Sound Transit’s Lynwood Link moves into final design
Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
Light-rail service to Snohomish County in Washington state is closer to reality as Sound Transit moves ahead with a final design contract for the 8.5-mile rail extension. The transit agency issued a formal notice to proceed on its $73.7-million final design contract with the HNTB Jacobs Trusted Design Partners joint venture.
A trip from Lynnwood to downtown Seattle will take 28 minutes and the extension is expected to carry up to 74,000 riders each weekday by 2035.
This follows news in February that the project received approval from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to move into final engineering work and is in line for up to a $1.2-billion grant through the FTA New Starts program.
Cost estimates for the Lynnwood Link extension range from $1.5 to $1.7 billion. Also included in Sound Transit’s request for federal funding are other elements needed to support the extension, including 34 new light-rail vehicles and a portion of a new light-rail maintenance facility, bringing the total project cost to approximately $2.3 billion. A final budget will be established in 2017 with construction scheduled to begin in 2018 and open for service in 2023.
The line will extend north from the Northgate Link extension that is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in 2021.
Last year, the Sound Transit Board selected the final alignment and station locations for Lynnwood Link. Trains will run along the I-5 corridor from Northgate to Lynnwood with four new stations at Northeast 145th Street, Northeast 185th Street, the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center at 236th Street Southwest and at the Lynnwood Transit Center.
New parking structures at 145th, 185th and Lynnwood Transit Center will add approximately 1,500 park and ride spaces within the I-5 corridor as part of the project.
