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Federal government agrees to $1.2B Seattle light-rail grant

November 26, 2018

The project’s initial budget has grown from an estimated $2.4 billion, reportedly because of increased costs of land, materials, debt financing, rail cars and system design features, on top of a required $170 million contingency required by the FTA as a condition of the grant. The price tag rose despite engineering modifications that saved the project about $200 million.

In May, Sound Transit officials said they might be forced to issue construction contracts even before final funding was in place in order to lock in pricing in case costs continued to rise.

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