SEATTLE PUGET SOUND Transit Info & Dev

[jbermingham123]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Seattle transit is very popular with some!

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Reese is a forum member btw! he posts more in the geography sections

[canucklehead2]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

Reese is a forum member btw! he posts more in the geography sections

He's easily our nations best transit blogger and I subscribe to his channel. Totally worth it! I hope a few more higher ups in Ottawa would give his shows a listen though since they're the ones who need to hear it the most. And of course Biden too with his legendary love of trains.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

Reese is a forum member btw! he posts more in the geography sections

He often posts links to his videos in the Canada section but I assumed he just joined the forum to publicize the channel. I didn't know he had other forum participation.

[OhioGuy]

Well this isn't good.

Sound Transit Eastside light rail project delayed

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Sound Transit's light rail extension project connecting Seattle to the Eastside is experiencing more delays.

The 14-mile-long, $3.6 billion East Link project is planned to have 10 stations from Seattle’s Chinatown-International District to Redmond. The extension was scheduled to open in the summer of 2023, but Sound Transit officials said a number of factors could push the date back.

[mhays]

The teamsters strike really screwed a lot of projects in this region (specifically King County). It's over now, as the teamsters basically gave up after 14 weeks or whatever.

Then add some issues with the rail projects themselves...

[LineDrive]

For some reason I feel like there is less info out there about Seattle’s system then others - as far as expansion goes. Or maybe I’m missing out. So a few questions…

Does anyone have a map for what the system will look like when ST3 is completed? A map without the Commuter Rail line and BRTs. Just the LRT services - will they be color coded, numbers, letters?….

Also - if I’m reading right the Tacoma line will be a separate line? So raiders will have to get off in Tacoma and jump on a new line? Why not have one continuous line going through Tacoma?

How many of the new ST3 stations will be SUBWAY stations?

[mhays]

Here's Sound Transit's current system: https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/maps

The largest agency is actually King County Metro, which operates most buses (including some semi-BRT, with more coming) and two streetcars. Current system: https://kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/schedules-maps/maps/system.aspx

Sound Transit's expansion is outlined here. Current light rail expansions will go north and south (on the existing line) and east (co-locating on the existing line for a big segment). Future light rail expansions will to northwest (Ballard) and Southwest (West Seattle). They're also phasing in improvements to the existing north and south commuter lines, such as platform expansions to handle 10-car trains going south. https://www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion

Tacoma has a streetcar they call light rail. It's built for short streetcars, not 380' Seattle trains. It's operating in an initial segment, and a second segment will open next year with a switchback up the big hill the core city is built on. (Personally I hope they keep the current express buses to Seattle, which travel at freeway speeds, currently beat commuter rail, and will beat light rail.)

Back on Seattle's Link Light Rail, two subway stations opened in October, but they're the last for a while. Current construction includes two tunnel segments on East Link, one using the existing I-90 tunnel and the other a new tunnel in Downtown Bellevue, but the stations are just outside the tunnels. The next phases (ST3) will include a third train tunnel through Downtown Seattle for the West Seattle to Ballard Link Expansion.

Confusing enough?

[Busy Bee]

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[SpongeG]

Line 2 that links Redmond and Bellevue opened on April 27. The rest of the line that links Bellevue to Seattle will open in 2025. The Lynwood extension will open in August 2024.

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[craigs]

How much of Link 2 is grade-separated? It looks like a lot of the stations are elevated.

[OhioGuy]

Finally the crosslake connection is open, connecting East King County to Seattle and up to Lynnwood.

The Urbanist: Everything You Need to Know About the 2 Line Crosslake Connection
By Ryan Packer - March 28, 2026

[mhays]

This is the biggest opening in Seattle transit since Link's first 1 Line segment opened in 2009. I can't wait to ride it. (Actually I technically can wait at least a day, since I'm doing exactly that.)

Doubling frequency on much of the 1 Line is huge all by itself. Service every four minutes isn't bad. That entire portion (Downtown to Lynnwood) is grade separated and fast.

The new line is going to be popular. Even the starter segment from Bellevue to Redmond was doing five figures a day, and it should be multiples of that from now on, especially after redundant bus routes go away (they typically delay that).

It already goes to several dense locations, particularly Downtown Bellevue, Redmond Tech (Microsoft's HQ), and Downtown Redmond. Several stations have seen a decent volume of TOD--easily 10,000+ housing units that are open or underway, and countless more buildings are planned.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by mhays

Doubling frequency on much of the 1 Line is huge all by itself. Service every four minutes isn't bad. That entire portion (Downtown to Lynnwood) is grade separated and fast.

So was the northern part of Line 1 made to be fully grade separated because it would eventually be interlined with Line 2?

Per Sound Transit's map, the 2 will eventually turn back at some point north of its current terminus, but the 1 (to be renamed the 3) will continue onward to Everett:
https://www.soundtransit.org/sites/default/files/documents/st-future-service-map.pdf

So will that extension to Everett include some street running and/or grade crossings?

As for the 2, I don't understand why they went cheap with street running east of DT Bellevue. The whole thing is grade separated except for this relatively short stretch, and there appears to be some danger of cars turning onto the light rail tracks: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mercer..._ep=EgoyMDI2MDMyNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

This at-grade stretch travels through a light industrial area where there would have been no objection to elevated tracks.

Also, the end of the line does a pig's tail curly-q as some sort of weird cost-saving measure:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mercer..._ep=EgoyMDI2MDMyNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

So is the line going to continue along the bike trail at some point? Not according to the same Sound Transit map linked above. It's not tough to see that the more logical way to do this would have been to bridge the highway to serve DT Redmond first, then the Marymoor Village park & ride.

