FW urges Sound Transit to pursue Tacoma light rail extension
Published 1:00 pm Friday, April 24, 2026
The Federal Way City Council voted April 21 to join the Tacoma City Council and other local leadership to express their support for the completion of the last light rail segment from Federal Way to Tacoma.
The council approved a joint letter to the Sound Transit Board in response to the agency’s “Enterprise Initiative.”
As Sound Transit shared, “the agency’s Fall 2025 Long-Range Financial Plan estimated an additional $34.5 billion needed to fully fund the ST3 program through 2046.”
In response to this budget shortfall, the organization launched the Enterprise Initiative in May 2025. This comprehensive effort is “aimed at delivering the maximum benefits of ST3 within available financial resources” and “includes analyzing how the region has changed since 2016 and factors in new conditions that have emerged since 2021.”
In March 2026, three potential approaches in dealing with these budget challenges were presented at a Sound Transit Board retreat. In it, they shared that the budget shortfall is related to an unprecedented increase in construction costs: “Highway construction costs have surged 71.5% since the end of 2020, according to FHWA’s National Highway Construction Cost Index. In early 2024, costs were rising at an annualized rate of nearly 10%, reflecting historic inflation in labor, materials, and supply chains — dramatically impacting project budgets and delivery.”
Options include elimination of various stops, options to complete planning and design on the full project, but defer construction.
One approach, for example, includes completing planning and 30% design on the full project, but to only construct the light rail to Fife, deferring full completion to an unknown future date.
In the letter, the Federal Way City Council expressed gratitude for the investments in the city including the light rail and recognized the seriousness of the $34.5 billion funding gap. With that said, they urged the Sound Transit Board to “keep the Tacoma Dome Link Extension a priority within the ST3 program.”
“We wish to reemphasize the critical nature of the Tacoma Dome Link Extension Project. Federal Way has made significant investments in the future South Federal Way station area, and we have already seen a groundswell of private investment based on the expectation that this infrastructure is coming.”
“While difficult decisions lie ahead, investments of this significance should not be deferred in ways that undermine long-term regional mobility or disproportionately impact the South Sound. Federal Way, Fife and Tacoma are ready, and our region’s future depends on a system that serves us fully.”
The public is invited to weigh in on these decisions through a survey that is estimated to take about 5 minutes.
