at our business, the better," said Kirkland.
But she also was shocked to hear about the latest cost estimate. The extension from SODO to Alaska Junction was initially estimated to cost a little more than $5 billion, and according to Sound Transit, it will now likely cost up to $7.1 billion.
"Billion, with a 'B,' is just such an astronomical number," said Kirkland.
The discrepancy in price tags between now and March of 2023 is roughly $2 billion.
"Oh my goodness, where's the money coming from?" said Saronda Achelles, a longtime West Seattle local.
Sound Transit's spokesperson Rachelle Cunningham said Thursday the concerning new figure is a result of "bottom up cost estimating," which she said paints a more accurate picture of its total cost because it "takes into account project-specific complexities such as unique soil conditions, site access, construction means and methods, and current market conditions."
Achelles said she is hopeful the light rail extension will come sooner rather than later, so that it can "bring people together and get them to their location faster.”
In spring of last year, when the $5 billion price tag was estimated, the project was at approximately 10% design. However, "the new estimate reflects design progression since then," said Cunningham.
The project is a 4.1-mile corridor, but it comes with the daunting challenge of engineering a train bridge over a broad stretch of the Duwamish River.
The West Seattle extension and another to Seattle's Ballard neighborhood are among many rail pathways voters approved in the ST3 tax measure of 2016.