In just a few days, the first Link train with passengers will travel to Kent and Federal Way. Since the first official discussions of building light rail to Federal Way over 15 years ago, the Seattle Transit Blog has followed its progress. Take a trip down memory lane as we look back at the discussions, designs, and construction that have led to the celebration this Saturday.
In November 2007, the Roads and Transit ballot measure was rejected by voters. The “roads” part of the ballot measure would have invested in state highways, bridges, and local roads in an attempt to fix key chokepoints. The “transit” part of the package would have extended Link north to 164th St/Ash Way, south to Tacoma Dome, and east to Overlake/Microsoft in Redmond. The plan would have also funded additional ST Express service, the First Hill Streetcar, and planning studies for potential transit extensions.
After the ballot measure failed, Sound Transit went back to the drawing board for ST2. In April 2008, the Federal Way City Council voted to support light rail through Federal Way to Tacoma. However, Sound Transit had a different plan. In July, Erica C. Barnett (then at The Stranger), shared a breakdown of the revised ST2 plan. This plan included:
- Link expansion north to Lynnwood (from UW), south to Star Lake (from Sea-Tac), and east to Redmond Technology
- Expanded ST Express service
- Improved Sounder service between Lakewood and Seattle and to use 8-car trains
This plan was sent to voters in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties in November 2008. This time, voters approved ST2 (Prop 1). These projects were bold expansions for a light rail system that was not yet open to the public.
Two years after ST2 passed, Sound Transit announced that the 2008 Great Recession caused a 25% drop in expected revenue. This caused the agency to delay some projects and reconsider others. South King County’s 31% drop in expected revenue put the Link extension to Federal Way in jeopardy. In December 2010, extensions past Angle Lake were put on pause. Unsurprisingly, Federal Way was not pleased with this outcome and the City Council passed a resolution to urge Sound Transit to build Link all the way to Federal Way.
While construction was paused on the Federal Way Link Extension in the early 2010s, the planning continued. Sound Transit explored four alternatives for the route between Angle Lake station and Federal Way Transit Center. Link would either follow SR-99, I-5, or combination of the two. Ultimately, Sound Transit chose the I-5 alignment. The Seattle Transit Blog did not agree with this decision.
The ST3 ballot measure was passed by voters in 2016. ST3 provided funding for the extension between Kent Des Moines and Federal Way Downtown. In 2017, the Sound Transit Board officially adopted the alignment and stations along the extension. This moved FWLE to the design stage and Sound Transit shared the initial concepts for each station.
Construction of FWLE officially began in July 2020 with service planned to start in 2024. Construction continued fairly smoothly until 2022, when a mud-slide caused Sound Transit to re-evaluate a segment of the route near the McSorely Wetland. After some investigation, Sound Transit decided to build a 500 ft cantilever bridge over the impacted area. This change pushed the FWLE opening back to 2026.
Earlier this year, Sound Transit announced FWLE would open earlier than planned. For the past few months, 1 Line trains have operated between Angle Lake and Federal Way Downtown, without passengers. Testing has continued to run smoothly and Sound Transit will welcome the first passengers on the new segment this Saturday.
ROFL that Roads & Transit wouldn’t have had the same delays and cost overruns and questionable technical decisions that Link has been having now. So it might have authorized Ash Way and Tacoma Dome in one big initial step, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the implementation would have been smoother. It might be less smooth, since ST would be doing all of it without the experience of smaller previous phases.
Wasn’t the construction done as a unique, design-build contract? Did that contract have a financial bonus for the design-build team if they completed early (taking into account the extra time needed for the design change that required a different bridge due to failing soils)?
I was thinking this was worthy mentioning here.
Yes, Kiewit won the D-B competition over Fluer. Parsons Transportation is the lead designer. The procurement method led to expeditious discovery and resolution of the soils issues along I-5. While it is a cost overrun and schedule hit, it was dealt with relatively quickly and efficiently. A side note, at 4.5 years, FWLE remains the record-holder for ST in terms of fastest time to complete an EIS and start construction, with AA starting in 2012 and the ROD coming in early 2017.
Why isn’t Kiewit listed as on-board/supporting partner?
What are the role of South County Transit Partners (Mott-Macdonald and AtkinsRealis JV)? Are they doing client-side construction management & project management?
