Lynnwood Link Opening Ceremonies

77 Replies to “Lynnwood Link Opening Ceremonies”

1. It’s happening! I hope to be on the first revenue train run.

   Is there going to be a Seattle Transit Blog meetup?

   1. Of course, although it’s a Friday rather than the usual Saturday so some people may not be able to get off work. It’s a bit early to start planning, but the only way for us in Seattle to get to Lynnwood is the 512, so we’ll go that way in the morning and come back later on Link.

      I don’t bother trying to get on the first train. I just want a regular passenger experience. With the 2 Line Starter Line opening, the ceremony was at Bellevue Downtown so the big crowd lined up at the entrance there. We took the 550 to South Bellevue and started from there. The bus was full but we didn’t have much trouble getting on a train, although at other times South Bellevue might have had a long line. At Lynnwood the ceremony and the terminus are at the same place, so there’s no choice other than to stand in the long line or wait or the line to die down.

      At the Northgate opening, Link service started while the speeches were still going on at the college, so the crowd was at the speeches or perusing the new ped bridge and its Halloween telephones (gone the next day), so it wasn’t hard to get on a train.

      1. There’s a bunch of different stuff you could do other than the standard Link + 512. Eg: Amtrak Cascades to Edmonds and the 102.

      2. By “regular passenger experience” I don’t mean a non-packed train, but simply a train rather than the first one.

      3. [OT. Non-understandable plea, something about drugs on buses, an officials’ phone number, and CT/ST’s policy about driver-witnesses. If you have something to say about drugs, you can do it in tomorrow’s open thread. Posting other people’s phone information is not allowed.]

   2. Will the Lynnwood train go all the way to SeaTac??

      1. Yes, the Lynnwood Extension is an extension of the 1 Line, which goes to SeaTac. It is also an extension of the 2 Line, which will connect to Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond once the connection across I-90 opens.

      2. The 1 Line Will run from Lynnwood to SeaTac and on to Angle Lake.

         That’s supposed to change in 2039 if ST can fund and build a second Downtown tunnel. Once the second tunnel opens, a rider from Lynnwood will have to change trains to get to SeaTac. So will every rider from Northgate, Capitol Hill and UW too.

         ST has planned three places to change trains — but all of them will require at least two escalator or elevator rides and several hundred feet of walking. Some options may take up to as much as seven minutes to transfer.

         The Board last year voted to even remove a transfer possibility at CID, so that only Westlake, Pioneer Square and SODO would be places to transfer.

         The alternative or the older option would have transfers at the current CID station. That option would help with Sounder, Cascades and FIrst Hill Streetcar connection but would still require using several escalators to transfer ( and cost several hundred more millions of dollars). Note too that there are no down escalators to the platforms at any Downtown Seattle Link station.

         I have been begging ST for seven years to change the SODO station (one of the three) layout to allow for an easy walk across a level platform to the other train doors just 20 feet away. My armchair read is that making a track and station platform design change at SODO could be made for well less than $100 million. I have begged STB and the Urbanist and Seattle Subway to support this too. I can’t get any support anywhere to do this. It’s as if no one else sees how good this simple solution would benefit many.

         The next idea that gets support on STB but doesn’t get much support elsewhere is to run three lines in the existing tunnel and have a separate line connecting Downtown and Ballard. It still would require going up and back down again but at least it’s not as far to transfer between points along the 1 Line and SeaTac.

         A final solution is to design the lines so that every other train from SeaTac to Lynnwood (rather than SeaTac to Ballard as planned), with every other West Seattle train going to Ballard (rather than Lynnwood as planned). That would however make someone wait for up to 20 minutes for a direct train — unless they were willing to make one of the complicated transfers mentioned above.

      3. A minor correction to my last post:

         In a three-line one Downtown tunnel option, a rider from Lynnwood would not need to transfer after 2039. They would just have to wait for the train line (one if three) that would go to SeaTac. Only riders from the Eastside would have to make an up and down transfer — just like they will need to do after 2026 when the 2 Line opens across Lake Washington.

      4. I hope so I pick up my friends all the time going from Seatac home to Lynnwood

2. We could also do something for the bus restructure September 14th.

   The most interesting new routes are probably the 61 and 77. We might want to see the 522’s corridor on 145th, where Shoreline is building a village around the station, and northern Lake City has surprisingly dense low-income apartments. We can see if the sidewalks are safe yet; they weren’t the last time I tried 145th: too many gaps between cracks at mounds, too close to cars going around a lamppost.

   You could chain the 77 and 522: start at 145th & Greenwood, take the 77 to Lake City and Roosevelt station, Link to Shoreline North, and the 522 east to Lake Forest Park and turn around.

   You could chain the 77 and 61: start at Roosevelt station, 77 to Lake City and 145th & Greenwood, 5 south to 85th, 61 east to Northgate and Lake City.

   In Snohomish County, a Snohomish expert could suggest a tour.

   We could walk around Jackson Park, taking in the sights of 148th and future 130th stations. There’s not a lot to see though. A narrow not-very-kempt strip around the golf course fence. In one part there’s a small wetland, on the west side if I remember. In the southwest quarter there seems to be an interior park you can maybe get to without being a golfer; I’m not sure if you can.

   1. I’m pretty sure the 522 reroute and the new 77 are not happening during the 9/14 restructure base on the Lynnwood Link Connections site by KCM, appears to be sometime in 2025.

