Leonard Barry, the president of the National Association of County and City Commissioners, was one of the leading voices against the plan.
“The mayor can’t get out ahead of the commission,” he said. “He’s going to get it done the hardest way he can. … This is going to be a challenge.”
Other critics voiced skepticism that the commission could come up with its own plan.
“The next mayor will be there trying to change the plan,” said City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, D-Seattle, calling the commission’s effort to create a citywide public transit system “crazy”.
Preliminary work on the proposal had not been done by late Monday evening, said Tom Potter, the chief planner for the mayor.
Other experts said it was imperative that any such proposal be implemented if Seattle was to meet its climate change goals.
“If you don’t do something by 2050, we are going to go backwards,” said Jim Cramer, CNBC host and professor emeritus in the Boston University School of Management. “It’s going to be horrible. I would say if you want to deal with urban planning, you have to do this.”
The mayor’s plan calls for two trains per day and a network of transit links along highways and local streets. The system is envisioned as a new kind of transportation “metroplex” with buses and light rail.
If it is enacted, the plan would be the biggest expansion of Seattle’s bus and light rail systems since the 1958 Lander Extension, which added the University of Seattle’s light-rail route to Interstate 5.
A 2012 study estimated that the system would be able to handle an additional 2.5 million riders by 2035.
The plan calls for a citywide bus and light rail network, which would serve neighborhoods beyond the city limits of King County. Most of the stations would be on Interstate 99, which has the most cars out of all the major interstates.
The mayor announced his plan at an unveiling of plans for a new $30 million light rail station in downtown Seattle — a project that would involve the entire Port of Seattle, King County Metro and the City Line subway line, among other stakeholders.
An interactive map on the mayor’s website shows how light rail would link to other transit options: a light rail link to Union Station, then Amtrak commuter rail to Westlake Village, light rail to