Sound Transit’s $3 Billion Lynnwood Link Extension Opens

The 8.5-mile light rail “Lynnwood Link” expansion opened last Friday after five years and $3 billion in local and federal funding, according to an article in the Seattle Times. The project is part of a regional sales tax measure passed by voters back in 2008 to expand transit. Seattle Times writer Mike Lindblom reports that between 25,000 and 34,000 people daily are expected to board at four new stations between Northgate and Lynnwood, which connect with multiple regional bus routes, including Swift Orange bus rapid transit line, which opened back in April. 

Another local news station, King 5, reports that the projected travel time from the new Lynnwood City Center Station to Westlake Station in downtown Seattle is 28 minutes, while it will take around 56 minutes to travel between the new Mountlake Terrace station and the SeaTac airport. But the expansion of light rail in the region doesn’t stop there. According to the King 5 article, Lynnwood and Seattle will eventually be connected to downtown Redmond via the East Lake Extension 2 Line, which is expected to open in 2025. The Federal Way Extension, which will add eight miles and three stations to Sound Transit’s 1 Line and connect to Angle Lake, south of Seattle, is also expected to start service in 2026.