      1. Yeah, the 77 is for the future. It is likely a two part route. The first half should be added as soon as East Link opens (and the 522 no longer goes to Roosevelt). The second half opens with the 130th Station.

         I look forward to taking the 77 west (towards Bitter Lake) and then walking through Broadview to Carkeek Park. From there you can come out the other side and walk to Greenwood, where you can catch the 61. This will make a nice loop if you are starting in Lake City, or a nice Link-to-Link Loop.

      2. Lucien, yes, the earlier RossB posts on Lynnwood Link explained the phasing.

         The Nathan post should be revised to explain the phasing. ST Route 522 is not changing in fall 2024, but later; ST was vague about it; it may happen with East Link (see plinths). Also, routes 65, 72, 77, 331, and 372 will be phased. Finally, the Shoreline roundabout project on NE 145th Street must be impacting routes 333 and 365.

         The Nathan post could also explain that both Shoreline Link stations have 500-space garages.

      3. I’ll clarify that STx 522 won’t run until sometime next year or so.

         I do note that the Shoreline and Lynnwood stations have new parking garages. Mountlake Terrace is keeping its existing 1,000+ space garage.

      4. Also, routes 65, 72, 77, 331, and 372 will be phased.

         That is different than my understanding. I thought it was basically this:

         Phase One (Lynnwood Link):

         The 77 does not exist. Every other Metro bus is rerouted as shown on the map*. The 522 stays as it is now.

         Phase Two (East Link**):

         The 522 is sent to 148th Station. The 77 runs from Lake City to the U-District.

         Phase Three (130th Station opening):

         The 77 is extended to Bitter Lake.

         This explains the goofy route of the 77. It is designed to minimize churn. Instead of multiple routes changes when 130th Station is added (which is what I would do) only one route changes.

         * https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/metro/programs-and-projects/lynnwood-link-connections

         ** See https://cdn.kingcounty.gov/-/media/king-county/depts/metro/documents/projects/lynnwood-link-connections/routes/522brt.pdf

      5. in phase one, Route 372 continues and extends to/from UWB/CCC. in later phase, Route 331 will extend to UWB/CCC and Route 72 will extend to South Shoreline. In later phase, Route 65 will have two variants, one will turnback in Lake City and one will loop to South Shoreline nearing Shorecrest on the way.

      6. in phase one, Route 372 continues and extends to/from UWB/CCC. in later phase, Route 331 will extend to UWB/CCC and Route 72 will extend to South Shoreline. In later phase, Route 65 will have two variants, one will turnback in Lake City and one will loop to South Shoreline nearing Shorecrest on the way.

         That makes no sense to me. Why wait on changing the 72 or 331? If anything, it makes sense to change the 72 immediately, as otherwise there will be no service on 145th (west of I-5) when Link opens. When the 522 is sent that way it is less essential (but still good routing). As for the 331, I don’t see why you would wait.

         I get the fact that 65 has two variants. Same with the 348. It will be like the 3 (which sometimes ends at 21st & James, but other times continues to Madrona). But I assume the changes to the 65 will be implemented with Lynnwood Link, not at a later date.

      7. A passage from the council central staff memo explains the phasing; phases one and two are triggered by ST Route 522; phase three is triggered by the NE 130th Street station. RossB poses a question of rationale; I am not the best to guess at that. The Shoreline leg of Route 65 may serve NE 145th Street until Route 72 is implemented.

         • Phase 1 would be implemented beginning in Fall 2024 when the Lynnwood Link (1 Line) light rail extension opens for revenue service. Most of Metro’s bus restructure is proposed to occur during this phase, with the route network revised to coordinate with the four new light rail stations. Some bus service would remain unchanged, however, in response to the capacity issues the Link 1 Line may experience until the full 2 Line opens.

         • Phase 2 would be implemented when the complete Link light rail 2 Line (East Link) opens, which will provide greater capacity for 1 Line service, and when Sound Transit makes related changes to ST Route 522, at which time Metro would make associated changes to its bus network (replacing Route 372, initiating service on new Routes 72 and 77, and revising Routes 65 and 331). This is currently expected to happen in Spring 2025.

         • Phase 3 would be implemented when Sound Transit opens the 130th Street Station, the final station of the Lynnwood Link light rail extension. These changes would provide bus service to the new station by extending Route 77.

   2. Won’t most people prefer to be at the G Line opening happening at the same time?

      1. Good point. I think that is a much bigger deal. I think the 61 is a great route, but the G will be the first BRT in the state. Buses will run in their own lanes (often in the middle of the street) every six minutes throughout the day in a very high density area. I think you have to go back to the bus tunnel to find something that significant. Hopefully it serves as a symbol of what this city can build.

3. I get how the ribbon cutting should be in midday, but I would have preferred that that the festival began right after the opening ceremony.

   I get how the sun sets later in the summer. That enables a 4-8 pm event. It just seems off that the ceremony is 4-5 hours earlier than the start of the festival. If the festival starts at 4, shouldn’t the ribbon cutting be at 3? If the two events are already scheduled several hours apart anyway, why choose a Friday night?

   This is also only the second 1 Line extension opening that doesn’t have new significant non-residential destinations being served adjacent to new stations (Angle Lake being first). There is some retail but pretty much everything else is residential or parking or bus transferring. So, maybe this is all the “festival-ing” that’s needed.

