Sound Transit preps for big year in light-rail expansion

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Sound Transit Board Chair and King County Executive Dow Constantine joined Peter Rogoff, the agency's new chief executive officer, to preview the year that lies ahead for expanding regional light-rail service.

 

In 2016, Sound Transit is poised to achieve milestones including opening light rail to the Capitol Hill and University of Washington areas in March and Angle Lake in September. (Both projects are under budget and ahead of schedule); kicking off light-rail construction to Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond in February; completing tunnel mining for the light-rail extension to Northgate in late 2016 and shaping a November 2016 Sound Transit 3 ballot measure.

“In 2016, we will complete major light-rail projects and present to voters a truly regional system that reaches Tacoma, Everett, Redmond, Ballard and West Seattle,” Constantine said. “It will be a landmark year of progress for our critical work to get commuters out of congestion.”

“My commitment as CEO is to keep building on Sound Transit’s national reputation for delivering an ambitious capital investment program and looking at how service should continue growing to support our commuters and economy,” Rogoff said. “In any region growing as fast as ours, the choices are to plan for growth or to be overwhelmed by it.”

2016 construction progress will keep Sound Transit on track to complete 34 miles of light rail in the next eight years, extending the regional system north to Lynnwood, east to Redmond and south to the Kent-Des Moines area. Constantine and Rogoff reviewed the year ahead for Sound Transit.

In February, Sound Transit will kick off the long-awaited construction of the East Link light-rail extension. The project remains on track for a 2023 opening that expands light-rail service across Lake Washington to and from Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond’s Overlake area, including the Microsoft campus. The first major work will be a new tunnel under downtown Bellevue, enabled by a close partnership with the city of Bellevue. Crews are scheduled to start excavating it this summer following site preparation and other work.

In March, Sound Transit will begin serving passengers on the University Link subway line, opening new stations on Capitol Hill and at the University of Washington. The project will open ahead of schedule and more than $150 million under budget. The opening date will be announced soon.

In September, Link trains will begin carrying passengers one station further south from Sea-Tac Airport to Angle Lake. This project is currently trending $40 million under budget. The Sound Transit Board accelerated this project to open the same year as University Link, four years earlier than envisioned in the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure.

Starting in September, Sound Transit will launch another round trip each weekday on the Sounder commuter rail line between Lakewood, Tacoma and Seattle. Added will be a northbound mid-morning trip from Lakewood and a southbound mid-afternoon, non-peak trip back to Lakewood. Two more additional south line round trips funded by the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure will start rolling in 2017.

By late 2016, Sound Transit will complete tunnel mining for the Northgate Link extension. So far, Sound Transit has successfully completed 12 tunnel segments: four under Beacon Hill, four as part of University Link, one in downtown Seattle and three as part of Northgate Link. By the end of the year, three more segments will be completed. By summe,r Sound Transit will kick off construction of the elevated light-rail station that will serve Northgate. The project remains on track to open in 2021.

 

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