One of the more intriguing topics that came out of our report on the City Council transportation committee's briefing on the streetcar was talk of seeking a federal grant to help pay for an extension of the line beyond its planned light rail station terminus all the way up Broadway to Aloha. We learned today that Seattle won't be applying for the grant that was being eyed for the extension.
But that won't, a City Council aide tells us, end the search.
The interpretation of the agreement between Sound Transit and the city for the construction of the streetcar outlines a route that ends at the future light rail station at Broadway and John. Sound Transit will not pay for an extension of the route up Broadway to Aloha. That leaves the city to come up with a plan to pay for the stretch itself in time for the currently planned start of service in 2013. Federal grant opportunity FTA-2010-001-TPE, a Department of Transportation program to make $130 million available to "Urban Circulator Systems" was considered to cover the city's portion of the streetcar bill.
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