The agency’s Fall 2025 Long-Range Financial Plan estimated an additional $34.5 billion needed to fully fund the ST3 program through 2046.
In May 2025, Sound Transit launched the “Enterprise Initiative,” a comprehensive effort aimed at delivering the maximum benefits of ST3 within available financial resources. This work includes analyzing how the region has changed since 2016 and factors in new conditions that have emerged since 2021.
When Sound Transit faced affordability challenges in the past, it turned almost exclusively to capital project scope reductions and schedule delays.
The Enterprise Initiative is different. Through this broader, more holistic approach, staff and Board members are considering all agency costs (including system and project planning, capital construction, service operations, and system maintenance), revenue sources, and financial policies — and the relationships between them.
Taking this agencywide perspective with the support and guidance of the Board will help set Sound Transit on a new and sustainable path going forward.