Thank you for Jake Lynch’s excellent article (“Issaquah in line for light rail,” Issaquah Reporter, Aug. 14, 2009.)

The article highlights the need for forward thinking as Sound Transit and other area regional transportation planners grapple with handling the inevitable growth along the I-90 corridor; and ways to best handle the resulting congestion and cost of moving people efficiently.

The article points to a $3 million study of options on I-90 to identify potential future routes and stations.

Currently, in Sound Transit 2, approved by the voters last November, a major step can be taken to move light rail closer to points east, including Issaquah and the Eastgate park and ride.

This would utilize the route along I-90 which travels the farthest east before turning north into Bellevue.

This route, referred to as “B7”, was preferred by over 75 percent of those who commented on the draft environmental impact statement for Sound Transit 2, using Sound Transit’s own data.

In addition, besides being the least expensive route, it provides a $125 million down payment toward future eastward expansion by continuing to I-405 instead of Bellevue Way.

In other words, the cost of the next phase for light rail eastward would be reduced by $125 million by choosing the B7 route today. Again, this is using Sound Transit’s own cost data.

Unfortunately, this route was not chosen by the Sound Transit board. Instead the board chose a route using the already congested Bellevue Way to access downtown Bellevue. This route was chosen together with a plan to almost triple the capacity of the South Bellevue park and ride where accessibility is already constrained.

One need look no further than the new Tukwila light rail station to see what happens when short-term planning wins-out over better long-term solutions.

Had Sound Transit planned for direct access to SeaTac airport initially, you can be sure the oversized and underutilized Tukwila station would never have been built. This would have saved the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

Fred Butler, Issaquah’s representative on the Sound Transit board, is cited in the article as believing light rail could well be the backbone of the transportation system in the region into the future.

This will not be the case if Sound Transit continues to make short-sighted decisions rather than thinking of the best outcome for the entire region, including Issaquah.

With our current economic situation, it is more important than ever to be sure that every dollar is spent wisely.

Scott Lampe

Co-chairman Bellevue Surrey Downs East Link Committee