   I went to ELSL, Northgate Link and U-Link openings. They were enjoyable days! The existence of nearby destinations gave it some appeal to explore what was around each station. As much as it’s great to celebrate this one, I honestly don’t feel so eager to attend. What’s to explore nearby? Parking garages and bus plazas not fully activated?

   Will CT have a festival when the Blue Swift gets to Shoreline North and the Orange Line opens? Those services have some more interesting destinations on them. I easily might be more interested in what those lines will offer.

   1. You could always go explore Lynnwood’s city center. Not the light rail station, but the city’s actual city center. It’s right next to the station. You can see it in the background of the photo at the top of the page.

      1. Sam, Lynnwood’s “city center” is currently construction zones and a few apartment complexes that have opened in the past year. The “anchor” of it all, Northline Village, hasn’t really broken ground yet, it’s a fenced off abandoned strip mall with some of the buildings demolished. If you did want to explore “around” the Lynnwood station, your best bet would be Swift orange to the Alderwood Mall area or to Edmonds College, or bike/run the Interurban Trail down to Ballinger Lake and then follow the path adjacent to Nile Shrine up the hill to Mountlake Terrace station. Around Mountlake Terrace Station, the Cinebarre is very much under-rated if you wanted to catch a movie with some food and booze. A few other eateries built in to the Terrace Station Apartments complex on the way. There is also Hemlock Brewing and Baguus along 236th SW, which would be the latest “hipster” stuff in MLT. MLT library itself is meh, tiny, but the park beside it is cool, old growth forest. If you’re adventurous there is a ravine trail and frisbee golf course you can access from the MLT rec center (descend from the basketball courts), but that’s stretching the definition of walking distance. Much more to explore within walking distance of MLT than Lynnwood at this time, but Lynnwood will definitely be getting more in a few years, and it will feel more like an actual city center.

   2. All of this is unusual. All the other openings I know of have been on a Saturday, with the ribbon-cutting around 11am and the festival all afternoon.

      The 4-8pm festival may be simply a consequence of having it on a Friday: people with 9-5 jobs who aren’t foamers can’t get to it until the evening.

      I never participate much in the festival anyway so I don’t care. Our festival is riding the trains and exploring the station areas and bus feeders. Except this time the new bus feeders won’t have started yet, so that’s out.

      1. I believe there is a Huskies game on Saturday, which may have something to do with it.

      2. I believe the reason why is because of Labor Day weekend. ST wants to make sure all the partying crowds pass before Labor Day folks start crowding up Link, so they moved the opening back into the Friday.

      3. It also helps with the buses: if they open on a Friday, all the buses are doing their weekday thing, so it’s easier to get to and around the events.

         Eg: if Link is crowded to Shoreline, it’s possible for someone to take the 301, or even Sounder if they need to. They can’t do that on a weekend.

         Things get even more difficult if you cross the county line. Sure, the Swift lines run on weekends. An awful lot of CT doesn’t.

   3. “What’s to explore nearby? ”

      Scriber Lake Park north of the station. It’s a forested greenbelt oasis with a creek and boardwalk. The Lynnwood library on 44th. The Swift Orange Line to McCollum Park and Edmonds CC. The Interurban Trail which goes right by the station (not connected to the part in Shoreline). The lots where a future downtown Bellevue-like center will someday be supposedly.

      1. There’s always Fred Meyer.

         I think the Lynnwood Fred Meyer will be the closest one to Link. When 2 Line opens further, the Redmond Fred Meyer seems to be closer.

         Neither is an easy walk from a station and will require crossing a fast-moving, busy stroad.

      2. The Lynnwood Fred Meyer looks closer to Link, but what’s the actual walking distance? It doesn’t look like it has a direct path to it.

         If you’ve got to go all the way around, the Shoreline Fred Meyer might be closer to Link (185th) as a practical matter, rather than crow’s flight distance. Also, there is some hope the new 348 will be frequent enough to connect it to Link.

      3. @Glenn in Portland, going by Google Maps walking directions:
         * Lynnwood Fred Meyer – Lynnwood City Center station: 0.6 mi
         * Overlake (Bellevue) Fred Meyer – Overlake Village station: 0.7 mi
         * Redmond Fred Meyer – Marymoor Village station: 0.8 mi; opening up one more walking path could cut it down a lot.
         * Shoreline Fred Meyer – 185th St station: 1.2 mi

      4. I’m not sure their walking path works though. When I went over to Scriber Lake Park, I remember having to take a complicated route because there were places where there were no sidewalks and other problems.

         With Link arriving, I suppose they’ve solved some of that?

      5. I would say something like this would be generally the most pleasant walking route from Link to the Lynnwood Freddie’s: https://maps.app.goo.gl/J1xbwqdG3RwMj9dM8

         I think there’s plans for better walking infrastructure through this area, but there should be sidewalks through this whole route, even if some are kind of narrow. And there’s crossing 196th which will never be pleasant to do on foot.

      6. Glenn: It is a PITA to walk from the transit center to Fred Meyer. But if you were to do it, definitely walk along 48th Ave. W rather than 44th Ave W., and then the library is across from the back side of Freddies.

