LYNNWOOD — It felt a little surreal to stand on a Link railcar and see Lynnwood come into view.
But that will become the new normal Friday, when the long-awaited $3.1 billion, 8½-mile Lynnwood Link extension will be in service.
Sound Transit employees and board members, along with a large cohort of media, got a chance to see the light rail extension in action Wednesday morning.
In comments beforehand, Sound Transit board members Dow Constantine and Dave Somers both touched on the expansive changes light rail will bring. Both longtime county executives — Constantine in King and Somers in Snohomish — have led a joint effort that will impact the region forever.
“Sound Transit is going to make history by bringing light rail across the county line, uniting King and Snohomish counties with reliable, cost efficient transit,” said Constantine, who chairs the Sound Transit board.
Somers looks at it much the same way.
“These projects, they take a lot of time, but once they’re here, they really become a new fixture,” Somers said. “It does change the face of Snohomish County.”
Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers rides the new Lynnwood Link Line on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In some places in south Snohomish County, that already meant dense, vertical growth in the county’s I-5 — and now light rail — transportation corridor.
Mountlake Terrace residents see this with the Traxx and Terrace Station apartments. Lynnwood has seen similar development pop up.
Over 1,200 new and proposed housing units sit within a quarter-mile radius of Mountlake Terrace’s new light rail station. The windows of the light rail afford a great view of those new apartments as the southbound train passes on its way to N 185th Street, where the Shorline North station sits.
Lynnwood is next. The city often scores well for grants for projects to facilitate development, city officials have said, with light rail a major catalyst. Completed projects, such as on 196th Street SW, to rebuild roads and add capacity for water, sewer and electric are aimed at promoting construction with the Link’s arrival.
That was my takeaway from my first ride on the Lynnwood extension: The future is quickly being built, with rail just the first step in that process.
Terrace Station apartments are visible outside of the Link light rail as it moves southbound on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
The ride itself is smooth, mostly gliding along I-5, which Randy Harlow, a Sound Transit project manager who has been overseeing the Lynnwood extension for the past five years, said is a good reminder of what you’re avoiding.
“Our easiest sales pitch is to watch traffic on I-5 go by,” Harlow quipped.
Lynnwood to Westlake station? That’s projected to take 28 minutes. Mountlake Terrace to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is supposed to take just under an hour.
Sound Transit expects 47,000 to 55,000 riders on the extension by 2026. Community Transit has been busy updating its bus routes with a massive service change coming Sept. 14 to redirect its Seattle-bound offerings to Lynnwood and light rail.
A Link light rail train moves northbound toward the Shoreline South station on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024 in Shoreline, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
“People are a little hesitant to do it at the start, but like when we opened University link, we thought it was going to be a slow adoption process,” Harlow said. “And the community reacted really well, and they were loading us almost a couple of years in advance of our projections. I think the same thing’s gonna happen here.”
The rail also rolls past Hall Lake in Lynnwood, a symbol of the ride’s sometimes-forested feel. It passes a number of single-family homes between Lynnwood and Shoreline, a very different experience than the tunnels and density of the Link in Seattle.
The 8½-mile run is quick. Lynnwood City Center to Mountlake Terrace was about four-and-a-half minutes. Mountlake Terrace to Shoreline North was another two-and-a-half minutes and Shoreline North to Shoreline South was three more. Wednesday’s run did not include a stop at Northgate, the end of the light rail line until Friday morning.
Trains are expected in Lynnwood every eight minutes at peak times and every 10 minutes in the evenings. Sound Transit has said it expects this to drop to every four to six minutes once the 1 and 2 Lines are connected. Agency officials said this is still expected next year.
That, though, brings a final observation gleaned from the new maps decorating the Link: There’s still lots “coming soon.”
A Link light rail station map with with different lines listed as “coming soon” on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024 in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
The map above the doors on the train shows the downtown Redmond connection, the third Shoreline station and the Federal Way connection all with that label. It almost feels like a truism for both upcoming transit connections and the huge changes in new light rail connected communities. So much, truly, is coming soon.
And, almost as a nod to the faraway future, a spur of track runs just past Lynnwood City Center Station and across 44th Avenue W, where it abruptly ends. That track could, someday, be the first few moments of a light rail ride to Everett.
Though the view will probably look a lot different then.
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; X: @jordyhansen.
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