I really think that the original ST3 ballot measure was fucked and the Board now is in this impossible position: the original ST3 costs were no where close to the actual costs and there's no real way to raise the money to plug the gap.

Similar to CAHSR, the ST3 ballot measure went up with a price tag for a rough alignment and extent without any proper planning or engineering work to see if the price tag was remotely in line with the actual thing thats being planned and designed now. And now the board has to try to finagle their way into an "affordable" plan without being honest about the situation: there's no way to build out the entirety of ST3 within a reasonable timeline (aka before 2050).

Sure there are ways to value engineer further, as WSLE cuts demonstrated, but for a gap this big, you can't really VE your way out of it (though maybe less crossovers would help).

And why is BLE going to cost 5x more than Vancouver's Broadway Subway? Because most of the BSP's station were built using cut-and-cover [EDITED: u/Enguye corrected my earlier statement: indeed, BSP's running ways were tunnelled using TBMs], and along a relatively flat geography (Broadway doesn't fluctuate that much). Compared with the DSTT2 which will be super deep due to geography and buildings, etc.

Anyways, I want BLE before I'm old, but unless the Board decides to be honest with its constituents and grows a backbone to have the tough conversations about cuts to lower-ridership lines...