What exactly was the “roads” part of Roads and Transit, and how much of it is happening anyway, via legislative action, without a public vote?
I have a vague recollection that the 405 widening currently in progress was a big part of the “roads” portion of 2007 Roads and Transit measure.
It’s the green lines in the map. See our old friend the 509 extension, the cross-base highway, 405/518 upgrade, 167, etc.
They’re now happening piecemeal, individual projects approved at different times as gas-tax money comes in and the legislature approves other project-specific taxes.
It’s worth noting the ST2 Plan in 2008 specifically included funding and authority to complete preliminary engineering and environmental review for the entire corridor between Angle Lake and Tacoma Dome. This was not a happy accident, it was purposely planned to assume ST3 would come along later. Same goes for the Downtown Redmond extension, which is why these two segments were able to move relatively quickly into design and construction after the ST3 Plan passed.
Is this an open thread?
No. Use Sunday’s.
Ok, thanks Mike.
The timing of the stations is interesting.
After ST2: Highline College in 2020, Star Lake in 2023
After the Great Recession: Both stations paused indefinitely
After ST3: Those two stations and Federal Way Station by 2024
After the mudslide: All three stations by 2026
After recent work: Completed by 2025
So basically it took five years and a second measure to get the station at Highline College. It took two years and a second measure to get the station to Star Lake. I think this is important as we face potential delays and cutbacks.
[NOTE: Earlier information was incorrect. I confused Star Lake with Federal Way.]
Well, it took about 5 years to complete construction, the same as Lynnwood Link. Also I thought the station at Federal Way was part of the ST2 plan.
I thought the station at Federal Way was part of the ST2 plan.
Apparently it wasn’t. (See Mike’s post below). The article by Erica Barnett confused me because she doesn’t refer to Star Lake Station by name (it is the one at 272nd).
I hadn’t heard of a 2020 Highline phase. And 2023 was only to Star Lake.
South King is the poorest subarea. To dispel a misconception, THE ST2 LINK PROJECT ENDED AT STAR LAKE. South King couldn’t afford Federal Way station in ST2 within the subarea’s proportional budget. The 2008 recession hit South King the hardest. Maybe it’s more dependent on sales tax revenue if its property tax revenue is low. The postponement of KDM and Star Lake was due to the recession. In the recovery KDM became a hope again. In ST3 voters changed the start date from 2023 to 2024, so that was a public decision. I’m not sure how to weigh the mudslide issue.
Federal Way’s rapid construction is because it’s such a simple and inexpensive project, there was little that could go wrong. It’s relatively straight, in public right of way, no tunnels, and it’s not going through neighborhoods with houses and utilities. So it’s not surprising it could be built so quickly and open early.
I hadn’t heard of a 2020 Highline phase. And 2023 was only to Star Lake.
Correct. I misread the article. I figured 272nd was Federal Way Station — it isn’t (that is Star Lake). So it really only Highline and Star Lake that are late.
4 days to opening and st is still sending out construction closure emails for fwle. Does not bode well. I’d hope construction was complete by now but I guess not.
Northgate station’s finishing touches didn’t finish until after opening day.
Yeah, there is no reason to wait once the station is functional.
Northgate Station is oversized, it has a weird layout, like why two entrances with two escalators, one of them linking to a garage, weird and unusual looking restrooms inside and out, a bridge connecting the station, a large mezzanine, a parking garage next to another, two bus stations next to each other with both of them being too big with too many bays and stuff, and to top it all off you need to take multiple elevators just to get to the platform, though Lynnwood Link’s stations weren’t too oversized, I’m guessing they stopped making very large stations due to costs. I also see ST is simplifying Federal Way’s bus hub, I can also see the old 320th park and ride shutting down, and one more thing about Northgate is that a new parking garage was not necessary because there’s too much parking spaces in the area. Also a new bus station was not necessary either.
I would be really unhappy if they had to delay opening the line while they finished planting flowers around the parking lot.
I agree, Delta. What we want is the train service, not decorations.
“one more thing about Northgate is that a new parking garage was not necessary because there’s too much parking spaces in the area”
The mall owns part of the garage for customers. When ST demolished the old garage for construction, it was legally obligated to replace the mall’s share of parking spaces, because mall tenant contracts are based on them, so the businesses could sue the mall, and the mall would then sue ST.
