The line could have its own ROW in the median and avoid the costly acquisition process altogether. And if the city actually wants to boost transit as a policy goal, then it should be fine with making central a two lane road.
Even with the more complex acquisition process, it shouldn't necessarily take this long. Plenty of peer cities in other parts of the world do it faster (and for less money). In Montreal, the 42 mi automated light metro project REM was proposed in 2016 and started construction in 2018. Yes, there were land acquisitions involved. The line will open in phases between next year and 2024. In Seattle, Northgate Link had a design process that was slightly shorter in length than our timeline, despite being significantly more complicated and entirely underground/elevated. Surely our problems can't all be fixed overnight, but all I'm saying is that it's possible to have an expedited process for a not-so-large project (the eastern extension is only 4 miles). When $650+ million are being spent on a few thousand daily riders, we should start to question the choices being made on transit spending and administration.
Also, it doesn't inspire much confidence that Lewis said it will act "more like a commuter rail than a streetcar". It should definitely have an exclusive ROW, but it obviously won't be "like" commuter rail at all. And it's disheartening that our transit leaders won't stop prioritizing the 9-5 commuter, because this does not represent most transit riders and certainly will not on the Gold Line.
