Month: December 2025

Transit ridership in the Seattle area typically reaches its seasonal low in early months of the year as tourists avoid the Big Dark and locals hunker down after the holidays. Sound Transit often uses this time to complete disruptive maintenance and upgrade projects. At a Sound Transit Board committee meeting earlier this month, agency staff presented plans for construction, upgrades, and maintenance requiring disruptions to Link 1 Line service in January and February next year.

• January 2-5 (Weekend): No service between Stadium and Capitol Hill stations.
• January 13-15 (Weeknights): Service ends early between Tukwila/Intl. Blvd and Mount Baker stations.
• January 30-February 2 (Weekend): No service between Stadium and Capitol Hill stations.
• February 10-12 (Weeknights): Service ends early between Mount Baker and Stadium stations.
• Ongoing (Weeknights): Reduced 1 Line service after 7pm.

Read on for details.

Continue reading “Light rail work Jan-Feb 2026”

The Sound Transit board met today to discuss alternatives to building the second downtown Link tunnel (DSTT2), as part of its monthly board meeting. Video of the meeting will be available in 24-48 hours on ST’s YouTube channel. (Here’s the meeting agenda and webpage.)

Sound Transit did an ad hoc study of two alternatives to the second tunnel and presented the results last week in a committee meeting:

• Interline alternative: Merge the Ballard extension into the existing downtown tunnel (DSTT1) at Symphony station, bypassing Westlake station. This preserves ST3’s Ballard – Tacoma Dome line (the future 1 Line).
• Stub-End alternative: Build Ballard – Westlake as a standalone line. Everybody would transfer at Westlake to the rest of the Link system.

Today’s full-board meeting concluded with no decision for or against the alternatives, but further substantial work on them would require the board to allocate resources and contracts to it.

The Seattle Transit Blog favors the Stub-End alternative over Interline or DSTT2. We also want ST to study making it automated, an automated Ballard – Westlake line. And we’d like it to be forward-compatible with a potential future extension to First Hill, Judkins Park, and Mt Baker station in a future vote.

Boardmembers’ discussion on the alternatives is below the fold.

Continue reading “ST Downtown Tunnel Board Meeting”

Yesterday, Mayor-elect Katie Wilson announced Angela Brady will be the next Interim Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Since 2022, Brady has served as Director of Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront, Civic Projects & Sound Transit. In the statement announcing the change, Wilson touted Brady’s “strong operational expertise” and said Brady “is committed to addressing our maintenance backlog, and shares my vision of world-class transit, a citywide network of protected bike lanes, safe and accessible sidewalks, great pedestrian spaces, and housing-rich neighborhoods packed with amenities.”

Prior to her current role, Brady was the Deputy Director of Design and Delivery for the Waterfront Program. While not perfect (largely due to minimum lane requirements from WSDOT), the revamped waterfront is a significant improvement over the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Before working on the waterfront, Brady oversaw Seattle’s Mercer Corridor Project as a Supervising Program Manager at SDOT. The Mercer Corridor Project revamped Mercer St in South Lake Union and Lower Queen Anne to contain several lanes of eastbound and westbound vehicles. Other than a two-way protected bike lane under SR-99, the project had few transit, bike, or pedestrian focused improvements.

While the projects on Brady’s resume may not align with Wilson’s vision for a truly multi-modal city, her experience working with and for SDOT will ensure a smooth transition for the agency. During the next few months, Wilson’s team will continue the search for a permanent SDOT Director who will be more aligned with Wilson’s transportation priorities.

Reminder: Link service in Downtown will close early on Friday.
Discussion about the Ballard Link Extension continues on yesterday’s article.

Update: All Metro buses will stop for a moment Thursday at 2:54am and 2:54pm in memorial for slain bus driver Shawn Yim. Details in a comment below.

• Op-Ed: It’s Time to Imagine a Safer, More Connected Rainier Avenue (The Urbanist)
• Op-Ed: Seattle Monorail Should Honor Transfers, Be Treated Like Real Transit (The Urbanist)
• Parking Enforcement Officers On Work Slowdown After Contract Negotiations Stall (PubliCola)
• Transit Riders Union Charts New Course After Katie Wilson’s Election (Hacks and Wonks)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Unfinished Metropolis”

This Thursday the full Sound Transit Board is likely to permanently determine whether the agency’s recent analysis of downtown tunnel alternatives warrants further consideration. It’s no exaggeration to say the future of the Link light rail system is at stake. The latest estimates show the agency faces a $34.5 billion shortfall over the next 20 years. Once again, Sound Transit must choose what to do now, and what to defer to the future.

Many transit advocates are calling for Sound Transit to simply Build The Damn Trains, apparently expecting the agency to magically find a progressive pot of gold to fill the hole. Sound Transit will build what it can. What it should do is Build the Best Parts First.