ST intended to finish the station before opening of course, but there wasn’t enough time in the end. I didn’t see anything visible wrong or closed, so it must have been behind-the scenes or minor details.
Mike, there was never an “old garage”, the JCPenney (which Metro leased) was in fact the only garage there was in the mall along with an oversized lot, I just couldn’t justify that new garage because the mall was going down anyways, and plus that garage was just too big to fit a dead mall, so they seriously didn’t have to build a new garage, or a new bus plaza. I could also see in ST4, a bypass for Roosevelt, U District, UW, and Capitol Hill stations, I would rather see light rail go on the I-5 express lanes (like the 2 Line), because the express lanes are planned to go down anyways, and the express lanes end in Northgate, rather than a second tunnel we can also run lines in the BNSF tunnel (buying the tracks), and through I-5 (though I’ll have to draft myself to reconsider).
Mike is right. The neighborhood opposed any new parking (https://seattletransitblog.com/2012/06/05/northgate-strongly-opposes-garage-at-public-meeting/). But for complicated legal reasons, ST was obligated to build additional parking (https://seattletransitblog.com/2012/03/27/in-depth-on-northgate-parking-part-1/, https://seattletransitblog.com/2012/03/28/in-depth-on-northgate-parking-part-2/).
As for the layout of the station itself, I agree, it is weird. I have been there dozens of times but often go down the wrong stairs (to use the old mountain climbing joke: I’m not lost, I’m just off route). Part of the weirdness is due to the pedestrian bridge. Both the bridge and the station platforms are high up in the air so this gets messy. The station abuts 103rd Avenue, a fairly wide and unpleasant street for walking. To the north of 103rd Avenue is the mall. The mall sits on a bit of hill. Thus there is value in connecting from the station (high above the ground) and the mall (high above the ground). Of course the buses are on ground level. All of this adds up to a mess of potential uses and a very messy, confusing station. It is actually fairly straightforward to get to the platform but a bit confusing to get out (depending on where you are headed).
I was in Northgate two days ago and I really didn’t like it, there’s nothing to do there nowadays, and has become from an I-5 tourist attraction to an urban center, I don’t think it’s a good place to put an urban center unless you decide to build I-5 under it, because it can be unpleasant for those who live there, to be honest it’s just a hideous and uninteresting neighborhood, I do agree with Ross’s statement that the attraction in Northgate is the light rail station (I told my 6th grade teacher that one time a long time ago), and she seemed to agree, though she knows me personally and knows that I’m into transit, she had asked me what was my favorite light rail station, and I said to her Mountlake Terrace, off topic but the main attraction for tourists in Mountlake Terrace is probably Lake Ballinger (or the library which I love), but it’s going to be the light rail station in about a few years or so.
Scooby what did you mean ” the express lanes are planned to go down anyways” I wasn’t aware that anything will happen to the express lanes…
“I would rather see light rail go on the I-5 express lanes”
That was the original assumption when DSTT was built in the 1980s. But when Sound Transit was putting together a light rail plan, urbanists insisted it must have a station around Broadway & John-Pine and University Way & 45th-43rd because that’s where the walk-up passengers were. And that would require a tunnel, both because of the high density and going under the Ship Canal and other hills. That was a major win for everybody wanting Paris-like Metro stations steps from institutions and cafes. It’s one of the best things about Link and makes it much more effective than it otherwise would be.
The alternative would have been stations on I-5 or Eastlake. 45th would have been where the express bus stops still are. For anyone coming from the Ave or UW campus, it’s a half-mile walk to an atrociously un-urban concrete jungle. Denny Way would have been at the bottom of a steep hill a half mile from the primary transit market. Both of those would have depressed ridership and turned Link from a potentially good solution to a mediocre system that doesn’t really address the problem.
I was in Northgate two days ago and I really didn’t like it, there’s nothing to do there nowadays
The mall is transitioning. There will be a lot more development soon. It won’t be the auto-oriented, nothing-to-do mall that used to be there. At the same time, there is plenty of development in the area. The problem is that it is a few blocks away. You also have the pedestrian crossing to access the college. This gets used a lot (but I’m not sure how many people take the train and walk across).
