First section of Sound Transit East Link rail installation nearly complete

Written by Kyra Senese, Managing Editor
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East Link Extension project map | Image courtesy of Sound Transit

Sound Transit has announced that the first section of its upcoming East Link rail installation has made another stride toward its completion with the installation of ballasted tracks that will carry light-rail vehicles across Mercer Island, Wash.

The segment is a mile and a third long, stretching from 80th Avenue Southeast to slightly east of East Mercer Way, and it will be the first segment of rail completed on the East Link project, Sound Transit says.

Crews are currently installing rail on concrete ties set ballast to form a bed for the track.

In 2019, crews are set to install rail on the Homer M. Hadley floating bridge, including the track bridges that are intended to accommodate lake motion to allow light-rail vehicles to travel safely across the floating section of I-90.

The East Link is set to extend light rail by 14 miles from downtown Seattle, Wash., to downtown Bellevue and the Overlake area of Redmond via Interstate 90, with the addition of 10 stations.

Officials said construction of the East Link extension is more than 40 percent complete, and the entire line is set for operation in 2023.

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