LYNNWOOD — At last, you can start counting down the days until light rail comes to Snohomish County.
The Lynnwood Link extension will officially open Aug. 30.
Just 148 days to go.
Not bad, considering locals have been waiting years for the $3.1 billion project’s completion.
At the height of summer, four new light rail stations will open north of Northgate: two in Shoreline, one in Mountlake Terrace, and then the new northern terminus of the line at Lynnwood City Center.
A Sound Transit parking garage near the Lynnwood light rail station has been partly open since last year.
Opening the line to Snohomish County “is a major milestone in the growth of light rail,” King County Executive and Sound Transit Board Chair Dow Constantine said in a press release Thursday. “For the first time, the light rail system is joining two counties, bringing voters’ vision for our region’s integrated transit system one step closer to reality.”
The official release of the hotly anticipated date was initially slated to be made at a gathering of public officials at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Mountlake Terrace, but that was canceled less than 24 hours ahead of time due to scheduling conflicts. Sound Transit then said it would simply put out a press release instead.
As of noon, that release was expected “within the hour,” said John Gallagher, a spokesperson for Sound Transit.
The official release came at 1:40 p.m.
Sound Transit expects between 47,000 and 55,000 daily riders on the new 8½ miles of track by 2026. Trains are expected to come about every 8 minutes during peak hours.
Once the 2 Line fully opens east of Lake Washington — offering service between downtown Seattle and Redmond — peak service times are expected to be 4 minutes. Connecting to the 2 Line will mean more maintenance and storage facilities for the entire system, allowing for faster service.
The 2 Line is set to start on a limited route starting April 27, but it likely won’t cross the lake until next year.
Other changes are coming to mesh existing transit systems into the Link extension. Snohomish County is expected to have a population of 1.1 million by 2044. And all those people are going to need a way to get around. Sound Transit and Snohomish County’s Community Transit have been adjusting bus routes to ease congestion on surface roads.
Over the weekend, the agency brought rail cars to the ribbon-cutting of the Swift Orange Line, a new bus rapid transit system from Community Transit aiming to shuttle people in south Snohomish County to light rail.
On Thursday, city and county officials celebrated a project they’ve worked on for years.
“The Link light rail extending into Lynnwood heralds the start of a new era for our city and the rest of Snohomish County,” said Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell, who also serves on the Sound Transit Board of Directors, in a press release.
Mountlake Terrace City Manager Jeff Niten said the city is now “poised to become a vibrant hub for housing, services, retail, restaurants and more. We’ve always been a connection between Snohomish and King counties, and now it will be easier than ever to stop in and become a part of our community’s story.”
Other organizations are happy to have a date too.
This year “is one of the biggest years for transportation in our region’s history,” said Kirk Hovenkotter, executive director at Transportation Choices Coalition, in a statement to The Daily Herald. “With this opening, more people than ever will have a safe, reliable, and affordable way to get to work, healthcare, and school along the busiest stretch of roadway in the state.”
Firefighters were conducting emergency tests on the Lynnwood facility Thursday. Sound Transit also said to expect more trains on the line: “Pre-revenue service” testing begins April 15.
In January, the same month Sound Transit began testing the new line, officials said the extension likely would begin service in the third quarter of 2024.
Voters approved funding for the extension between Northgate and Lynnwood in 2008. Construction began in 2019.
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.
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