Part of the problem is that they are trying to do too much. It is trying to serve the neighborhood while also serving the college and it isn’t doing very well at either. Like every station north of Roosevelt it is too close to the freeway. A station at Roosevelt & Northgate Way (or 5th & Northgate Way) would be much better. That would be more like Roosevelt Station. You would be much closer to a lot more apartments and shops. It would also be much easier for buses to access the station (which is at an extremely awkward location right now). The drawback is that you wouldn’t serve North Seattle College.
Personally I think the best option would have been to go under the freeway after serving Roosevelt. Then I would have an underground station close to the college before serving Northgate Way & Aurora. At that point the train could go up Aurora with stops at 130th, 155th, etc.
You would end up skipping Northgate but that isn’t the end of the world. It is like Lake City — as long as you have buses connecting it to the train it would work well. The buses would be much better. You would get rid of the Northgate Transit Center (and sell off the various parking). The 40 would just keep going on Northgate Way until it reached Lake City. The 348 would just keep going on Roosevelt until it reached the U-District. Buses like the 345 and 365 could end at the North Seattle College Station or continue on the east side of the freeway until 65th. Overall it would just be a better network and better walk-up ridership (with the stations close to Aurora, not the freeway).
Delta, I meant that they’re rebuilding the express lanes under I-5, Ship Canal segment to be exact. If I imagined an I-5 segment for light rail, it would go from Westlake Station (DSTT) to I-5, with stations at South Lake Union (between Mercer and Denny), Eastlake (on Roanoke), and Wallingford (on 45th), then the line would cross over to Roosevelt Station to continue north.
I agree that Northgate Station is in a bad location. But I think if you’re going to go a different way, going east to Lake City and Lake Forest Park makes more sense.
I agree that Northgate Station is in a bad location. But I think if you’re going to go a different way, going east to Lake City and Lake Forest Park makes more sense.
The problem is that there is practically nothing between Kenmore and Lake City Way & 145th. You have the Town Center at Lake Forest Park and that’s it. Even that is isn’t that big of a destinations. In contrast on Aurora you have the potential for stops every half mile or so (starting at 130th). You also add a lot more value. Getting from the Aurora corridor to the UW is not easy or fast. In contrast a bus going along SR-522 can easily just keep going and serve the UW quite quickly (the 522 could do it with a simple extension). Oh, and if the goal is to head up to Lynnwood then going up SR-99 does that quite well.
Ross, I disagree. It would be redundant with the E Line, remember, Aurora’s destiny is by bus, not rail: https://www.theurbanist.org/2019/12/13/auroras-destiny-is-bus-not-rail/
It wouldn’t be redundant because it would cross under the freeway and connect to the UW. That is the point. A train following the pathway of Aurora to downtown (across the Aurora Bridge) doesn’t get you much. You basically are just repeating the RapidRide E. Likewise, a bus that goes out SR-522 to Kenmore doesn’t get you much. You are basically just recreating the 522 (if the 522 went to the U-District — which it should). But a train that connects the north end of the Aurora corridor with the UW would create an important connection. Suddenly trips from the north end of Aurora to Roosevelt, U-District, UW and Capitol Hill are much faster.
You would still have the RapidRide E. The train would poach some of its riders (starting at Northgate Way) but not that many. Link isn’t going to have the Paris-Metro style stop spacing that the RapidRide E has, especially in the suburbs. It would be more like DC-Metro or Swift Blue stop spacing (half mile to a mile apart). With so few stations, the RapidRide E would continue to provide lots of trips between them on Aurora. It would also provide one-seat rides south of Northgate Way to downtown. The two lines would complement each other quite well.
Sorry, Ross. I just can’t seem to agree with that, I would rather have more Metro buses crossing Aurora connecting to the UW, and adding center running lanes to the E Line (and of course higher frequencies). But I respect your opinion.
I happened to be on I-5 last night. Recently they’ve had trains running on the tracks — but last night there were no trains and there were work trucks on the wires above the tracks.
