Murray Led Efforts in Congress to Secure Public Transit Funding for Lynnwood Light Rail
Murray: “I always bring Washington state into the negotiating room with me, and I will go to bat for public transportation—and projects like this—again and again.”
***PHOTOS AVAILABLE HERE***
Lynnwood, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, attended the grand opening of the Lynnwood Light Rail Extension and spoke with excited commuters and local leaders ahead of the official opening of Link service to Lynnwood. Senator Murray has been the top advocate in Congress for securing Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program funds in support of Washington state projects. CIG is the primary federal grant program that supports major public transit capital investments like the Lynnwood Link Extension. Murray also authored and passed specific provisions to deliver emergency dollars to support the light rail project after ridership plummeted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and she helped lead a forceful public pressure campaign to ensure the Trump administration would sign a CIG full funding grant agreement with Sound Transit for its Lynnwood Link Extension.
“As Senate Appropriations Chair, when we went to negotiate I put my foot down for the Capital Investment Grants funding and told my colleagues on the other side, ‘You will not cut this public transit funding—not on my watch.’ I always bring Washington state into the negotiating room with me, and I will always go to bat for public transportation—and projects like this—again and again,” said Senator Murray during her remarks. “The reality is, we are celebrating more than new light rail service for Lynnwood, Shoreline, and Mountlake Terrace—we are also opening the door to a new future for these communities—one that folks have been planning for, for a long time. We are not just building public transit—we are not just connecting bus stops, and light rail stops, and lines on a map: we are connecting growing small businesses with new workers, new customers, and new opportunities. We are connecting our communities and families to each other. And we are making communities more walkable, affordable—and livable.”
MURRAY BRINGS PUBLIC TRANSIT DOLLARS BACK TO PUGET SOUND: Since the project’s inception, Murray has led the effort, as the delegation’s only member with direct jurisdiction over discretionary federal transportation funding, to secure and protect resources for the CIG program and ensure the Lynnwood Link Extension’s federal cost share is met. So far Murray has appropriated $1.084 billion out of the full $1.172 billion total federal commitment through Fiscal Year 2024. Murray is currently working to negotiate and pass the Fiscal Year 2025 transportation funding bill and secure the remaining CIG funding for the Lynnwood Link Extension. Each year the Trump administration proposed a budget that would slash CIG, Murray negotiated and passed a spending bill that met the needs of Sound Transit. Most recently, Murray, as Chair of the Appropriations Committee, negotiated the Fiscal Year 2024 Senate bill she authored against the House Republican-led bill that would have slashed CIG funding drastically and left the federal cost share for Lynnwood Link far from complete and likely would have resulted in serious delays—during those negotiations, Murray succeeded in funding CIG such that the Lynnwood Link Extension was kept on track to ensure its completion today.
MURRAY DELIVERS EMERGENCY RESOURCES TO KEEP TRAINS RUNNING: Murray championed a provision in the Fiscal Year 2023 spending bill to secure $115 million in additional funding for Sound Transit, as transit agencies like Sound Transit grappled with challenges due to the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and inflation—over $54 million of that funding went directly to the Lynnwood Link. This is a result of language authored by Murray and included in the FY23 omnibus appropriations bill and the culmination of nearly two years of Senator Murray’s efforts to secure additional relief for transit agencies, and is in addition to the $94 million Murray helped deliver for Lynnwood Link through the American Rescue Plan Act.
MURRAY HOLDS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTABLE, GETS GRANT AGREEMENT SIGNED: When the Trump administration tried to walk away from the project altogether, Senator Murray helped lead the effort to ensure the Trump administration signed CIG agreements with Washington state, including Sound Transit’s Lynnwood Link Extension. Murray wrote multiple letters to senior administration officials, made calls, and pressed officials like Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao publicly on the issue until there was a signed grant agreement from the Trump administration.
Additional background:
Murray also partnered with Senator Cantwell in securing two Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans from the Department of Transportation totaling $737 million to support components of the Lynnwood Link.
