On Wednesday, Sound Transit invited members of the media for a preview ride of the Lynnwood Link extension. The extension officially opens on Friday, when Lynnwood will officially inherit the mantle of Link’s northern terminus from Northgate. The completion of Lynnwood Link represents a major milestone in ST2 expansion. The other points of ST2 expansion, namely Federal Way and the 2 Line connection across I-90, will have to wait until next year or potentially 2026 to open.
A full album of the preview ride can be viewed here.
The tour commenced at the line’s northern terminus, Lynnwood City Center station, which sits next to the existing Lynnwood Transit Center. Prior to the ride, both King County Executive Dow Constantine and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers gave remarks on the extension. Constantine, in particular, highlighted the sheer amount of housing that has been built or will be built: some 10,000 units within the new station areas. According to Constantine, 3,300 units are on Sound Transit property alone, of which 2,500 are considered affordable.
At Lynnwood City Center, there is still a substantial amount of construction taking place outside the station but a direct walkway from the station plaza to the main intersection at 44th Ave W and 200th St SW is a welcome pedestrian link. But as the Urbanist’s Ryan Packer pointed out, TOD and good pedestrian connectivity can be outweighed by lengthy crossing signals.
New housing developments to the north and east of the station have sprouted up, but the land use in the immediate station area is still predominantly auto-oriented: large surface parking lots and strip malls. Despite being the most commercial setting of the four Lynnwood Link stations, the station area also has the most underwhelming amount of TOD planned in the near future.
Mountlake Terrace station connects with the existing transit center and freeway station. A substantial amount of multi-family housing has cropped up south of the station although the surrounding area remains largely single-family residential. Most of Lynnwood Link is freeway-running; however, the stations are still largely set out of the I-5 right-of-way, which helps protect against some of the adverse effects that are more apparent with freeway median stations in other light rail systems.
Shoreline North/185th station may be my personal favorite. The station bears a stark orange color palette that blends well against a backdrop of other blue and green elements. The aesthetic also fits a large nearby multifamily complex, which has sprung up just north of the station. Like its other companions, the station is accompanied by a large park-and-ride, but easy access to NE 185th and destinations west of I-5 is a plus for pedestrian connectivity.
Shoreline South/148th is the southernmost of the Lynnwood Link stations, until the infill station at 130th is built. There is the least visible amount of new housing development here, although some 3,000 units are planned in the station area. Indeed, the most prominent feature from the station platform is the bus loop and parking garage.
Tomorrow we’ll have a summary of all the day-of events and festivities. And in less than two days, members of the public will get to join in on the fun with plenty of opportunities for readers to chime in on their own experiences.
I think that Skycastle bought the plans for one of the BNSF line stations from Metra to use at Shoreline North; they look exactly the same.
“ Shoreline North/185th station may be my personal favorite”
“The aesthetic also fits a large nearby multifamily complex, which has sprung up just north of the station.”
Ya, the NSS might be the sleeper station on this whole extension, and the Urbanist sure seems to think so.
That multi family building you mention is 240 units and is immediately adjacent to the Link station. Residents won’t even need to cross a single street to access Link. Just walk out of the building and into the station. I can’t think of anywhere else in the system where such tight integration exists between housing and transit.
And there are another 1250 units going in just across 8th Ave NE from the station. Those new units will also have easy access to Link since 8th is just a residential street and you can walk across it at will. No waiting for signals or multiple lanes of traffic at all.
There is also a new apartment building going in a little further away on 15th proper that the Times didn’t mention, and several other major projects that are on hold until interest rates improve. And a lot going on outside the multi family zones with townhouses too.
Of course it is still crickets down at 130th. Oh well.
There is a private housing complex on the same block as Beacon Hill Station to the south.
But the walk across the informal woonerf north of the station is even shorter for the residents of Plaza Roberto Maestas, which is non-profit income-limited housing. The City May as well leave the blockers up and let that block be the cement plaza that residents treat it as.
That contrasts to the relatively new single-story library branch a block south that was built with no housing above it.
Across Beacon Ave S is a Red Apple for which the owners will eventually make a fortune once the anti-new-housing lobby gets out of the way of upzones.
