SEATTLE — The Sound Transit board voted to spend $33 million more to study the best places to build two new light rail stations. That includes a second Pioneer Square Station on Fourth Avenue.
That decision may not be made until 2026.
According to the Seattle Times, consultants will now study the environmental impacts of building a second Pioneer Square light rail station and a separate light rail station south of the Chinatown train station near Interstate 90.
Mayor Harrell said he wants to prevent what happened in the early 1960s, when Interstate 5 split and buried entire Seattle neighborhoods, destroying wide swaths of the Chinatown International District.
King County Executive Dow Constantine wants to build a station in Pioneer Square along with replacing the county jail with housing towers nearby. A new jail would be built in SoDo.
Sound Transit believes 60,000 people will ride this light rail system every day once it’s actually up and running but for now, the project is on hold while money is spent on studies and impact on neighborhoods.