Equity Impacts of Central Link Light Rail in Seattle, WA

Abstract

Central Link Light Rail has unexplored equity impacts to nearby communities. Large-scale infrastructure projects, often with equitable intentions, end up displacing vulnerable communities or aiding in their detriment—the same communities that paid for and sponsored the infrastructure. Sound Transit was recently granted a 53.8 billion dollar voter-approved tax levy to fund their latest iteration of transportation projects. These projects have great promise in impacting communities positively throughout the region, but also significant potential to displace and harm existing communities of low-income and minority residents. Despite these impacts, there has been no post-equity analysis of the impacts of Central Link Light Rail—the existing light rail alignment. Through the use of Lorenz Curves, Gini Coefficients, descriptive statistics and geospatial analyses, this study has measured many of the quantifiable impacts to communities within a ¼ mile and ½ mile of Central Link in 2009—when the stations opened for service—and 2017. The results uncover nuanced trends in the land use, demographic and bus service outcomes for these communities. There are noteworthy demographic shifts of vulnerable populations and decreased prioritization of bus service in South Seattle station areas. Conversely, Downtown station areas experienced the lion’s share of benefits in bus service, land use changes and retention of vulnerable communities. The direct causes of these observations deserve further investigation for future research.