Let’s watch how long it takes the Shoreline School District to redevelop the old Shoreline High School site (my school), now the Shoreline Center; it houses some school district functions and the senior center. There is plenty of ROW for all those functions and thousands of housing units. Redevelopment could be a financial boon for the district. With the added housing, there may be more students.
In the original ST2 plans, the station parking garage was to be west of 5th Avenue NE and shared with Shoreline stadium, an ideal diurnal sharing. But the MT, NS, and SS stations had be reconsidered with fiscal constraints. The north station lost the pedestrian improvements on the I-5 overcrossing; the city may be picking up some of that cost; they are pretty enlightened. The south station had to be enlarged and shifted a bit north to accommodate the ST2 Stride line and avoid the northbound on ramp.
I think Roosevelt station would also fit that description, but point still taken. From visiting today, Shoreline North was definitely my favorite station.
I’m quite excited to check out the extension.
Like the 2 Line Starter Line seems to have done, I think there will be quite a few new riders who have avoided the commuter buses but are interested in taking “real transit” to work in Seattle. I have at least one coworker who currently drives into our Downtown office who started “training” for a new commute involving a two-mile bike ride to the Lynnwood City Center station and taking the train to the office, in order to save on gas and parking.
Sounds like your coworker currently drives.
The bike-Link combo should be pretty easy, but couldn’t your coworker have been doing the bike-bus thing all along? Or aren’t the CT buses convenient for bikes?
Or is it a 2-seat ride with a bike thing? That would be a pain.
And we are excited to check out the extension too. Should be awesome.
Yes – like I said, he currently drives. I didn’t want to interrogate him on why he hasn’t tried taking a commuter bus, especially since they’re about to be diverted for local service so the point is moot.
@Nathan Dickey,
“Rail bias” is not an irrational thing. It is often based on real world considerations like speed and comfort.
And again, I’m not sure how CT handles bikes on the 400 series.
And having those resources redeployed to local service connecting to Link is a good thing.
Lazarus, I agree that “rail bias” exists. But I be think there are very obvious user experience reasons that explain lots of it (compared to standing along a stroad waiting for a bus).
1. Better lighting
2. More perceived security at a station, especially with paid fare areas and security personnel and monitoring cams
3. Better sheltering from the weather — all kinds of weather
4. Guaranteed train frequency all day
5. Usually good places to drop off and wait to pick up someone (bus or private car)
6. Smoother ride (lack of jerky vehicle motions and related motion sickness)
7. Usually quieter since nearby private cars are further away or buffered for sound
8. Rider focused announcements, especially with potential service disruptions
9. More extensive wayfinding
10. More reliable schedule adherence
The biggest negative to rail is seemingly the effort required to use the station. Deep stations that require a long time to reach the platform, lack of working escalators and lack of general cleanliness and monitoring and maybe being forced to stand are examples of things that could discourage rail use.
Choosing to ride a certain mode of transit is so much more than having a vehicle scheduled. It has lots of contributing factors.
“Rail bias” is not an irrational thing. It is often based on real world considerations like speed and comfort.
Sort of. The term “rail bias” is used to describe when people prefer rail even though a bus is just as fast, frequent or comfortable (although that is tougher to measure).
In contrast, people switching to rail because it provides a faster ride is a completely different thing. A lot of trips are much faster (or more frequent) on Link . People preferring the faster (or more frequent) option is understandable (and would happen if a bus managed to do the same thing).
If buses and trains attract good loads, bikes on board are in the way. In Europe, in is common for transit to have large bike corrals at stations. Here, I expect there is an apprehension of bike theft; I have not noticed much bike storage is use here. I bike often; I have only put my bike on the bus with a flat. At one time, ST added bike cages at OTC (now RTS) and BTC; I heard there was an issue with the gates. Individual lockers have a deep narrow subsidy.
If buses and trains attract good loads, bikes on board are in the way.
Yes, which is why it is common for agencies to ban them entirely or during rush hour.
I have not noticed much bike storage is use here.