   4. Here’s a way to kill four hours.

      1. Explore all of Scriber Lake Park and the open spaces leading to it.

      2. If you’re bookish, see the large library.

      3. Take Link south one station at a time.

      4. At Mountlake Terrace, walk east through the parking lot and Veterans Memorial Park to the walkable downtown on 58th. (The park trail is dirt with tree roots and a slight incline. For ADA access, go around the park on 236th, which also has TOD.)

      5. At Shoreline North/185th, see what’s happening with the ex-school community center, which has many city and private uses like the buildings in Magnuson Park.

      6. At Shoreline South/148th, check if the east-west sidewalks on 145th east to 15th and 30th are safe yet. Walk around the northern and western sides of Jackson Park (west is best).

4. The presentation here seems to have a typo:

   https://www.soundtransit.org/st_sharepoint/download/sites/PRDA/FinalRecords/2024/Presentation%20-%20Lynnwood%20Link%20Opening%20Events%20-%2007-18-24.pdf

   HNTB is NHTB in the presentation. It took me a second to figure out that this was likely a typo since most of the funding sponsors are kicking back funds from their huge ST contracts to pay for the event.

5. Look at that photo. Skycastle Transit put an enormous garage and its approach driveway in one-half of the station’s access arc. The other half is a large plaza and a surface transit center a block long. The closest actual housing is about two hundred yards away.

   “OMG, those icky transit riders! We have to keep them away from the good burgers [sic] who are the backbone of Lynnwood’s development!”

   1. That’s a great point Tom. I didn’t really study the photo until I read your post. I live in Belltown so Lynnwood is like Pluto to me.

      28 minutes from Lynnwood to Westlake is impressive, although so much of the long trip is through very undense areas. . As usual the concept for Link is to bring everything to downtown Seattle, not the other way. So the station at Lynnwood is totally set up for work commuters with a huge park and ride and virtually no retail density around the station (and based on the plaza and park and ride there never will be). And I must say the “plaza” looks pretty bleak and barren.

      So I think many areas along Line 1, especially Lynnwood and in S. King Co. and Pierce Co., get shortchanged by Link if the hope is Link brings shoppers and diners TO their city. It will do just the opposite. Now someone in Snohomish Co. can drive to the Lynnwood park and ride and be at Northgate Mall in 15 minutes with no worries about traffic. But you can’t really get to the heart of Lynnwood by Link.

      I think this concept is even worse for Tacoma. TDLE is not designed to bring residents of Pierce and S. King Co. to Tacoma. It is to take them away to Seattle. The only saving grace there is unlike Lynnwood the trip to Seattle on Link will be so painfully slow many won’t take it, but TDLE still won’t get you to Tacoma proper. So probably few will ride it.

      That is what “regional rail” meant. Everyone pitching in for a second tunnel through Seattle because everyone from Everett to Tacoma would ride Link to Seattle.

      That probably made sense 10 or 20 years ago but not post pandemic. I don’t think cities like Lynnwood or Mountlake Terrace will see the economic boost from Link they hoped for, but at the same time they (like Bellevue that doesn’t have to care) didn’t do much to make Link part of their retail core, maybe because it is above ground. But they probably figured if Link stations were going to be next to I-5 they were not going to locate the center of their city next to a freeway, especially when Link was always designed to take their residents away, not bring residents from other areas to them to work, shop and dine, and was always going to be above ground in their city. .

   2. Your downtown-Seattle-only view of Link gets tiresome. This is Snohomish County, where the largest chunk of regional transit riders are in fact going to Seattle. The same in Pierce County. That will hopefully change in the future as Snohomish and Piece grow and build out more destinations, but it will be like that for the next twenty or thirty years at least. The Eastside is two-way because of all the large employers/shopping/attractions that have grown there since the 90s. That’s what the ideal future of Snohomish and Pierce would be like.

      Snohomish in particular has two large Link ridership patterns outside downtown Seattle, namely north Seattle and the airport. It might not be trainloads of people, but a handful of people per run add up over week. They’re going to jobs and shopping and events in Northgate, Roosevelt, and the U-District. They’re transferring to Ballard, Greenlake, Greenwood, and Sand Point. They’re taking visitors to the Locks and Greenlake and the UW campus. They’re excited about an hour-long Link ride to the airport, because that’s better than they’ve ever had on transit. Paine Field passenger flights are new, not many destinations, and it’s not as transit-accessible.

      I’ve attended or visited certain MMA and BJJ schools, yoga teachers, and churches over the years. Each one is unique, and you may prefer one for some reason. A superior chef may have only one restaurant somewhere. If it’s in Snohomish County, you have to go there or miss out. Likewise, MMA tournaments are almost all outside Seattle, in the suburbs or exurbs. Some are at Edmonds College, downtown Everett, Highline College, the Kent Showare Center, Emerald Queen Casino, a boxing school in the Spring District, and at the Arlington indoor soccer center. Of these, Edmonds College and Highline College will be easily accessible from Link.

      With 840,000 people in Snohomish County, even if only a small fraction go to restaurants and shopping in Snohomish County and another fraction goes to Seattle, that’s still a lot of people for both sets of businesses.

   3. Link’s purpose is general mobility in the region, like all subways/metros. It’s to tie the region together. Many constituents are mainly concerned about commuting to downtown Seattle or getting out of freeway congestion, so some politicians emphasize that aspect for them. But most politicians know it’s for more than just downtown Seattle; it’s to generally improve transit mobility. Otherwise it wouldn’t be running frequently till midnight in both directions.

