SEATTLE PUGET SOUND Transit Info & Dev

[mSeattle]

Sound Transit's Brooklyn Station in the University District - 6/26/19


20190626_192544 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr


20190626_192528 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr

[mSeattle]

July 19, 2019

Originally Posted by SounderBruce

Link turned 10 years old today and Sound Transit celebrated by stocking a few TVMs with limited-edition ORCA cards.



I also celebrated by biking around a few East Link sites for an upcoming photo tour (on STB). Here's a quick shot of the catenary supports on the East Channel Bridge just off Mercer Island.

[mSeattle]

July 24, 2019

Originally Posted by Ruffhauser

From todays DJC.

https://www.djc.com/news/co/12123789.html

July 24, 2019

Crews lay down track atop I-90 floating bridge

By BENJAMIN MINNICK
Journal Construction Editor

Crews have installed one of the eight specialized track sections that will allow light rail trains to cross the Interstate 90 floating bridge.

The 43-foot-long sections — called track bridges — will carry rail from the fixed ends of the Homer M. Hadley bridge to its floating part. They were designed to move with the bridge, which can flex in six different directions.

“This has not been done anywhere else in the world,” said John Sleavin, deputy project director in charge of final design at Sound Transit, during a Tuesday media tour of the bridge.

Laying track on a floating bridge has additional challenges other than the transitions, such as movement of the rail on the floating section, the weight of the system and isolating electrical current that runs in the rails.





Special isolators are used on the track bridges to keep electrical current from reaching the main bridge.






Nearly 9,000 light-weight concrete blocks support the track across the main bridge.

[mSeattle]

July 10, 2019

Originally Posted by Ruffhauser

From todays DJC.

https://www.djc.com/news/co/12123341.html

July 10, 2019

Feds have $100M for Federal Way Link
By JOURNAL STAFF

Sound Transit on Tuesday said the Federal Transit Administration will allocate $100 million in capital investment grant funding to extend light rail to Federal Way.

The agency said the funding represents a significant commitment toward the pending multi-year full funding grant of $790 million. The project is among the FTA's highest rated transit projects in the nation.

Sound Transit wants to break ground in early 2020 and open the 7.8-mile extension in 2024. Track will run from Angle Lake in SeaTac to Federal Way, with three stations along the route in Kent/Des Moines, at South 272nd Street and at the Federal Way Transit Center. Demolition and utility relocation work could start this fall.

[mSeattle]

July 29, 2019

Originally Posted by Ruffhauser

From todays DJC.

https://www.djc.com/news/co/12123925.html

July 29, 2019

Sound Transit identifies alternatives for Tacoma Dome Link Extension

A final alignment could be selected by 2022, with groundbreaking slated for 2025.

By JOURNAL STAFF


The Sound Transit Board of Directors has identified preferred station locations and alignments, and alternatives to study for the 9.7-mile Tacoma Dome Link Extension project.

The preferred location is the first choice of stations and alignments for the project.

The extension has four segments — South Federal Way, Fife, East Tacoma and the Tacoma Dome area — each of which will have a new station.

Here is a quick summary of the alignments and station sites:

• For South Federal Way, the preferred station site is an elevated location along Enchanted Parkway near south 352nd Street near Interstate 5.

• For Fife, the preferred station location is an elevated site north of 15th Street.

• For East Tacoma, the preferred and alternative alignments differ on where they connect with the station at the Tacoma Dome.

• For the Tacoma Dome area, the preferred station location is an elevated site at Tacoma Dome Station in the vicinity of East 25th Street, west of G Street.

Construction is set to begin in early 2020 to complete light rail between SeaTac and Federal Way in 2024. To further extend service to Tacoma by 2030, Sound Transit is working to publish the draft EIS in 2021, select a final alignment in 2022 and break ground in 2025.






The 9.7-mile Tacoma Dome Link Extension will connect light rail from Federal Way. Service could begin in 2030.

[mSeattle]

August 2, 2019 (Tacoma)

Originally Posted by araman0

It's getting pretty serious in Tacoma!


TacomaRail by Arash Akbar, on Flickr

[Busy Bee]

New Siemens S70 cars:




_

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

New Siemens S70 cars:




_

I'll be visiting Seattle late this October. Can't wait to see all of y'all's transit!

