Observing its busy stations today, it is difficult to imagine how close Sound Transit came to folding. By 1996 much of Puget Sound was choking on congestion, so it was a joyous day for many when voters in three counties approved a ten-year, $3.9 billion mass transit plan. But the agency's light rail estimates came in a billion dollars over budget and extended the project three years. A torrent of angry opposition followed. One by one, administrators resigned. Then Joni Earl stepped in. The new executive director rallied team members, secured a crucial $500 million federal grant, publicly confronted critics, and presented a realistic revised budget. She and her team navigated lawsuits, complex demands made by impacted locations, and expanding expectations of outlying communities. Earl, with support from Link executive director Ahmad Fazel and Seattle mayor Greg Nickels, delivered Sound Transit's promised light rail system in July 2009. A resounding success, its trains and buses annu

Back to the Future focuses on the planning and development of transportation infrastructure in Seattle and the Puget Sound region in the years since World War II. Because this subject is so vast, Back to the Future focuses on six individual topics; The Construction of Interstate 5: Downtown Seattle through the University District by Kassandra Leingang; An Historical GIS Examination of the Interstate-5 Corridor by Scott Beckstrom; Seattle Bus Tunnel by Oran Viriyincy, Sounder Commuter Rail by Brian Mann; Central Link Light Rail: Planning and Performance by John Murphy, and The Waterfront Line: A History of Streetcars in Seattle and on its Central Waterfront by Andreas Piller. Compilation, research support, final editing and formatting is by Michelle Whitfield. Collectively the chapters offer insights into the history of some of the most important transportation projects in the region. They show how decisions were made and how initial proposals changed as they came to fruition.