   4. It’s annoying to me they didn’t put the bus transit center directly undef the station, or at least closer. They’re moving the thing closer to Link anyway, so why not at least make the transfers easier.

6. ST has now updated the schedules for extended 1 Line service on their web site!

   https://www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/1-line?route_tab=schedule&direction=1&at=1725433200000&view=table&stops_0=40_N23%2C40_S01&stops_1=40_S01%2C40_N23

   The last train reaching Lynnwood on weekdays leaves SeaTac at 11;59 pm and leaves Capitol Hill at 12:40 am. In Saturdays, the last train is 15 minutes later! ST won’t run a northbound train north of Stadium after that time.

   Conversely, the first weekday train from Lynnwood leaves at 5:02 am and gets to SeaTac at 6:10 am. (Those of us living in SE Seattle can get to SeaTac as early as 4:46 am on weekdays.) That first train from Lynnwood gets to Capitol Hill at 5:30 am — and the first train from Capitol Hill to SeaTac leaves earlier at 4:59 am (starting in Northgate) and gets to SeaTac at 5:43 am.

   I’m expecting that Snohomish to SeaTac travel will be more pronounced than even Seattle to SeaTac travel since the travel time should be more predictable than driving.

   1. So if you’re coming back from a late-night show or bar in Seattle, your choices will be the night owl E or 67, and then get picked up/taxi/walk from Aurora Village or Northgate.

      I’ve gone the other way from Edmonds College, since the last southbound Swift Blue leaves at 10:10pm and the 114 at 10:20, so I’d have to leave before the main event. Walking to Aurora Village took an hour if I remember, although I could have made it a little shorter by going on 76th to the TC instead of all the way down 99 to Aurora, and if there hadn’t been construction I had to go around.

      1. Unlike the morning, where trains start running from different stations at different times, the late night Link service northbound fully shuts down after that last train — which goes all the way to Lynnwood.

         Of course, much of central and northern Seattle does have various owl services that run when Link shuts down – including bus route extensions to meet Link trains at Stadium when trains stop there, much to the relief of delayed SeaTac arriving passengers.

         It doesn’t seem like Community Transit is onboard with the late night thing yet. At least Link’s last weeknight train arrives at 1:12 am in Lynnwood so Snohomish will get better late night access than they’ve had.

         The late night trip making will get really interesting when the full 2 Line opens. Bellevue has nightlife too. Plus, Stride scheduling is still a few years away.

      2. Hmm, both Aurora Village and Northgate have P&Rs, so you could stash a car there. You wouldn’t be getting the benefit of the Lynnwood extension though. Do P&R garages block cars from going in/out late night?

      3. Parkopedia says that lots at Northgate, Lynnwood City Center and Aurora Village never close. There is a maximum of 3-4 days that a car can remain at those lots though.

         I would probably feel safer riding Link and being Cinderella (leave a venue at midnight). But it’s good to have a backup plan.

      4. The 65 will run until 2am from the U-District to Shoreline North/148th station, which is further north than Northgate.

      5. Has Metro released new schedules for the restructured service yet?

   2. One of the drawbacks to Link is that Snohomish County will lose its early morning commuter service. Current arrivals in downtown are 0500a (not even Metro can beat that from within most of the city). With Link service, the earliest someone from Snohomish County can reach Seattle is one hour later.

      1. That is a significant reduction in service that I’m not sure anyone has publicly documented.

         Night Owl Link Shuttles, anyone?

      2. ST might have early-morning and late-night express bus runs, or could be persuaded to. I don’t think it’s ST intention to reduce the span of service. Metro’s 124 is extended to the airport when Link isn’t running.

   3. I’m expecting that Snohomish to SeaTac travel will be more pronounced than even Seattle to SeaTac travel since the travel time should be more predictable than driving.

      I doubt it, for several reasons:

      1) Very few people commute from Snohomish County to SeaTac.

      2) Similarly, those who fly a lot probably live closer to SeaTac, or they use Paine Field.

      3) From a traffic standpoint, there isn’t much difference between Seattle to SeaTac and North-of-Seattle to SeaTac. The people who drive and park at Northgate will just drive and part at a different spot. The people who take a cab (or get dropped off) will just keep doing that.

      4) Paine Field doesn’t have a lot of flights, but I’m sure it is disproportionately popular with folks from Snohomish County.

      Of course I expect to an increase, but my guess is it will be minor. In contrast, I expect a fairly big increase in SeaTac trips when Link gets to Federal Way. Not only will ST stop running buses to SeaTac, but for a lot of people (especially workers) it will be a lot more convenient.

      1. In the alternatives analysis open houses, Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace residents were excited about getting access to the airport. The further you are, the more you want to speed up a transit trip, and not take luggage on a transfer. So I can see particular celebration in Snohomish County that they can now take Link from their county to the airport.

         Of course, nobody has told them about the ST3 plans to introduce a 10-minute transfer walk.

         “Paine Field doesn’t have a lot of flights, but I’m sure it is disproportionately popular with folks from Snohomish County. ”

         It can’t be popular if it doesn’t flights to a lot of states and countries people want to go to. Here are the flights from Paine Field. All of them are San Francisco, Southern California, Arizona, Las Vegas, Anchorage, and Honolulu.

