System Swift Status In development Route type Bus rapid transit | Operator Community Transit Began service 2019 (planned) | |
Predecessors Community Transit route 105 | ||
The Swift Green Line is a planned Swift bus rapid transit route operated by Community Transit in Snohomish County, Washington. If completed as planned in 2019, the Green Line would run 16.7 miles (26.9 km) on Airport Way and State Route 527. It will have 32 stations in the cities of Everett, Mill Creek, and Bothell. The line was proposed as "Swift II" in 2013 and is expected to cost $73 million.
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History
Community Transit announced plans for a second Swift line in November 2013. The 12.5-mile-long (20.1 km) line, tentatively named "Swift II", was created out of two Transit Emphasis Corridors, and would travel from the Boeing Everett Factory to Mill Creek via Airport Road and State Route 527. A study, prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff, and partially funded by the state legislature in 2012, estimated that the project would cost $42–48 million to construct, and attract 3,300 riders when it opened.
The Federal Transit Administration approved project development in December 2014, a prerequisite to federal grants for capital construction and vehicle acquisition. During the 2015 session of the Washington State Legislature, Community Transit was granted the authority to increase sales taxes to fund operation of Swift II, pending voter approval via a ballot measure; the Washington State Department of Transportation also gave $6.8 million in funding to build the line's northern terminus at Seaway Transit Center. The ballot measure was approved by voters in November 2015, allowing for construction to begin sooner.
On August 12, 2016, Community Transit announced that the Swift II project would be known as the "Green Line", while the first line would become the "Blue Line", and that the line would open in 2019.
Future
Construction is set to begin in summer 2017 and finish in early 2019.
Funding
The $73 million cost of the Swift Green Line project will be covered mostly by federal subsidies, including up to $50 million from a Federal Transit Administration "Small Starts" grant. An additional $6.8 million grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation will be used to build the line's northern terminus at Seaway Transit Center.