Tacoma — Expansion

Rail Transit Online, April 2005

Part of Sound Transit’s future blueprint calls for expanding the 1.6-mi. (2.57 km) Tacoma Link streetcar circulator through downtown to Tacoma Community College.  A report showing several route alternatives serving various neighborhoods west of the existing line plus an eastern branch to a planned Indian casino was unveiled on Mar. 24.  Total length would be between 5.7 mi. (9.2 km) and 6.5 mi. (10.5 km).  Depending on the alignments selected, the capital cost could range from $400 million to over $600 million.  However, Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, who is also chairman of Sound Transit’s board of directors, said expansion of Tacoma Link “...is a given.”