      2. SeaTac has over 50.8 million annual passengers in 2023. About 70 percent are not transferring according to the Port so that’s about 35.5 million.

         Paine Field is not expected to reach 700 K passengers a year.

         So Paine Field is generating 2 percent of SeaTac’s destination activity.

         Snohomish County is about 20 percent of the Metro area. So even if all Paine Field trips were going to Snohomish County, that’s 2/20 or 10 percent of fliers. The other 90 percent are using SeaTac.

      3. 3) Traffic may not be an issue, but it’s still 8.5 miles – that makes a big difference for someone who is taxi/ubers for the last mile. Even if you are having family/friend do the pickup, that’s 17 miles less driving for the pick-up.
         Also, the train is much faster north of downtown – the RV segment is so slow that if I’m already entering Seattle proper, unless it is rush hour I’d probably just stay on the freeway and pick up at the airport itself … but with the larger stop spacing & high speeds, the time penalty of taking Link end-to-end is proportionally smaller.

         Airports is the classic example of a destination that has a high number of unique travels but low(ish) number of daily travels. So it makes sense to me that the median Snohomish resident is excited about Lynnwood Link to get to/from the airport, even if the median resident only plans on doing that a few times a year. It’s very simillar to a Snohomish resident being excited about taking Link to a handful of pro sport games or a specific festival/convention they attend each year.

      4. The further you are, the more you want to speed up a transit trip

         Right, but my point is those folks are taking transit already. The dynamics don’t change. If you are not willing to take the train from Northgate you are probably not willing to ride the train from farther north. Traffic is similar. In the middle of the day it is faster to be in a car (driven by someone else). In the afternoon traffic builds up, but it builds up starting right at about Northgate. This is also the point where the HOV lanes end. Northgate Link made a huge difference for those heading to the airport — Lynnwood Link does not.

         “Paine Field doesn’t have a lot of flights, but I’m sure it is disproportionately popular with folks from Snohomish County. ”

         It can’t be popular if it doesn’t flights to a lot of states and countries people want to go to.

         The key word here is disproportionate. Again, consider two scenarios. You take a job that requires flying all over the country. Do you move to Snohomish County? No. Of course not. There is no reason to. You live in Seattle, Tacoma or somewhere in between (depending on your taste in housing).

         Second scenario: You take a job that requires you to go to San Fransisco every two weeks. Do you move to Snohomish County? Sure! You have a nice reverse commute trip to the airport. Not only is it really easy to get to Paine Field but it is really easy to fly out of there. Getting through security is much faster and getting to your gate is much faster.

         Airports is the classic example of a destination that has a high number of unique travels but low(ish) number of daily travels.

         Jarrett Walker talks about airports:

         Everyone wants to believe in transit to the airport, because they might ride it a few times a year.

         In other words, people mention it more than they use it. Of course it is a mix. But there are three main users:

         1) People who work there.
         2) People who travel frequently (for business).
         3) People who only occasionally travel (for business or pleasure).

         Very few people in the first two categories live in Snohomish County. Very few people in the third category actually take transit. My guess is the first two groups dominate SeaTac transit ridership.

         Just to back up here, ridership at SeaTac peaked right before they added Angle Lake Station. An average of 6,900 riders rode during Q2 of 2016. In Q2 of 2017 it was 5,900. Thus Link dropped about 1,000 riders (despite big increases overall). My guess is most of those riders were just passing through (e. g. heading from Rainier Valley to Highline College). In any event,
         in Q2 of last year we had an average of 5,000 riders at SeaTac. The numbers are fairly volatile (ridership goes way up in the summer) but it is quite similar to what it was before the pandemic. This means that despite the extension to Northgate — hell, despite the extension to the UW — ridership isn’t much different than when the train ran from Westlake to SeaTac.

         Of course I expect an increase in SeaTac ridership, just as I expect an increase across the board. But there is no reason to expect ridership at SeaTac to see a big increase. In contrast I expect a substantial increase in ridership downtown.

      5. The debate has changed. It’s no longer whether to build Link to the airport or Lynnwood because that ship has sailed. We don’t need to argue over whether Snohomishites will take Link to the airport because the issue is those who do. Even if one person goes the airport once or twice a year, in aggregate there’s a railcar full of people going every hour. That’s the “mass” in mass transit. Having good transit to the airport means those people aren’t taking more space in cars. That’s a dividend all day every day.

      6. To be clear, I don’t dispute that SeaTac travel won’t be a big destination for Snohomish travelers. I’m sure Downtown Seattle will be much bigger.

         My statement was simply that when Snohomish travelers do want to get to SeaTac, they will consider using Link possibly greater than even Seattle travelers do.

         For example, a Lyft ride from Seattle is expensive — but one from Lynnwood can be much, much more expensive. So Lyft becomes much more financially unattractive from Lynnwood compared to Seattle, particularly from Downtown southward.

         Plus, the added 8.5 miles of Link puts a Snohomish traveler much closer to their home. I’m sure some Snohomish travelers get dropped off at Northgate today but it’s still a journey — enough for some to just keep driving the next 21 miles to SeaTac for the drop off or pick up.

         Airports are actually kind of problematic for using Link. Many times flights leave too early in the morning or land too late at night. It can really be tough on employees who report to work or get off from work at unusual hours.

