This November, Eastside voters could very well make the difference in approving or denying a $53.8 billion plan to improve transit across King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.

The Sound Transit Board unanimously approved the sweeping infrastructure plan last week, and hopes to convince voters of its necessity by election day.

Claudia Balducci, Sound Transit Board member, King County Council member and former Bellevue mayor, has been intimately involved with the push for improved transportation in Puget Sound for years.

“This is the opportunity for our region to step up and build a full-scale transit system,” she said. “Some people said we should take more time, which I just don’t understand. If not now, when?”

The newly finalized plan changes the plan tentatively approved by the Sound Transit Board in March. After feedback lambasting the long construction times (stretching into the 2040s for several projects), the board resolved to find a way to reduce those dates. The new plan reflects that, with proposed construction sped up by two to five years for most extensions.

Bellevue will be a major hub for transit if the Sound Transit 3 passes.

Sound Transit proposes a light rail line from South Kirkland Park and Ride to Central Issaquah in the plan. It would connect with the already-planned spur coming from Redmond and have stops in Downtown Bellevue (part of Sound Transit 2), Richards Road, Eastgate near Bellevue College, a provisional stop in the Lakemont area and finishing in Central Issaquah. The provisional station would not be built in Sound Transit 3, instead requiring additional funds.

This 11.75 mile line would cost between $1.76 and $1.88 billion to complete by 2041. Sound Transit estimates it would add anywhere between 12,000 and 15,000 daily riders with an additional $28 million yearly operations and maintenance cost. From end to end, Sound Transit estimates the line would take 23 minutes and would have high reliability.

Bellevue is also centered in a major Interstate-405 Bus Rapid Transit proposal, where buses would leave northward from the Lynnwood Transit Center down I-405 through Bothell, Kirkland, Bellevue, Renton, Tukwila and into Burien. The 38-mile route would use eight existing stations and add three more at a cost of between $812 and $869 million. Sound Transit estimates that between 15,000 and 18,000 daily riders would take the bus rapid transit at 87 minutes transit time from end-to-end.

Balducci said this plan is a chance for Seattle, the Eastside, Everett and Tacoma to catch up with other major metropolitan areas.

The plan has its share of both supporters and detractors already.

People for Smarter Transit is a group opposing the Sound Transit 3 project and will be campaigning against it. According to the group, Sound Transit 3 will not solve traffic issues, will raise taxes significantly, will be the most costly way to attract new ridership and will not be safe or cost effective.

“There has been little discussion about the opportunity cost of hitting taxpayer wallets for so much money to achieve so little benefit,” the group writes. “This proposal goes after funding that should be used for schools.”

According to Sound Transit, $27.7 billion of the funding would come from new, local taxes between 2017 and 2041. An additional .5 percent sales tax would be added to the regional sales tax the regional transportation system already takes, and would raise $16.8 billion. A motor vehicle excise tax of .8 percent (about $80 per $10,000 of a vehicle’s value) would raise $6.9 billion and a property tax of $1 per $4,000 of assessed valuation (a $400,000 house would have an additional $100 property tax) would add $4 billion.

The additional $26.1 billion required to fund Sound Transit 3 would come from federal funds, existing taxes, bonds and fares.

All told, the average adult in the Sound Transit District would see an economic impact of about $200 additionally every year, or about $17 per month in 2014 dollars. Population estimates predict that nearly a million additional people will move to Puget Sound by 2040.

Balducci said while the price tag was high, Sound Transit tried its best to incentivize projects that people care about.

Light rail lines to Paine Field in Everett, Ballard, West Seattle, Downtown Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah and Tacoma, as well as a Sounder Train extension to DuPont and improved stops and the rapid bus transit would connect the urban area.

“As part of Sound Transit 2, we wanted to connect the Eastside and other areas to Seattle,” Balducci said. “We want to connect people to things they care about.”

She said connecting important destinations on the Eastside to each other would make a more complete transportation system.

A strong opposing party based in Kirkland wanted to can the project unless Sound Transit could guarantee not to touch the Cross Kirkland Corridor. Balducci said that was the strongest opposition she had seen so far.

City leaders and former city leaders from Edmonds, Sammamish, Kirkland and Bothell also signed a petition urging voters to vote no on Sound Transit 3.

Others, such as the mayor of Issaquah and Bellevue council members, were pushing for the plan to pass.