Sound Transit will move forward with its East Link deadlines after the U.S. District Court in Seattle issued a summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by Building a Better Bellevue (BBB) and Friends of Enatai. Filed last June, the defendants included Sound Transit, the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration.

The lawsuit hoped to keep light rail out of South Bellevue neighborhoods by putting it underground, rethinking the alignment or replacing the trains with buses. The two citizen groups argued that the federal government’s approval of the route violated environmental law and laws in place to protect historic sites and parks, by potentially endangering the Mercer Slough wetlands and downtown Bellevue’s Winters House.

BBB and Friends of Enatai claimed that Sound Transit should have more seriously considered alternatives under the 1966 federal law, for instance a deep-bore tunnel they believed to be less expensive than a trench or elevated segment. Sound Transit argued otherwise.

“We were confident that our East Link environmental process, including its extensive public involvement, not only identified a great alignment for providing East King County residents with light rail service but also more than met all of the legal requirements,” said Sound Transit spokesperson Geoff Patrick. “The summary judgment dismissing this case validated that confidence.”

In the March 7 decision, Judge John Coughenour said that Sound Transit had, in fact, carefully assessed alternatives. Next month the city of Bellevue hopes to decide on cost-cutting methods.