Continue reading “Build the Best Parts First”

Earlier this year, Sound Transit revealed updated cost estimates for its major ST3 projects totalling $14 to $20 billion (in 2025 dollars) more than its current long-range financial plan can afford. Over half of that excess cost is due to a massive jump in costs to build the planned Ballard Link Extension, which was expected to cost about $11.9 billion but is now estimated at $20.1 to $22.6 billion. Much of the cost of the project is related to construction of a second tunnel through Downtown Seattle. While advocates have long called for the agency to study alternative routes for the Ballard Link Extension, Claudia Balducci was the first Sound Transit Board member to openly call for study of how the Ballard Link Extension could be built without a second tunnel through downtown. Last week, agency staff presented the results their investigation into the feasibility of two ways to build the Ballard Link extension without a second downtown tunnel: interlining with the current tunnel, or stub-ending underneath Westlake

Two Alternative Approaches to the Ballard Link Extension

The current ST3 plan involves building a new dedicated rail tunnel from Seattle Center via SLU to Chinatown. This new Ballard Line would continue south towards SeaTac and eventually Tacoma.

Continue reading “No New Tunnel Downtown? Sound Transit Explores Ballard Link Alternatives”

History of San Francisco’s Muni Metro. (Classy Whale)

This is an open thread.

Following the recent opening of the Federal Way Link Extension, confusion quickly set in over which 1 Line trains travel to Seattle. Once the 2 Line is connected across Lake Washington, all three Link termini will imply they are the center of the region: Lynnwood City Center, Downtown Redmond, and Federal Way Downtown. Of course, none of these locations are in Seattle, the dominant city in Puget Sound. Stephen Fesler discussed this situation in an excellent Op-Ed last week.

While the platform signs are confusing and should be updated, they are technically correct. Over the past few months, there appears to have been an uptick in incorrect signs by both Sound Transit and King County Metro. These errors may be seen as benign (and even humorous) to frequent transit riders, but they can cause confusion and frustration for infrequent or first time passengers. Transit agencies should make riding transit as clear and simple as possible.

Sound Transit

In November, Nick Sattele, co-lead of the Fix The L8 campaign, found an issue with a Reduced Service announcement. On the 1 Line diagram, Stadium station was labeled as the stop north of U District (instead of Roosevelt station). In reality, Stadium station is located south of downtown Seattle and should not have been included on the diagram.

ATTENTION: Next Saturday, November 8, STADIUM STATION will be RELOCATED to the Northgate neighborhood.Thank you for your understanding.

— Nick (@nicksattele.bsky.social) 2025-11-01T20:56:41.846Z

As many first-time Link riders start their journey at SeaTac/Airport station, it is paramount that the station has clear signs to help them navigate. Unfortunately, Sound Transit appears to have doubled down on confusing passengers at this station. A few weeks ago, AvgZing shared on Bluesky that the signs for the Federal Way Downtown platform at SeaTac/Airport station included the airplane logo. Did you know Federal Way had an airport?

Continue reading “Friday Roundtable: Incorrect Signs”

In its last meeting in 2025, the Sound Transit Board’s Executive Committee will officially direct agency staff to “conduct a fare gate retrofit implementation study” and “if study findings support further action, develop a fare gate retrofit pilot proposal”. In September, The Urbanist reported fare gates were one of many options under consideration as part of the agency’s Enterprise initiative. In October, King 5 reported Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine had already directed staff to begin assembling a proposal for a fare gate pilot program. The Sound Transit Board’s Motion No. M2025-64 formalizes the work, and sets a due date for the study and associated pilot program proposal of “no later than Q2 2026”.

Continue reading “Sound Transit considers fare gate pilot”

Reminder: Link service through Downtown will be disrupted a few more times before the end of the year, with extended overnight closures planned for the nights of Dec. 12-13, 20-21, and 27-28.

Local News & Commentary:

• Tips for traveling with King County Metro this winter season (Metro Matters)
• Monorail to Nix Transfer Credits, Raising Costs on Some ORCA Card Users (The Urbanist)
• Sound Transit Brokers Streetcar Swap Between Portland and Tacoma (The Urbanist)
• Precinct-level voting results show Wilson was most popular in dense neighborhoods (The Urbanist)
• Link is slowly becoming more reliable, but still has a lot of room for improvement (The Seattle Times, $)
• A 14-Point Plan for Mayor Wilson, including proposals for reopening the Comp. Plan, something called “The Urban Pass”, and more transit passes from event centers (PubliCola)
• Op-Ed: Sound Transit’s Station Naming Policy Has Run Amok Again (The Urbanist)
• The state legislature legalized pedestrian streets this year, but actually establishing them may require environmental review (The Urbanist)

Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: Streetcar Swap”