Sound Transit narrows downtown station choices while teams weigh Smartsheet as MS Project alternative

Seattle, Washington, September 30, 2025

News Summary

Sound Transit staff have narrowed Chinatown‑International District station options for the Ballard Link Extension, focusing on Dearborn, 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal, and 4th Avenue Shallow alternatives while deeming the 4th Avenue option impractical due to rail adjacency risks and higher cost and schedule. Separately, a review of project‑management tools ranked Smartsheet as the best overall alternative to Microsoft Project, with TeamGantt, monday, ClickUp and others noted for specific use cases. Builders and project leads should track BLE studies and WSLE design milestones and match tool selection to project complexity to manage schedule, cost and collaboration risks.

Top lines: Smartsheet tops an eight-tool review as the best overall Microsoft Project alternative, and Sound Transit is narrowing Ballard Link Extension downtown station choices as West Seattle Link Extension moves into design after a 14–2 board vote.

Project-management tools: a tested roundup

A recent review evaluated eight project-management tools as alternatives to Microsoft Project and concluded that Smartsheet is the best overall alternative to Microsoft Project. The review signed up for the tools and tested them one by one using a test case and consultations of official websites. The guide compiled a list of eight alternatives and indicated a best use case for each.

The eight alternatives evaluated were TeamGantt, monday work management, ClickUp, Wrike, Teamwork, Jira, and Airtable, plus Smartsheet. The review considered functionality to support project-management usage, user interface, ease of onboarding, pricing, and integration with other applications. A detailed comparison table in the review highlighted which tools provide a free trial, offer easy onboarding, and include advanced integration capabilities.

Why Smartsheet ranked highest

Smartsheet received an overall rating of 4.81 out of 5. The review emphasized that Smartsheet supports multiple work views including Gantt, table, board, and timeline and includes a dashboard feature for viewing project status. The user interface was described as intuitive, and Smartsheet provides onboarding resources for first-time users plus a sandbox that allows previewing apps before deployment. Smartsheet integrates with Microsoft 365 and over 100 other platforms, and it uses a spreadsheet-like interface with support for lead/lag time, dependencies, and formulas. The review notes that users comfortable with spreadsheets will find Smartsheet more accessible than Microsoft Project.

Notable strengths among the alternatives

TeamGantt was highlighted for robust Gantt chart functionality, a drag-and-drop interface for building timelines, and the ability to switch quickly between Gantt, kanban board, calendar, and list views. TeamGantt’s rating was shown as 4.33 out of 5 and the review said it allows importing files from MS Project to ensure a smooth transition.

monday work management impressed with advanced reporting capabilities and highly customizable dashboards able to pull real-time data across multiple boards. It provides standard project features including Gantt charts, project baseline, critical path, and time tracking, offers five pricing tiers (Free, Basic, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise), and many templates for industries like construction and IT. monday’s rating was shown as 4.72 out of 5.

ClickUp emphasizes collaboration, combining tasks, tools, and teams in one platform; it offers whiteboards, spreadsheets, chat, task comments, Docs, and a Free Forever plan. ClickUp was shown with a rating of 4.54 out of 5 and is presented as competitively priced.

Wrike offers an extensive app directory and Wrike Integrate with over 400 integrations including Salesforce, Zoom, Box, Jira, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Sheets, Drive, and Outlook, plus time-tracking and timesheets. Teamwork focuses on project-budget management and profitability with expense trackers, revenue monitoring, invoicing, and billable hours tracking. Jira is positioned for software development with features for bug tracking, version launches, Agile workflows, and a Free Forever plan for teams of 10 or fewer. Airtable charges only users who have editing access; read-only users and commenters can use the tool for free and standard project features are available across plans.

The review noted Microsoft Project and Microsoft Planner still offer robust project-management functionality, including Gantt charts and task dependencies, but that Microsoft Project is intended for more experienced users and requires a steep learning curve for beginners. The article also said Microsoft Project is designed to integrate with the Microsoft ecosystem rather than with other platforms, making it harder to incorporate into workflows for teams that do not already own other Microsoft products. The review stated you can import Microsoft Project files into the listed alternatives but not natively — conversion of .mpp or .xml files to formats such as .xlsx, .csv, or .txt is required before import. The review also pointed out that Google does not offer comprehensive project-management software; Google Workspace provides simple and lightweight tools such as Google Forms, Google Calendar, and Google Docs for basic task creation and scheduling.

