Senate passed 520 bill

The Senate is now debating the bill to toll 520. The 520 project cannot exceed $2.65 billion, and any excess will be kept in the area, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said.

She said there was a transit study done, which Haugen said has been criticized as faulty.

On the arboretum: “It’s a fantastic jewel that we need to make sure is protected and this bill does just that,” she said.

“There’s been a lot of things said and a lot of things not said about this process,” she said, but it’s been done in good faith.

Sen. Ed Murray: “I’d like to give you a little perspective from the west side of the lake,” he said. The first concern is safety. He said they’ve tried to add language to require a multimodal station — one was added that was four football fields away from the train — and others to require mediation, less damage to the arboretum and more. “I’m not a fool, hopefully. I know that when the Seattle City Council members went to the East Side and decided to move ahead with the A1 option,” he said he knew his influence over the process was done.

Update: It passed.

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