Our weekly “New Starts” roundup of new and newsworthy transportation projects worldwide.

Sound Transit LRT Extension Clears First Hurdle
The final segment of the northern end of Sound Transit’s Link light-rail extension program, approved by voters in 2008 as part of the “Sound Transit 2” package of transit improvements and extensions for the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett conurbation, has gotten a clean bill of environmental health from the feds and can now proceed to the design phase, Progressive Railroading reports.

The segment extends the Link line another 8.5 miles beyond Northgate Mall in northern King County into Snohomish County, terminating at a new transit center in Lynwood. A description of the extension prepared by Sound Transit states the extension will be entirely elevated, following Interstate 5 from Northgate Transit Center. The extension will have four stations, two in King County and two in Snohomish, plus provisions for two additional stations, one in each county.

The Federal Transit Administration’s decision on the extension’s environmental review clears the way for final design work to begin next year. It also signals that the line is one step closer to qualifying for federal grant funding, which will be needed to cover part of the extension’s projected cost of $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion.

Should the FTA approve a grant, construction will begin in 2018, with service expected to start in 2023.

Work to Get Underway on Shenzhen’s First LRT Line
In a first for China, the Shenzhen region has awarded a public-private partnership contract to build the first of 10 planned light-rail lines to complement the city’s metro system.

According to an article in the International Railway Journal, a consortium of Shenzhen Metro Group and China Railway Construction Investment Group has been awarded the contract to build and operate the 11.9-km standard-gauge LRT line serving the northern Longhua District. The consortium will operate the line under a 20-year concession from the Shenzhen municipal government, at the end of which the consortium will turn over the line to Shenzhen.

The line will connect with Shenzhen Metro Line 4 at both ends, with its southernmost section paralleling the metro. The signing of the contract allows construction to begin immediately, with completion scheduled for 2016. No cost estimate was given for the project.

Gov’s Green Light Throws Purple Line Up in Air
The sighs of relief in the wake of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to allow the Purple Line LRT project in suburban Washington to proceed have become cries of anguish as local officials worry that the conditions attached to the go-ahead will leave the project short of the money needed to build it.

The Washington Post reports that after all anticipated funding sources are accounted for, including $900 million in Federal Transit Administration funding that has been recommended but is not yet certain to be awarded, there remains a $170 million gap between funds committed to the project and its projected $2.16 billion price tag.

Maryland’s Department of Transportation is currently negotiating with Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, both of which must cough up more money for the project, over how much more cash the state will require beyond in-kind contributions the counties have already pledged. The negotiations will cause the project to miss a deadline to receive the first $100 million in federal funding, and as a result, federal money for the project will depend on whether Congress appropriates sufficient funds to cover all transportation infrastructure projects in what appears likely to be another stopgap extension of existing Highway Trust Fund legislation. As of now, the amounts Congress is allocating for new transit construction projects are $542 million to $582 million below last year’s levels, and the Purple Line will have to compete against five other projects, including the Seattle project above, for that money.

The line will not be eligible for federal funding until the state of Maryland signs a funding agreement with the FTA. That won’t be possible until the negotiations between Maryland DOT and the counties are concluded and bids from the private contractors who will design, build, operate and maintain the line are received. None of this is likely to occur before the middle of next year. Prince George’s County is already indicating it may not be able to commit additional money beyond the $100 million it has already pledged to the line.

State Sen. Brian J. Feldman, the Montgomery County Democrat who chairs the Maryland Senate Finance Committee’s transportation subcommittee, told the Post, “This is not a done deal. The fact that the governor said we’re moving forward doesn’t make it so until all the other pieces of the puzzle fit together. … There’s still a multitude of questions that need to be answered to be able to say definitively this project will be built in the near future.”

The Purple Line is already a year behind its original schedule. That lag is certain to grow as negotiations continue.

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Next City contributor Sandy Smith is the home and real estate editor at Philadelphia magazine. Over the years, his work has appeared in Hidden City Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other local and regional publications. His interest in cities stretches back to his youth in Kansas City, and his career in journalism and media relations extends back that far as well.

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