The review encourages readers to subscribe to Project Management Insider for best practices, reviews and resources; it says that newsletter is delivered Wednesdays and instructs readers to add [email protected] to contacts to ensure newsletters hit the inbox.

Sound Transit: Ballard Link Extension downtown station study

Sound Transit approved by voters a plan in 2016 known as Sound Transit 3 (ST3). Years after ST3 approval, Sound Transit continued studying where to put a new station near the Chinatown‑International District for the Ballard Link Extension. The agency published the Draft West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions Draft Environmental Impact Statement in 2022. Community uproar over potential impacts of an expanded International District‑Chinatown station under 5th Avenue South led the agency to consider multiple alternative station locations and to split projects apart in late 2023 and restart the environmental impact assessment process for the Ballard Link Extension.

Staff presented further studies focused on three CID alternatives being considered seriously: the Dearborn Street location as the Preferred Alternative, a 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal option, and a transit hub under 4th Avenue South known as 4th Avenue Shallow. Staff reviewed constructability, estimated construction durations and methods, transit connections, modeled ridership, station access, and transfers.

Estimated construction durations were presented as 6 to 7 years to build for the Dearborn Street and 5th Avenue Diagonal alternatives, and 10 to 12 years to build for the 4th Avenue Shallow alternative. The 4th Avenue Shallow alternative was estimated to cost over $600 million more than the proposed Dearborn alternative. An independent engineer’s assessment identified adjacency to the BNSF railway near King Street Station as a dominant construction risk for the 4th Avenue options and characterized the railroad-related risks as substantial and essentially unquantifiable. Staff concluded that the 4th Avenue Shallow option appears impractical and attention shifted to the 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal alternative, a refinement with fewer construction impacts to traffic and fewer business displacements than earlier 5th Avenue options. The 5th Avenue Diagonal alternative has the shortest estimated construction timeline among the CID options described.

Modeling showed nearly indistinguishable differences in travel patterns between the three CID alternatives, with slight roughly one percent differences in predicted weekday boardings between alternatives. For the Dearborn and 5th Avenue Diagonal alternatives, Link-to-Link transfers would mostly happen at Westlake Station; for the 4th Avenue Shallow alternative, transfers would mostly happen at the ID/C Station. Staff also noted that differences in station access times can materially affect modeled outcomes in a dense transit environment.

West Seattle Link Extension board decision and next steps

On October 24, 2024, the Sound Transit Board selected the current preferred alternative as the project to be built for the West Seattle Link Extension, advancing it in environmental review and into design. The board vote was 14–2 with two no votes from Bruce Dammeier and Jim Kastama. WSLE would add 4.1 miles of light rail from SODO to West Seattle’s Alaska Junction and includes four new stations: SODO, Delridge, Avalon, and Alaska Junction. WSLE is part of the ST3 plan and is forecast to carry an estimated 24,000 to 27,000 riders daily by 2042. Construction was reported as expected to start in 2027, and the agency anticipated an FTA Record of Decision in the referenced calendar year. The board approved a resolution to develop a workplan to improve the agency’s financial situation, reduce impacts during design, and pursue cost savings while maintaining station access and stakeholder engagement. Staff also stressed that advancing into design is not a final commitment to build at any cost and that baselining and financing decisions remain future board actions.

What to watch next

• Progress on Ballard Link Extension environmental review and final alignment decisions for the CID station.
• Refinement of the 5th Avenue Shallow Diagonal design and whether coalition-building with the CID community advances that option.
• WSLE workplan outcomes, cost-reduction proposals, and the timing of baselining and construction contracts.
• Any federal funding decisions and the FTA Record of Decision affecting schedule and scope.

FAQ

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Key features table

Deeper Dive: News & Info About This Topic

Additional Resources

• WestSideSeattle: West Seattle Link Extension gets go-ahead (Federal Transit Administration)
• Wikipedia: West Seattle Link Extension
• FOX 13 Seattle: I‑5 North shutdown alternatives & routes
• Google Search: I-5 North shutdown alternatives routes
• Seattle Transit Blog: Ballard Link Extension — 4th Ave shallow is dead, long live 5th Ave diagonal
• Google Scholar: Ballard Link Extension Chinatown‑International District 4th Ave 5th Ave diagonal
• West Seattle Blog: West Seattle light rail — Sound Transit Board finalizes preferred alternative routing
• Encyclopedia Britannica: West Seattle Light Rail preferred alternative routing
• Tunneling Online: Alignment selected for West Seattle Link Extension
• Google News: West Seattle Link Extension alignment tunneling

Author: Construction TX News

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