Yes, it is a major problem. There are only a handful of bike lockers, and they charge for it. In contrast car parking is free (at most places). It is backwards. For example at the UW Station — the mother of all Link/bike stations — there are 32 individual lockers. If I’m lucky enough to get a locker, it costs a nickel an hour. That isn’t much, but it adds up, especially if you wanted to stash a bike there during the week (to commute to Fremont or some other workplace on the Burke Gilman). Of course this is what bike share is good for, but again, our bike share system is extremely expensive as well. But if I want to drive and park at Northgate there are somewhere around a thousand parking spots and it doesn’t cost me a dime (or even a nickel).
There should be a large bike cage at the UW and they should charge a reasonable monthly fee (e. g. ten bucks a month). Riders would then be able to lock their bikes inside (along with the fence). The bike is as secure as your lock (and how you locked it) but the fence (and cameras) add additional security as well.
I think the few bike storage facilities on the eastside run by ST are more than five cents /hour. But I agree with Ross the problem is there is just too little storage for bikes that is secured and out of the weather.
A good example is Mercer Island. At least pre-pandemic the few secured bike lockers were at the park and ride and were very coveted but they were reserved and had a two-year waiting list at with a modest annual fee. Everyone thought ST would either build more lockers at the park and ride or near the stations, but instead they built maybe ten lockers along 77th that are still exposed to the weather and cost money per use. This is just crazy when the Puget Sound Regional Council and Dept. of Commerce are demanding cities provide for bike and pedestrian access to high capacity transit in their updated comprehensive plans. People just are not going to leave an expensive bike locked to an outside bike rack just an escalator away from a train for a thief.
Sound Transit’s position was the city could build secured covered bike storage if it wanted with its mitigation funds from the settlement. The city had plans to do that with a mixed-use development along 80th plus 100 underground commuter stalls but the citizens objected to the scale of the project and use of adjacent park land, and when the demand for commuter parking declined the project was scrapped. So now there is almost no secured parking – let alone out of the weather – in a very flat town center when the city is planning on building dedicated bike lanes to the station and this station is prime for bike access. I don’t get it.
Which is why everyone I know takes their bike onto the train which means you have to lug it around when you get off the train. In Seattle you are too worried your bike will get stolen if you leave it locked up for ten seconds while you go inside a store, and on the Eastside dedicated bike paths (as opposed to recreational mixed-use trails) are not great and mixed in with traffic with motorists who hate bikes and are very aggressive.
So most just drive to the park and rides that have plenty of space for cars but not bikes.
Andrew Villeneuve at the Northwest Progressive Institute posted his perspective of the preview ride:
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2024/08/what-its-like-to-ride-lynnwood-link-the-latest-addition-to-sound-transits-growing-light-rail-system.html
One thing he highlights is the view over I-5 along the all-elevated route. Although the freeway is free-flowing much of the time, for the hours a day the freeway is congested, seeing a train zip by at 55 mph might be the best advertisement for public transit. Similarly, passing by a congested freeway while sitting (or standing, as the case may end up being for many) is also a wonderful feeling that I’ve rarely had on the southern sections of Link between Rainier Valley and SeaTac.
After the VIP ride, the experience of traveling on a fast, “silky smooth” train while casually gazing down at the congestion on I-5 was described to me as “surreal”.
You would normally expect Friday to have slightly less congestion than on Tue-Thu, given WFH and all. But given that this is the start of a 3 day weekend, I suspect the adjacent congestion to be prodigious.
Should be an interesting experience.
Housing isn’t the only land use to focus on when it comes to TOD. A station needs a decent amount of supporting commercial (not only retail but also food/ restaurants and basic financial services) at the very least, and ideally would have some land uses that are important non-residential destinations. Otherwise all those residents have to leave the vicinity just to buy routine things.
Certainly it’s not possible at every station, often due to opposition from surrounding residents. But the ideal station area should always be lots more than housing.
It always surprises me that there isn’t a pitch to colocate more public community facilities next to new stations. Libraries, post offices, community meeting rooms, recreation centers, police precincts and neighborhood health services are things that could be considered. Beyond that, a public push to encourage museums, performance spaces and offices that get higher visitor use seem very strategic.