Ok, this took a long time to plan, but here’s how I’m going to go in the morning:
5:00 am: Leave house
5:35 am: Meet my friend either at the school or at his house, and begin walking to 212th/77th
5:54 am: Catch the 102 to Lynnwood City Center Station at 212th/77th
6:07 am: Arrive at Lynnwood City Center Station
6:16 am: Catch the 1 Line to Angle Lake at Lynnwood City Center Station
7:25 am: Arrive at SeaTac/Airport Station
7:33 am: Catch the 574 to Lakewood Station at International/176th
8:00 am: Arrive at Federal Way Downtown Station
8:05 am: Catch the 402 to Meridian at Federal Way Downtown Station
8:13 am: Arrive at Northwest Bus Sales
8:49 am: Catch the 182 to Federal Way Downtown Station at Pacific/330th
8:52 am: Arrive at Target (to do shopping)
9:22 am: Walk to Federal Way Downtown Station
9:30 am: Arrive at Federal Way Downtown Station
Perfectly timed, no big waits, or tardies, I saw Northwest Bus Sales has some cool buses, and me and my friend will do some fun shopping at Target, if you want to meet us you can take one of these trips. You can also join us.
How do I write a blog article here?
Just email STB, and they’ll set you up as a guest author.
Email the editors at contact at seattletransitblog.com. We’re always looking for new authors.
Scooby’s Saturday schedule: That inspired me to visit Puyallup, though not that early. I may go after visiting the new stations. This shows another role for Federal Way Link. Even if it’s slower than the 577/578, at least it’s more frequent and more pleasant. So it’s suitable for occasional trips to far South King County and Pierce County if you’re not in a hurry, even if it may be less wonderful for people living Federal Way using it five days a week.
What’s Northwest Bus Sales? Is that the shopping center on Meridian somewhere south of downtown Puyallup? Or a new name for the Auburn Supermall? Why does it have the word “Bus” in it; is there something transit-related?
It’s basically a shop for retired bus fleets, I’ve seen they have CT double deckers from 2010, which I might go with my friend to play with them, I saw Buckley Transit (who refused to do a Collab video with me) do a video on them at Northwest Bus Sales.
If you get any video you’d like to share, you can send a link to contact at seattletransitblog.com by 9pm Saturday and we can consider it for the “after” article Sunday. We’re looking for Link in operation, festival attendance, people we know, etc. Maybe a few minutes of speeches, but not all of them (although we can have a supplemental link to it).
Okay, but I’ll post them to my channel though.
I think Mike intends to post an embedded video from YouTube, so if you post a video we can link to it in the post.
Yes. I meant linking to or embedding a third-party-hosted video like we do with the Sunday Movies. Whether it would appear as embedded or linked would depend on whether it’s the top one or two videos and how relevant it is, and whether the hosting site supports embedding.
“Ultimately, Sound Transit chose the I-5 alignment. The Seattle Transit Blog did not agree with this decision.”
I’ve always had an issue calling the final alignment the “I-5” alignment. While the tracks mostly follow I-5, only one of three stations is closer than 700 feet from the actual I-5 right of way ( Star Lake). With most trackage on I-5, it makes adding an infill station unlikely in the future — but (outside of the Star Lake station site) that’s really the biggest negative consequence of what was ultimately built when it comes to being next to I-5.
And comparing the chosen station sites to Lynnwood Link station sites including Pinehurst, Federal Way Link has done a much better job placing stations where more can be eventually built within walking distance (Star Lake excepted).
Star Lake seems dead end, it’s nearest urban center is at Pacific Hwy, though I didn’t like the Hwy 99 option because it was redundant with the A Line.
ST did a good thing by bringing Link back to 99 for KDM station. That’s comparable to the U-District situation, where the station is just off the Ave rather than a half-mile away at 45th (I-5 & KDM Road), that would have created a last-mile problem for students and apartment dwellers. I-5 and 99 get very close at that point so that made it easy.
The 99 alignment could have had a station at 216th, which already has a few TOD buildings and a supermarket and is a designated urban village. It would have stations on 99 at 272nd, and potentially at 240th, Dash Point Road, and maybe another one that were in the planning alternatives.
The track between stations it doesn’t matter is it is because people can’t get on/off there anyway. But the I-5 alignment (yes, it is that) lost the opportunity for the 216th village to ever have a walk-up metro station, and the same for 272nd and the other potential stations.
What’s the deal of Redondo Heights Park & Ride near Star Lake that seems to be abandoned? I wonder what it served back then.
I think if the light rail stations by I-5 always feature non-motorized crossing and satellite parking and pick-up drop-off area on the other side of freeway, it may not be a bad thing after all. It will actually help stitch the gap creating by highway. They should really consider rezone the lane on the other side of I-5 when they plan a station this adjacent to I-5.