What is wrong with the planned transit expenditures?
There is much concern as to whether Sound Transit really wants to develop the most cost-effective projects, or is even capable of it. For example, its light rail line currently under construction in Seattle is costing about $170 million a mile (or much more if the cost of the downtown tunnel is added in), which is by far the most expensive of any light rail line that has ever been built and is comparable to the cost for constructing a heavy rail subway line. Also, critics say that there could have been a big savings on its Sounder commuter rail service if it had chosen to use DMUs (diesel multiple units) instead of locomotive-hauled trains and had made smaller payments to Burlington Northern for use of its tracks. In addition, a tremendous amount of money could be saved by giving priority to starting rail transit on the Eastside railroad rather than constructing an entirely new infrastructure that includes replacing the two center lanes on the I-90 floating bridge with tracks. There ar