And in my mind an ideal TOD should have at least one significant destination function.
A good model is nearby Northgate. Not only is the area getting dense housing, but the objective is to connect to a community college, a regional sports facility, a continuation of retail and restaurants that serve a wide district, medical offices, movie theaters and hotels. The mall site could have been leveled for just a new giant residential district — but that’s not happening and that’s a better thing.
I get that the next station on this line will be in the middle of the Alderwood District — but it sure would be nice to have stronger reasons to routinely travel to each of these new Lynnwood Link stations as a non-resident of the area. The locations have been sited with things nearby but those things weren’t put there because of the station.
It contrasts greatly with recently opened East Link stations (and soon-to-open the Downtown Redmond extension stations), where the station areas vary considerably in land use mix — and over half have or soon will have significant non-residential destinations within walking distance in addition to high density residential uses. There’s a reason to use 2 Line on the Eastside for things besides commuting. Even Mercer Island has some things nearby.
That’s what I’ll be looking for: enough retail to meet residents’ everyday needs. A couple specialty restaurants or an insurance office doesn’t cut it. From what I see so far, none of the stations are there yet.
@Mike Orr,
The stations aren’t even open yet. Give it time. Things will fill in.
And ultimately this region probably needs affordable housing more than another music venue or art gallery.
But tomorrow is a huge step forward. Progress. Progress!
@ Lazarus:
“Give it time. Things will fill in.”
The problem with that is that the TOD buildings are getting designed or even built now. If a building has all apartments and little to no retail, giving it time won’t add lots of retail in 5-10 years.
I don’t expect to find things this weekend. But my comment is more relevant to what development is already underway.
I think Montlake Terrace and Lynnwood City Center will evolve to be decent destinations. I’m not sure how the Shoreline Stations will evolve though.
I know it will take time. The issue is EVERYDAY needs. A real grocery store with more than highly-processed pseudo-foods, a drugstore, a gym, a post office, a library, a medical clinic, etc — things people do once or more a week so they don’t have to leave the neighborhood for them. That’s what you need for a real “15-minute city”. Going to a music show or art gallery is a less common thing so it can be several miles away, as long as there’s transit to it.
The alternative is only dense housing, like the Ash Way P&R. There’s a cluster of apartment buildings at the station, and a cluster of house developments west of that. The only retail at the station is a Viennese cafe and a few things like that. So you have to take a bus to Mill Creek or central Lynnwood for everything. Delridge is somewhat like that too.
So ideally we’d plant and retrofit “15-minute cities” everywhere and build the retail in as the housing grows. If the retail follows somewhat, that’s OK but not ideal, as long as it doesn’t stagnate long term.
As I said up above, 185th seems like it has the most potential long term. But as The Urbanist wrote, development is complicated. Much of the land is owned by the school. That suggests it has a lot of potential, but they may very well just sit on the land. The stadium doesn’t get used very often and it isn’t likely to go replaced soon. In the neighborhoods I guess there are covenants limiting development. Eventually I could see it being developed and being an interesting place, but I think it will take a while.
I don’t think 148th will ever be a destination. It will be a place people go through, not to. The bike bridge will be great (especially for people biking). But unlike the Northgate pedestrian/bike bridge, there aren’t destinations nearby on either side.
Some complete neighborhoods that have emerged are Northgate and the West Seattle Junction. So we’re looking for something like that.
I visited Mountlake Terrace on Sunday and was going to publish an article about it by now but illness delayed it. There’s one apartment building near the station. The next two are a 15-minute walk away (one is where the Urbanist meetup will be). There are a handful of restaurants on 236th and 56th, and apparently there was a supermarket but not now. I don’t know if there’s a supermarket somewhere nearby or will be soon, but that’s one thing I’d be looking for.
The descriptions of Shoreline North and Shoreline South as the retail clusters a half mile or more away sound less than ideal.
The Shoreline and Lynnwood libraries are also not particularly close to the stations, and they probably won’t be moved or new ones added, so that’s a missed opportunity. Still, a library within a half-mile of a frequent transit stop is better than nothing, and better than the one in the Admiral District which is a some 45-minute walk from the Junction.
