The Washington Supreme Court has ruled the state can go ahead with plans to build light rail tracks on the Interstate 90 bridge over Lake Washington.
In a ruling Thursday, the justices agreed with a Kittitas County Superior Court judge that an agreement between the Washington Department of Transportation and Sound Transit does not violate the state constitution.
The lawsuit and appeal was brought by developer Kemper Freeman and others. They argued that the state was misusing highway dollars by giving freeway lanes over to mass transit.
The state argued and the court agreed that government agreements concerning I-90 before the bridge was even built set aside lanes for transit.
Sound Transit is scheduled to begin construction on new high occupancy vehicle lanes on the bridge in 2015. It plans to transform existing lanes into light rail starting in 2016.