         One possible future action would be how to regulate multi-day parking at Lynnwood. I believe that a car can sit there for three days now. But it’s a huge garage — and I don’t see if filling up like Northgate especially since three stations on Lynnwood Link have 500 more parking spaces (1500 total). Only time will tell if and how overnight business travelers (flying through SeaTac) will use Link garages for overnight parking — and how ST will react.

7. I like to think about all the riders who on August 30th will still be unaware of the opening of the extension.

   They’ll suddenly be wondering who all the new people are that are sitting in “their” seats

8. I will be at the ceremony there at the 148th Street station nearest shoreline south. And what I hope to see there is that a lot of people would be there anyway. And I would love to become one of the first ones to ride the new Link light rail extension line from my home which is a block away all the way into downtown Seattle without having problems. But my question is this? How will that benefit me in case you know I have trouble crossing the street to get to the Link light rail station. Because I understand they’re putting a a new traffic signal there right at the corner of 5th avenue Northeast and 148th Street in shoreline. And I think that would be the answer I would like to see somebody explain to me. Because what I see is that when I do use that light to cross the street it will make it a lot easier for me to cross that street instead of crossing 145th Street which is super dangerous. And the reason why I say that question is that I’ve already been injured on July 10th of this year. And that’s something that needs to be corrected. But as of right now I would love to see the traffic like there at 148th Street and 5th avenue Northeast to be installed and have the lights put in before the opening of the station! So I hope to see everybody there at the opening.

   1. An awful lot of this safe crossing stuff just doesn’t seem very well thought out, anywhere. I have a terrible time getting from my house to the nearest MAX station due to people turning right at a traffic light and ignoring pedestrian traffic.

   2. I’m expecting people to hop out of cars are 5th Avenue NE to get into the station. There may even be some that do it on 145th.

      ST and Shoreline naively expect all the drop-off riders to hop out in the cul-de-sac — and the leave with the buses and pedestrian and exiting drivers from the garage all from this one approach to the intersection. While many will, I’m expecting to see more than a few that don’t.

      Then people will get hit. Then the solution of reducing speed limits will be implemented and it will have no effect.

      That’s how we do things in Seattle!

   3. I was amazed how many people attended the 2 Line Starter Line ceremony. I took the 550 from Seattle and expected only twelve people as usual on Saturday morning. But at every stop on 2nd it picked up thirty people, so it was packed to Bellevue, and the runs before and after it were the same, and to South Bellevue after the ceremony to get on at the terminus. The crowd at the ceremony was several hundred people. The trains ran every five minutes the first few hours and were all packed or almost packed. I took the train to Redmond Tech and back to Overlake Village, then went to visit my relative for a couple hours, and when I came back at 5pm to go home, ridership was down to a normal trickle and the festival booths were packing up. I assume the Lynnwood opening will be similar.

      At Northgate it wasn’t as easy to see the crowd because they were dispersed: most people were at the latter half of the speeches, some were exploring the pedestrian bridge, a normal number were on the platform, and a normal number on the train. But in Bellevue the crowd was more concentrated so it was easier to see the full size, and Lynnwood I expect will be similar.

      However, that wasn’t even the full size in Bellevue. Unbeknownst to me, a few trainloads had skipped the speeches and gathered at South Bellevue for the first full run from the terminus. They said they had to wait multiple trains to get on. By the time I got there after the speeches, that crowd had already left so I was able to get on a train without much waiting. In Lynnwood the speeches and terminus will be in the same place, so that should concentrate the crowd into one place.

   4. @Leonard — I’m not sure what all the city is going to do to make walking there safer. The big project is the pedestrian bridge: https://www.shorelinewa.gov/government/projects-initiatives/148th-street-pedestrian-bicycle-bridge. But I don’t see anything else when I do a search. You might ask your local (Shoreline) representative. They might have a good idea of how the area around there is going to change. For example, I think at some point they will want to discourage people from doing this: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ybb8Va8mBBnnudtF6 as a way to get to the station. The easiest thing to do is just block off 148th there. Those types of things tend to be very popular with people who live in the area as well as people who walk through there.

      1. https://www.shorelinewa.gov/our-city/145th-street-corridor/sr-523-n-ne-145th-street-i-5-interchange-project
         (click on the first image on the article and it will open up in a new tab for a high resolution map of the new design)

         WSDOT & Shoreline are currently rebuilding the two interchanges, converting them from signalized to roundabouts. Personally, I find roundabouts to be safer & more convenient for pedestrians, in particular when there is a midblock refuge that allows for pedestrians to only need to worry about 1 direction of traffic at a time. These two new roundabouts will have those refuges, and also all 6 crossing will have rapid flashing beacons, which allow for a pedestrian (or cyclist) to promptly obtain the right of way and should be faster than a beg button or waiting for a light cycle.

         Additionally, the city is adding/widening sidewalks, and the north side of the bridge will have a bike lane in addition to the sidewalk. The 5th street & I5 northbound-on-ramp intersection is also being upgraded to add a 5th Ave crosswalk (east/west) and improve/widen the on-ramp crosswalk (north/south).

         From the city website: “Improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists by separating them from vehicle traffic at well-marked and lighted crosswalks and reducing crossing distances.” So even if you aren’t keen on roundabouts, it should be a strong improvement.