[mhays]

The 1 Line and the eventual Ballard and West Seattle extensions will become an "X" rather than having one be very short and the other very long. This is primarily to give the drivers a reasonable interval for the bathroom.

For central Redmond, the sharp turn allowed them to use public ROW, minimize disruption, and reduce construction costs. Going elevated to Downtown Redmond first would be faster for a lot of riders, but it's not all good.

I certainly agree about the at-grade section in the Bel-Red area.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by mhays

The 1 Line and the eventual Ballard and West Seattle extensions will become an "X" rather than having one be very short and the other very long. This is primarily to give the drivers a reasonable interval for the bathroom.

For central Redmond, the sharp turn allowed them to use public ROW, minimize disruption, and reduce construction costs. Going elevated to Downtown Redmond first would be faster for a lot of riders, but it's not all good.

I certainly agree about the at-grade section in the Bel-Red area.

Do you have an opinion regarding the contemplated re-route of the West Seattle branch that will exclude one previously-planned station? I have not been to West Seattle and haven't followed this project so I don't know if this skipped station is a big deal or not. News reports say cutting this thing will save $2.6 billion, which seems impossibly high:
https://www.king5.com/article/news/commu...281-c6e6072e-5ba9-4d07-b865-325bb1ba6a05

It's also unclear to me what is happening with the terminal station at Alaska Ave.:
https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinson...-savings-shovel-ready-west-seattle-light

Why was it previously designed as a much-deeper station? What are they giving up by going with the shallower design?

The lack of tail tracks will create big problems. They will be unable to stage trains during rush hour and will be unable to easily move trains with mechanical problems off of active tracks. That leads to what is effectively a single-tracking situation.

[mhays]

The West Seattle project has limited utility at this point. One or two stations, then having to transfer well south of Downtown, would mean very few people get one-seat rides. Most would have two or more likely three seats to their desinations.

I'd delay it until the next tunnel is built through Downtown along with the Ballard (or towards Ballard) segment is built. That would cut one seat from most rides. Let people take their nice convenient one-seat buses until then.

I haven't thought enough about the specifics of the reduced plan.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by mhays

The West Seattle project has limited utility at this point. One or two stations, then having to transfer well south of Downtown, would mean very few people get one-seat rides. Most would have two or more likely three seats to their desinations.

I'd delay it until the next tunnel is built through Downtown along with the Ballard (or towards Ballard) segment is built. That would cut one seat from most rides. Let people take their nice convenient one-seat buses until then.

I haven't thought enough about the specifics of the reduced plan.

I didn't realize that they are planning to turn back the trains at SoDo, or rather train, since during off-peak I expect that they would simply shuttle a single 2-car train back and forth between these two points. You are correct - the customer isn't getting much at all for this massive capital outlay until the second tunnel appears.

I found an analysis of potential cost-savings in interlining the new lines with the existing downtown tunnel - and it turns out that there aren't many savings to be had:
https://www.soundtransit.org/st_sharepoi...n%20Tunnel%20Analysis%20-%2012-11-25.pdf

The problem is that the existing tunnel has no provisions for an at-grade junction, let alone a flying crossover near Westlake. Just creating this physical link will be horrendously expensive, plus it will require building the South Lake Union tunnel on a different alignment which does not set it up to travel at high speed to the planned second downtown tunnel.

I think what is depressing about this is that I always assumed that they were planning to build this physical link anyway, giving trains the choice to travel through one tunnel or the other (an especially useful possibility during a lengthy future rehab of one tunnel or the other). But that is not going to be the case.

The inability to easily build this connection makes a case for extending the Ballard line up to Northgate, which would enable trains from the north to divert onto the Ballard line and its downtown tunnel when there is a problem or construction closure in the original tunnel. There is a ton of potential ridership north of the planned Ballard terminal station that they're not going to capture by ending this thing where it's currently planned.

[mhays]

Link has come in very handy for several big events this year--and easily beaten its ridership records.

The system only recently hit six figures per day, and lately it's been in the 150,000 range since the 2 Line opened. That's out of a bit over 500,000 in local transit rides per day. With that in mind, here are the new Link records:

1. 280,000 on 6/19/26, when the US played Australia then the Mariners played later.
2. 244,000 on 3/28/26, the day East Link was connected to Seattle
3. 220,000 on 2/15/26, the day of the Seahawks' Super Bowl parade
4. 210,000 on 6/15/26, the day Belgium played Egypt

It's not the New York subway, which averages 7,245,000 on weekdays, but it's a lot for a new light rail system in the US.

https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know...ralia-drew-280000-riders-link-light-rail

(Some of the numbers have been revised, and some of this is slightly outdated.)

[craigs]

Originally Posted by mhays

Link has come in very handy for several big events this year--and easily beaten its ridership records.

The system only recently hit six figures per day, and lately it's been in the 150,000 range since the 2 Line opened. That's out of a bit over 500,000 in local transit rides per day. With that in mind, here are the new Link records:

1. 280,000 on 6/19/26, when the US played Australia then the Mariners played later.
2. 244,000 on 3/28/26, the day East Link was connected to Seattle
3. 220,000 on 2/15/26, the day of the Seahawks' Super Bowl parade
4. 210,000 on 6/15/26, the day Belgium played Egypt

It's not the New York subway, which averages 7,245,000 on weekdays, but it's a lot for a new light rail system in the US.

https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know...ralia-drew-280000-riders-link-light-rail

(Some of the numbers have been revised, and some of this is slightly outdated.)

Impressive numbers!

[Nouvellecosse]

Yes very good to hear! Do we know how much ridership is on line 2 specifically? Wiki only seems to have the 2025 figures which I believe was from before it was joined to the rest of the system.