[mSeattle]

August 9, 2019

Drivers from North Seattle and beyond

P8090016-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr

Northgate Station

P8090017-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr


P8090022-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr


DSCN6559-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr


DSCN6563-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr


DSCN6567-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr


DSCN6565-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr

Looking into the distant future...

DSCN6566-1 by Marcus Stringer, on Flickr

[mSeattle]

September 2019

Originally Posted by SounderBruce

A few pictures of East Link construction taken last week. I'll have more for the Seattle Transit Blog once I'm finished with Railvolution.

Redmond Technology Station:



Overlake Village Station:



Bel-Red/130th Station:



Spring District/120th Station:



South Bellevue Station:



Mercer Island Station:



I-90 floating bridge:

[plutonicpanda]

What a beautiful city!

[SpongeG]

from a year ago. A look inside the new Roosevelt station.

• Video Link

Northgate opens this fall

• Video Link

[OhioGuy]

The highly anticipated extension of Link Light Rail's Line 1 up to Northgate, which includes two new subway stations and one elevated station, officially opens this morning after a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday.

Seattle Transit Blog: The ribbon is cut for Northgate Link (photos at this link)

On the eve of Northgate Link’s grand opening, a ceremony and preview ride kicks off a month-long celebration of the Puget Sound region’s latest expansion of rapid transit, this time 4.3 miles north to 3 new stations in the U District, Roosevelt, and Northgate. For a summary of the speeches, read STB’s live coverage of the ceremony on Twitter. On opening day Saturday, various community organizations have prepared events and activities at each station beginning at 10 am.

At Northgate Station, there will be a grand opening ceremony for the John Lewis Memorial Bridge, a pedestrian and bicycle bridge spanning I-5 to North Seattle College from 10 am to noon. For Roosevelt Station, the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association has organized an opening celebration with live music & dancing and food trucks from 10 am to 4 pm at 12th Ave NE & NE 66th St between the station entrances. The U District Station opening festival runs from 10 am to 8 pm and features a $3 food walk, live entertainment, activities for kids, and a beer garden. Sound Transit has exhibits explaining design features and public art along with photo/selfie spots at all three stations that will be up throughout October.

Decades in the making, the Northgate extension to the Link 1 Line, formerly Central Link, will transform travel within North Seattle and beyond by providing a fast, frequent, and reliable transit artery that combined with frequent buses forms a network that expands access to work, education, and leisure opportunities.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Seattle's Northgate Link light rail extension officially opens for riders with 3 new stations

Seattle residents now have more traffic-free, reliable transit options: the long-awaited Northgate Link light rail extension officially opened for service Saturday morning.

With 4.3 miles of new tracks and stations in Northgate, Roosevelt and the U District, the new extension will connect Northgate to downtown Seattle's Westlake station in just 14 minutes. Trains will run every eight minutes during peak hours and every 10 minutes on most weekends and middays.

The new extension is expected to see 41,000 to 49,000 daily riders by 2022, according to Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) projections. Local leaders are hoping the new transit option will be transformational and reflect North Seattle's rapid growth in the last decade.

Image from USDoT

Additional photos and video from Sound Transit.

And a little preview of the potential Link light rail map in the future (map focuses on the central area, it will actually go further north to Everett and further south to Tacoma), which includes a 2nd subway through downtown Seattle... if they can figure out the funding (ST3 was passed to fund the additional expansion though now it's uncertain the funding will be sufficient).

Image from The Urbanist

[llamaorama]

Cool! I was wondering when they'd finish that.

[SpongeG]

looks good, hopefully when covid restrictions die down we can make it down there to check it out in person

• Video Link

[canucklehead2]

So cool to see my favourite American light rail system expand to even more destinations! Can't wait until it's all linked together!

[mhays]

Agreed, it's an exciting step.

Four extensions will open in 2023 and 2024 -- to the north (same line), south (same line), east (new line), and further east.

At that point, we'll transition from a city that's still primarily buses to one where rail is part of a large percentage of people's commutes.

[Nouvellecosse]

Seattle transit is very popular with some!

• Video Link

[mrnyc]

very exciting.

can't wait to give it a whirl when we get out there again.

in the meantime, i hope peeps post pix!

[mhays]

Good video. FYI those 8-minute headways are only during Covid. It was 6 before. I believe the core section will be 3 once East Link co-locates.