At last Wednesday’s board meeting, Sound Transit staff member Ahmad Fazel — the director of Link light rail — delivered the news that the schedule for Link’s July 3rd opening has ran out of float, or padding in the case of delays. That means any delays in construction or testing from here on out could affect the opening date of Seattle’s first light rail line. The schedule began with 180 days of float and the final days of it were impacted by last December’s snow storms that practically halted the city.
But Link is 96% complete and Fazel said he is “confident” that light rail will open on time. And any delays would be measured in days, not months. In addition, this first line is expected to be completed under-budget from the plan introduced in 2003.
The Beacon Hill station was identified as the “critical path” for the project, or the area most likely to introduce delay. So far, construction has been delayed by construction accidents and technical challenges with tunneling and installing the four high-speed elevators that deliver riders from street level to the platform in the rail tunnel 165 feet below. Those elevators are now installed and contractors working on the station have been given financial incentives to accelerate their work or work in parallel while other construction in the station is happening.
Airport Link, scheduled to open on December 31 of this year, still has over a week of float in its schedule.
(The Seattle Times also has a report on this subject.)
