Sound Transit seeks location for light-rail maintenance facility

A Sound Transit committee met last week to discuss the possible location of a 30-acre operations and maintenance facility to expand light rail farther south, according to a KIRO 7 news report.  

The System Expansion Committee voted unanimously to recommend advancing a former landfill site in Kent, Washington, and two sites in Federal Way to the draft environmental impact statement study phase. The board will take a final vote to confirm the recommendation on May 23, according to the report. 

On May 3, agency officials solicited comments to help the board define which sites were studied in the environmental impact statement. The statement will be drafted in 2020 and published in 2021. 

Finding a site is challenging because it requires at least 30 relatively flat acres near an operating light-rail line, according to a project overview.

Final design, construction and testing of the facility will begin in 2021. Operations will start in 2026.