The Lynnwood Link Extension will extend the Link rail system by 8.5 miles from Northgate Transit Center in Seattle north into Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood Transit Center in Snohomish County. The project includes the construction for four new stations, the addition of 1,500 parking spaces, and the acquisitions of 34 light-rail vehicles. The project also includes partial funding for the construction of the Operations & Maintenance Facility: East, which will support maintenance of the light rail vehicles and vehicle dispatching. Sound Transit estimates a projected ridership of 47,000 to 55,000 daily riders by 2026.
Senator Murray’s full remarks as prepared are below:
“What a great crowd we’ve got, and I have no doubt, that as this station picks up steam—and picks up passengers—it will see many bigger crowds. Crowds of people heading to work in the city, heading to the airport to catch a flight, heading to school at UW, maybe even heading to catch the game tomorrow at Husky Stadium! Or—just people heading home to their family after a long day—perhaps just a short bus ride, or bike ride, or—even walk!—away from the station.
“And as I think about that future I have to say: Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?
“Especially a plan like this—one that has been a long time coming, but that is going to be so very worth the wait. As a champion of this project at every step—believe me, it has taken a lot of pushing, prodding, and fighting to bring home the federal resources to make this happen.
“But I will always fight for Washington state and for public transit! First it was the previous administration, threatening transit funding and transportation projects across the country.
“I remember pressing the Department of Transportation in hearings, letters, phone calls, and just about every way I could to save the Lynnwood Link extension from the chopping block and to get a signed full funding grant agreement in the first place.
“In fact, even a year before we had that agreement, the first funding we ever provided for the Lynnwood Link—$100 million in May 2017—came from funding I secured for Capital Investment Grants in our Fiscal Year 2017 funding bill. And then there was the extra help I secured when projects like Lynnwood were facing supply chains issues, reduced ridership, and other challenges as a result of the COVID pandemic.
“More recently, I had to fight off extreme cuts to Capital Investment Grants funding that would have stalled this project in its tracks—literally—and left Washington state families in the lurch. If those cuts had won out, we’d be dealing with a delay right now—instead of celebrating an opening. But as Senate Appropriations Chair, when we went to negotiate, I put my foot down for the Capital Investment Grants funding and told my colleagues on the other side, ‘You will not cut this public transit funding—not on my watch.’
“I always bring Washington state into the negotiating room with me, and I will go to bat for public transportation—and projects like this—again and again: from every one of our funding bills to our bipartisan infrastructure law. And I am proud to say I have brought back nearly $2 billion in federal grants and loans for the Lynnwood extension to make this project possible, and I will make sure the federal government completes its commitments, and the sooner the better!
“But it’s great that today we are really seeing that investment pay off.
“And let’s be clear—these four stops, are just the start! Because the reality is, we are celebrating more than new light rail service for Lynnwood, Shoreline, and Mountlake Terrace. We are also opening the door to a new future for these communities—one that folks have been planning for, for a long time. And when I talk about plans coming together, this is not just about the new light rail stops!
“We are building, and plugging families into, a robust and reliable public transportation system! This is not just one project—it is part of a vision ALL OF US are making a reality TOGETHER.
“It is the new pedestrian walkway I saw when I visited the Shoreline construction site earlier this year—which will make sure that station is safe and accessible to folks on foot and bike. It is the ten thousand apartments that are built or being built along the extension—that will help bring down the cost of housing. It is the Swift Orange Line which started up earlier this year that connects this station to even more families and commuters. It is the Sound Transit East Link we kicked off this year—another branch of the growing network Lynnwood will be connecting to soon! And it is the many other public transit projects underway at this very moment.
“We are not just building public transit. We are not just connecting bus stops, and light rail stops, and lines on a map—we are connecting growing small businesses with new workers, new customers, and new opportunities. We are connecting our communities and families to each other. And we are making communities more walkable, affordable—and livable.
“I am so grateful to everyone who has worked with me over many years to get this new line up and running along with so many other worthwhile projects. I am so excited to see what’s next for this community.”
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