Isn’t “the school” at 185th a community center with a lot of small organizations and city offices like Magnuson Park? It was when I went there for a Link open house. So that’s more than just a school. Still, it’s not a complete neighborhood, and I gather all of it is across the freeway from the station.
It’s one of the problems with building Link along I-5: all the stuff people actually go to is on highway 99.
It’ll come along eventually, but it’ll be slow.
It’s been 15 years almost to the day since TriMets green line opened, and we’re just now starting to see stuff get built near one or two of the 7 stations. If anything interesting gets built, it happens on 82nd Avenue, half a mile west. The exception is Lents/Foster Road, but that used to be the Lents city center, before Portland came this Far East and annexed it. At the time of annexation in 1912, Lents had a population around 10,000 and had both a streetcar line and an interurban line.
So, when MAX arrived in 2009, there was a long established place at that station that didn’t need “placemaking” but did finally get some new buildings after MAX.
Even here, however, the grocery stores, banks, etc all moved to 82nd Avenue – the equivalent of Aurora along Lynnwood Link.
The mall site could have been leveled for just a new giant residential district — but that’s not happening and that’s a better thing.
Hmmm, I’m not so sure. It is worth noting that the residential district has most of what you are talking about (restaurants, movie theaters, medical offices, motels, nice walking paths along the creek, etc.). The community college is on the other side of the street which basically just leaves the Kraken facility, which I could easily see happening without it being owned by Simon. I’m not saying that Simon is doing a bad job, but I think it could have happened without them. The key in my opinion is what they do with Third. If it becomes a tangle of streets geared towards getting drivers to and from the various parking lots then it doesn’t really work for the neighborhood. If it becomes a quiet alternative for those trying to walk or bike to the station then it does. I think if the city had more control it is quite likely it would be better.
I get that the next station on this line will be in the middle of the Alderwood District — but it sure would be nice to have stronger reasons to routinely travel to each of these new Lynnwood Link stations as a non-resident of the area.
Yes, and that goes back to what folks have been saying about choosing I-5 instead of SR-99. Northgate and Roosevelt are kind of weird in that respect. Roosevelt is an urban neighborhood, with enough retail to meet residents’ everyday needs (as Mike put it). As far as a destination though it has the high school and it is close to Green Lake (a regional destination which is also close to the freeway). Likewise, Northgate has all the things you mentioned, but the fact that the college is so close to the station is the key. I don’t see that with any of the Lynnwood Link stations, although I could potentially see that for Mountlake Terrace. The center of the city is right there — that is where the main library and city hall is. It just hasn’t developed around it. I would consider Northgate a pretty low bar to clear when it comes to this sort of thing and it sounds like none of the stations manage to clear it.
This is not surprising to me. When Northgate Link was going in, my wife mentioned that she was excited to visit Capitol Hill on the train. Of course we both also visit the UW. Link is actually less convenient for trips to Roosevelt, but if we lived closer to Northgate it would be an improvement. We are going to have to get used to always taking Link even though the 73 was faster. Either way though,
In contrast, she said she doesn’t see herself using the stations to the north, even though she sometimes goes to Shoreline. That’s because the places she visits in Shoreline are on Aurora, and this doesn’t really help. We both like visiting Everett (we will probably do the Sounder/512/Link loop someday) but Everett is a long ways away. That wouldn’t be a common thing.
I think the restructure along with Link is the key to this. It could have happened without the Link extension — probably for less money — but it is happening. I have a friend who lives in Whidbey Island and getting back and forth from there will be a lot easier. I only wish it was easier to get to Downtown Edmonds as I see it being one of the few significant destinations between Northgate and Everett. I feel like many neighborhoods in Snohomish County will see a huge transit improvement because of Link and the CT restructure — Downtown Edmonds isn’t one of them. It is too bad, too, because it would be relatively easy.
“I get that the next station on this line will be in the middle of the Alderwood District — but it sure would be nice to have stronger reasons to routinely travel to each of these new Lynnwood Link stations as a non-resident of the area.”
