A new stop on the Tacoma Link light rail system could be built by next spring. There are currently five stops on the system, which has operated downtown since 2003. City Manager Eric Anderson recently briefed Tacoma City Council members on the project.
Downtown employees began raising the need for another stop at this intersection not long after the system began operating. “There is a lot of interest in the business community,” Anderson noted.
Mayor Marilyn Strickland, who lives downtown, said an additional stop would also benefit residents of apartments and condominiums, especially in inclement weather. “Walking four blocks is a lot when it is raining,” she observed.
Anderson shared a draft schedule with the council. Sound Transit staff is expected to begin reviewing designs for the station next week and provide an update to CEO Joni Earl a week later.
Sound Transit’s Board is expected to vote in September on whether to approve the new station. The council is expected to vote on a resolution endorsing the project prior to that decision. If approved, construction would potentially begin in late January and the new stop would begin operating in late March.
“This is something the business community as a whole wants to see accomplished,” said Chelsea Levy, metropolitan development director for Tacoma/Pierce County Chamber of Commerce. The intersection of South 11th and Commerce streets is the center of the downtown business core. Not having a stop there has left a hole in the light rail system, she said. “An additional stop on Commerce will fill that.”
The additional stop could lead more people who work near the intersection to use light rail, rather than drive into downtown.
“We want to make sure those employees have Tacoma Link as a real option. A stop there would make taking transit a viable option for more people,” Levy remarked. “Things are headed in the right direction with the current conversations.”
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