Orphan Road

Mike Lindblom has a piece with some pretty solid reporting on Sound Transit's financing plan, one that puts to rest the questions we raised in April about the way in which the costs of the rail line were being reported. I highly recommend you read the whole thing.

As a bonus, either Lindblom or Sound Transit's Ric Ilgenfritz has adopted our home mortgage analogy:

By then, Sound Transit's spending would exceed $37 billion, counting inflation and interest charges.

Agency leaders say a more accurate number is $10.8 billion, representing the cost of construction and trains in 2006 dollars.

As with a home mortgage, it makes sense for voters to focus on the current sales price, said spokesman Ric Ilgenfritz. People who cite the long-term, inflated numbers "make the cost seem misleadingly high," Sound Transit says.

Indeed. Citing the full costs only makes sense if you think in 2027 dollars, which most people don't.

Update:Bradley Meacham adds, "[t]he true cost isn't the debt to pay for the projects, which may still be less than perfect. It's the crippling cost of -- yet again -- doing nothing."