Charles Prestrud

Charles Prestrud joined the Washington Policy Center in December of 2022 as Director of the Coles Center for Transportation. He has more than 30 years of experience, including serving as WSDOT ‘s Planning Manager for King and Snohomish Counties, and an earlier stint as planning manager for a transit agency.

West Seattle Light Rail: An Expensive Folly?

The news that got the Board’s attention was a cost increase from the 2023 estimate of $4 billion to somewhere between $5.1 and $5.6 billion. The bad news didn’t end there.

Study: Hard Questions for Cascadia’s High-Speed Rail

The "Business Case" prepared in 2019 assumed the project would be in operation by 2035 and generating about $100 million per year in fare revenue. That isn't going to happen. There is no way the project can be completed in the next dozen years.

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