The costs to renovate and expand Harborview Medical Center, Washington’s only highest-level trauma center, have increased by more than 70% since voters approved the project in 2020, to an estimated $3 billion.

The project includes a new 14-story medical tower that will add hundreds of patient beds, a new parking garage with hundreds of spots and a new behavioral health primary care clinic. The project also includes renovations and seismic retrofitting on Harborview’s existing facilities.

In 2020, King County voters approved a $1.74 billion bond measure , backed by a property tax increase, to fund the county-owned hospital’s renovation and expansion.

Progress on the project has been slow and halting, initially disrupted by the pandemic and then by a scope that has, at times, both expanded and contracted.…