So we’re pursuing two opposite ideals simultaneously. One is complete neighborhood retail for the residents (“15-minute city”). The other is regional draws that bring people from outside to the station. These only marginally overlap. A produce shop or Whole Foods at one station is probably the same as a produce shop or Whole Foods at another station. But a yoga teacher or Japanese restaurant may be sufficiently superior to draw a niche of people from other areas, and they might even leapfrog over other yoga studios or Japanese restaurants to get to it. Another thing non-drivers look for is which location is CLOSEST to a frequent transit stop. So they may leapfrog over other produce shops or Whole Foods or Macy’s to get to the one with the best transit access.
The #1 issue is complete retail/services for residents. #2 is that most stations would have something to attract non-residents. That’s harder for cities to engineer, since it depends on how the superior business owners distribute themselves, and how much they choose locations close to frequent transit stops. The best yoga teacher may choose Roosevelt instead of Shoreline, or a location far from a station.
“So we’re pursuing two opposite ideals simultaneously.”
I see them more as additive rather than opposite.
Even if a station has a big regional draw, it’s daytime population will still seek walkable services like a place for lunch or coffee, or a place to buy supplies of different types. Every station area in my mind should have a planned minimum of 40-50K square feet just for that if not more, usually as ground floor retail. Urgent care clinics, dentist offices, gyms and pharmacies are all great examples too.
Then the bigger question becomes what else. It could be almost anything from a gathering plaza with sculpture or a fountain or maybe a big wall for outdoor movies to a cooking school to a magnet high school for performing with a venue attached to relocated county offuces of something like courts or Dept of Elections or Juvenile hall.
The designer in me kind of wishes that station areas had branded architecture too. A European-themed design (German? French? Mediterranean?) or a new Art Deco neighborhood or a mountain lodge / craftsman inspiration or a new Japantown are examples of very unique districts worthy of visiting from a wide area. So many of our new buildings are unfortunately bland boxes — and architects are lazily adding bright colored panels or murals as the main way to improve their blandness.
The possibilities are great! It is just a matter of local motivation. But the motivation should already be happening beyond higher residential height limits and I don’t see much.
[Fixed]
I’m with Al on this one. I think local draws are quite often regional draws. Of course there are exceptions. A chain store isn’t likely to draw anyone from outside the region. But even then it could still work for getting together — you decide to meet at the Chili’s right by the station to watch the big game. You probably only do it if someone lives in the area, but everyone else is cool with it since it is so convenient.
But places that aren’t chains can easily go from being a local favorite to a regional one. There are a lot of great shops that open in seemingly random places. Looking at the stations along Lynnwood Link, I think the biggest challenge is just having an adequate number of shops. It isn’t that the Olive Garden’s of the world dominate, it is that everything is so far away from the station. There are quite a few interesting looking places in Lynnwood for example, but they are a long walk and are fairly spread out. This is the product of car-based suburbia. It is just assumed that you drive to the place, not walk. You need lots of room to park, which means that the restaurants get farther apart.
I am curious WHO the elevator maker who got the contract bid on ST stations.
As a mobility-impaired rider, by necessity I subscribe to outages at all stations, and the continuous amount of outages is mind-blowing.
Other riders depend on working elevators as well: people with strollers, bikes, and also luggage.
Additionally, seen with a visitors eye, the elevator Signage is not helpful at all.
Almost every time I have been at Northgate I have found myself assisting some befuddled first-time rider or visitor.
Thanks for describing your situation.
In my mind, there should be two elevators at every station in case one goes out of service. It may seem expensive but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to many of the other choices that ST makes.
And for the many people who have trouble with stairs but can use an escalator, there should be more escalators too. When there is no escalator, the elevators get used lots more and are thus prone to more frequent mechanical failure.
Actually the elevators maintenance contractor isn’t that cheap, sound transit staff did bring it up that with the increased elevated/underground stations a lot more maintenance cost will be going towards “vertical transport”
They also close elevators after someone urinates in one, until it can be cleaned. I believe that’s the most common reason they are out of service.
That used to happen at Northgate a lot, but it has gotten a bit better recently.