For the past nine months the Kirkland City Council has been having a community conversation with our residents and the Sound Transit Board about High Capacity Transit on the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC). The Council and staff have held more than 30 meetings with Kirkland residents, businesses and community organizations to discuss the best option for our City.

We recognize and respect that a passionate group of residents opposes any transit on the CKC. Others expressed concerns about noise, emissions, visual and environmental impacts, safety of pedestrians and cyclists, and retaining ability to cross the CKC east-west throughout its length and preserve the neighborhood look and feel of the CKC. Based on this feedback, the Council believes that Electric Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can meet the transit needs of Kirkland while preserving what makes the CKC special.

Electric BRT on the CKC would be significantly less expensive than light rail, flexible enough to serve downtown Kirkland, and could integrate with Metro Transit to provide much higher ridership on the CKC than light rail. Electric BRT would address the concerns about the transit impacts to the corridor identified through Kirkland’s extensive public outreach.

Unfortunately, Sound Transit has told us they will not support BRT on the CKC. They tell us Kirkland should accept light rail instead. Rather than explain why BRT does not work, the City is being told that light rail is the “vision” of the region and makes the measure more appealing to voters. But Sound Transit’s own analysis shows that light rail on the CKC would deliver only 5,000 daily riders in 2040. This is fewer riders than Metro Route 255 carries in Kirkland today. Light rail would overwhelm the CKC and make it impossible to realize the CKC Master Plan vision created by our residents. For these reasons, Kirkland cannot accept light rail on the CKC.

The wrong transit is worse than no transit on the CKC, but no investment on the CKC is equally bad. Today Kirkland taxpayers contribute $19 million per year to Sound Transit.

Kirkland’s finance staff have calculated that if all authorized revenue sources are used, ST3 would raise another $24 million per year from Kirkland. Our residents and businesses should not pay $43 million per year and see no local return on that investment.

The City Council wants to support the ST3 measure. It is critical to the economic viability of both Kirkland and the region that more transit solutions be created. Therefore the City Council is proposing the “Kirkland Compromise.”

Instead of trying to force light rail onto the CKC now, Sound Transit should reserve the CKC for future transit and build the pedestrian and bicycle trail portions of the CKC Master Plan now.

The purpose of Sound Transit is to get cars off the road. The trail would provide thousands of bicycles and pedestrians direct access to Sound Transit stations in Kirkland and Bellevue.

From Totem Lake to the South Kirkland Park & Ride, Sound Transit should rebuild the Interim Trail as a permanent Regional Trail, according to the CKC Master Plan vision. Sound Transit should also reserve a transit envelope of at least 30 feet for future transit.

From the South Kirkland Park & Ride to Wilburton Station in Bellevue, the Regional Trail should be constructed according to King County’s Eastside Rail Corridor (ERC) Regional Trail Plan, while also dedicating space for future transit. Kirkland staff estimate these investments will cost $250 million or less.

This compromise provides significant CKC/ERC investments for Kirkland and Bellevue residents to support. It constructs both the Kirkland and King County permanent trails in the right place, so they will never be diminished by future transit. It creates a “quick win” transit alternative for bike commuters while waiting for future transit investments.

This compromise preserves the railbanked status of both the CKC and the Eastside Rail Corridor while permanently dedicating future transit space on both segments. It postpones the transit mode decision to future ballot measures and allows time for Sound Transit and the Kirkland community to determine the best mode together. It may even allow for consideration of emerging technologies that can better serve the needs of Kirkland and region. It provides funding to design the agreed-upon transit mode in the future.

Finally, the compromise saves Sound Transit significant money in the ST3 ballot measure by avoiding the need to fund a $1.5 billion light rail line today.

Light rail or nothing on the CKC? We prefer a third choice. Building permanent trail access to Sound Transit stations while dedicating the future transit envelope is a solution that all sides can support. If you agree, contact the Sound Transit Board at EmailTheBoard@soundtransit.org and tell them that you support the Kirkland Compromise.

Mayor Amy Walen

Deputy Mayor Jay Arnold

Councilmember Dave Asher

Councilmember Toby Nixon

Councilmember Penny Sweet