The Sound Transit 3 (ST3) proposal on this November’s ballot is a significant and complex question. The League of Women Voters is sponsoring a forum in each sub-area of the Sound Transit district.

Forums are scheduled for:

• Bellevue, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, 2650 148th Ave. S.E., Bellevue

• Auburn, 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, at All Saints’ Lutheran Church, 27225 Military Rd., Auburn; and

• Seattle, for the North King County Sub-Area, 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 20, at the Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave., Seattle.

Speakers will include Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff; Shefali Ranganathan, Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition, speaking in favor of the measure; and Maggie Fimia, People for Smarter Transit – No on ST3, speaking in opposition. There will be an opportunity for the public to ask questions.

If passed by the voters in King, Snohomish and Pierce Counties, the ST3 measure would build a total of 62 miles of light rail with stations serving 37 new areas to the north, south, east and west of the existing light rail route.

The proposal would also allow existing bus routes to run on the shoulders of freeways where possible. The measure would provide $53.8 billion in investments funded through new voter-approved sales tax, Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) and property tax, with an estimated impact on typical adults of an additional $169 annual, or $14 monthly, costs.

In the North King County sub-area, $16.3 billion of the proposed total $53.8 billion in improvements would be used for:

Capped contributions toward bus speed and reliability improvements for Rapid Ride C, D, and Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit;

• Bus on Shoulder program, 2019 to 2024;

• S.R. 522 BRT via NE 145th Street by 2024;

• Light rail between West Seattle and Downtown Seattle by 2030;

• Infill light rail stations at 130th St. and at Graham St. by 2031;

• Light rail between Ballard and Downtown Seattle, by 2035.

Ongoing system-wide investments in innovations, system access, express bus service, and high capacity transit studies of service between West Seattle and Burien, and connecting to Renton via Tukwila; and to northern Lake Washington.

Proponents of the proposition support the investment in infrastructure for the future, saying it creates a system that provides commuters options to help them avoid already congested freeways and prepares the region with high-capacity transit for the million more people moving here in the next 25 years.

Opponents of the measure argue that voters have already approved $22 billion for ST1 and ST2 that builds 50 miles of light rail. They say that Sound Transit’s proposal will not reduce traffic, that there are better ways to provide more transit service and that even if built, the proposed plans only attract a fraction of the 19,000,000 trips people will be making in 2040.

The League of Women Voters has not taken any position on ST3 and encourages voters to attend these forums to obtain substantial background for their voting choices.

For more information, contact Cynthia Stewart, stewdahl@comcast.net.