      2. I think you are likely right about a possible “round the block” (6th northbound /148th westbound/ drop at corner /5th southbound) trip, Ross — for those people getting dropped off or picked up at the station. It actually would be safe than people hopping out of cars on 145th.

         Because the Link stations on MLK and the signals stay red for sometimes over a minute, people do hop out of cars to get to the station today. They also use neighborhood streets because there is no turn-around point at those three stations.

         The combination of roundabouts and great sidewalks on 145th with a path to the station is that the roundabouts can inadvertently be new de facto drop off and pick up points to the station. I don’t think it will happen often, but I could see people being dropped off on the 145th bridge above the freeway. It is a side effect of better pedestrian accessibility.

         The 148th bridge helps greatly by offering an alternative to doing this dangerous stunt when trips are being made west of I-5.

      3. The roundabout does look particularly safe for pedestrians. There are no crosswalk signals (only flashing beacons). These are better than nothing, but roundabouts can be quite dangerous for pedestrians. Drivers are focused on the cars. Worse yet, in this case the pedestrian has to cross two lanes (going the same direction). This makes it much tougher to manage.

         Consider this scenario: You get off the freeway, heading north towards Bothell. You’ve made this trip many times. You know the drill. You look to your left to see if anyone is in that outside lane of the roundabout. If not, you make the curve at about 25 and speed up to about 35 (the speed limit of 145th). So you look to your left, see a wide open roundabout, make the turn and … slam on your brakes because someone is crossing the street! Maybe you stop in time, maybe you don’t.

         Now it would be different if they had mid-block pedestrian crosswalks (with traffic signals and beg buttons). That works quite well. But Shoreline isn’t doing that. The message is clear: 145th is for cars. Not buses, not bikes or pedestrians — cars.

         The good news is that once the bridge over 148th is built pedestrians and bike riders can basically ignore 145th. It would be a detour for some, but walking along 145th is really unpleasant anyway. I would much rather cut through the (Paramount Open Space) park, even if it means some zigzagging (https://maps.app.goo.gl/tBcoFJkzu9c38qNKA). This again is an argument for making the crossing of 5th (at 148th) really safe, as Leonard suggested. Not only is it useful for folks from the east to get to Link, but it gives people a great alternative to the really ugly 145th.

      4. It is hard to say how people will drop off people at 148th. I see a couple scenarios:

         1) Someone on the way to work (at say Fremont) drops off someone at the station. In this case I could see someone dropping them off on 145th somewhere, just because that makes it really easy for the driver. Pickup would be trickier, and more like the following:

         2) Someone gets dropped off to go to the airport. I dropped off my wife at Northgate once and I drove right into the park-and-ride garage. It was super convenient for her and easy for me. No real pressure either (I could double park quite easily).

         I see 148th as being similar to Northgate (and quite a bit different than Rainier Valley). Northgate has a parking garage and designated pickup-dropoff area (where Uber/Lyft cars often hang out). I think 148th has the same. Depending on the time of day and traffic people will do different things, but it wouldn’t surprise me if lots of people get dropped off the way “they are supposed to”.

9. Now if only there was express service to/from the ferry at Mukilteo. The 113 bus takes an hour for a 15 minute drive.

   1. The 117 will be straighter so at least somewhat faster.

   2. Better frequency would be nice too. The 45 minute wait between the ferry that matches Island Transit 1 and the 113 is annoying.

   3. Yeah, the 117 should be significantly faster, and it will be timed with the ferry. https://www.communitytransit.org/transitchanges (you have to scroll down a bit to see the 117 schedule). I think it is one of the better aspects of the restructure.

      1. I’m very excited about the 117. If it preforms well, that data may help Snohomish leadership be willing to pivot away from Sounder North and invest that O&M into better bus service. I could see the 117 become an STX route in perpetuity (freeing up CT to spend hours elsewhere) as a replacement for Sounder North service.

      2. ST seems wedded to the Sounder North idea despite the low ridership and improving nature of the alternatives. ST doesn’t release station data for Sounder anymore, but before the pandemic Mukilteo had about 20% of the Southbound ridership (with the riders about evenly split between Everett and Edmonds). That works out to about 70 people a day from Mukilteo.

         Sounder ridership might take a hit, but not a big one. The main thing I see is new riders (who used to drive) taking transit. I don’t think that will get ST to change their plans anytime soon though. Agencies aren’t excited to admit they made a mistake.

         The Edmonds Ferry situation is a lot messier. A lot of this is the ferries. Mukilteo is lucky — there is a ferry every half hour. In contrast the ferry to Edmonds is far less frequent (and regular). This is really unfortunate, as Edmonds itself has way more people (and density) than Mukilteo. The 117 will pick up people along the way (for sure) but nothing like Edmonds (which is also considerably closer to Seattle). If WSDOT could somehow get the ferries to run every half hour (even as a pedestrian-only car-ferry mix) it would be a huge improvement. You could then run a bus to Edmonds every half hour, which would be a huge improvement.

10. I understand the reasoning behind delaying the bus restructure, but delay of that Swift Blue Line extension sure seems unfortunate. It’s such a key piece for southern CT it’s almost part of Link.

11. Why do we need an Orca card? No one does cards any more. When will we be able to use the App on our iPhone to pay for a ride?

Comments are closed.