Seattle, Washington: Sound Transit

Northgate Link Extension | Sound Transit -- construction continues. Its construction cams show the extension's three stations: U District, Roosevelt, and Northgate, along with the Maple Leaf tunnel portal a little south of Northgate. U district and Roosevelt are being built in cut-and-cover fashion, with their walls and floors now being in place, though not much more. The Northgate station, however, will be elevated.

Lynnwood Link Extension | Sound Transit north of Northgate -- still in planning. It will closely follow I-5, and it will alternate between surface and elevated trackage.

Downtown Redmond Link Extension | Sound Transit east of Bellevue and Federal Way Link Extension | Sound Transit south of Sea-Tac are still in planning. The latter will alternate between surface and elevated along I-5.


Seattle Streetcar: Center City They've selected a route for it:
First Hill streetcar line - S. Jackson St. - 1st Ave. near the waterfront - Stewart St. - South Lake Union line

Seattle Streetcar: First Hill Streetcar: Broadway Extension north of First Hill for two stations. "Design of the project is currently on hold. (12/12/16)"


ETA: The end is near for Bertha: After nearly 2 miles in 4 years, tunnel machine about to break through | The Seattle Times Seattle's other big tunneling project is about to be completed.

Pontoon railroad bridges have been built before, in particular by the Milwaukee Road on the Mississippi. Nothing quite on this scale though, and I can't seem to find a combination road/rail pontoon bridge in the historical record.

Project update: East Link Extension, I-90 | Sound Transit
Crossing Lake Washington | Sound Transit
They had to build and test special track bridges for between the fixed and the floating parts of the I-90 bridge.

Lake Washington Floating Bridge - Wikipedia lists three bridges.

The first of them is the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge - Wikipedia, opened in 1940. It now carries the eastbound lanes of I-90.

The second of them, to the north of the first one, is the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge - Wikipedia, opened in 1989. It carries the westbound lanes of I-90, and it has two reversible High-Occupancy-Vehicle lanes to the south of the main lanes. Those HOV lanes are where the light-rail tracks will be going.


There is a third one over Lake Washington, for state route 520. It's the world's longest and widest floating bridge.
Evergreen Point Floating Bridge - Wikipedia, opened in 1963.
Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (2016) - Wikipedia


About that other tunneling project, Alaskan Way Viaduct - Follow Bertha -- it's to break through on Tuesday, April 4.

Project update: Northgate Link Extension, March 2017 | Sound Transit -- shows support columns going up for the Northgate station.

I notice that the north and east extensions have very little street-level trackage, unlike the original line, with a long stretch in MLK Way.

In other tunneling news, Bertha broke through the end on April 4:
Daylight for TBM Bertha at ‏end of epic journey
Alaskan Way Vaduct - Follow Bertha
Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel - Wikipedia
Bertha (tunnel boring machine) - Wikipedia
Bertha's diameter: 57 ft / 17.4 m, weight: 6700 tons / 6100 mt


Digging for San Jose BART begins in two years - Silicon Valley Business Journal mentions a proposal for using a TBM almost as big as Bertha: a 45-ft tunnel where two tracks would run. The article's illustration shows two stacked tracks, though they might also be side-by-side.

However, they may use smaller TBM's and excavate twin single-track tunnels, as has been done for Seattle light rail.

The Sound Transit site now has this: Sound Transit Expansion Map with several lines and details of them.

• U Washington - Northgate: under construction, will open 2021
• Northgate - Lynnwood: construction starts 2018, will open 2024
• Lynnwood - Everett: project launch 2020, will open 2036
• Downtown - West Seattle (Alaska Junction): in planning, will open 2030
• Downtown - (new tunnel) - Ballard, will open 2035
• Downtown - Redmond (East Link): under construction, will open 2023
• South Kirkland - Issaquah: project launch 2027, will open 2041
• Angle Lake - Federal Way: in planning, will open 2024
• Federal Way - Tacoma Dome: project launch 2017, will open 2030
• Tacoma Link: Theater District - MLK and S 19th: construction starts 2018, will open 2022
• Tacoma Link: MLK and S 19th - Tacoma Community College: project launch 2026, will open 2039
• Sounder: Lakewood - DuPont: project launch 2025, will open 2036

So it's

• Under construction: Northgate (2021), Redmond (2023)
• Construction starting in 2018: Lynnwood (2024), Tacoma Link extension (2022)
• In planning: Federal Way (2024)

The other projects may be moved up if some politician wangles Federal or state funding for them.

Center City Connector | Seattle Streetcar -- it will connect Seattle's two streetcar lines, First Hill and South Lake Union. Its route is:

(First Hill) - S Jackson St. - 1st Ave. Stewart St. - Westlake Ave. - (South Lake Union)

It is about 2 blocks west of the light-rail tunnel. Construction has started on utilities in its route, and construction should extend to the system's tracks next year and 2019. So it should open 2020.

I noticed that the Home | Seattle Center Monorail | Seattle Monorail line is missing from both the Sound Transit and the Seattle Streetcar maps. It runs between Westlake and the Seattle Center, and since both the SLU streetcar and the light-rail system have stations at Westlake, I expected it to have some mention.

Thanks for that list. Hard to believe it's going to take ELEVEN years to extend commuter rail a few miles to the south.

lpetrich wrote:I noticed that the Home | Seattle Center Monorail | Seattle Monorail line is missing from both the Sound Transit and the Seattle Streetcar maps. It runs between Westlake and the Seattle Center, and since both the SLU streetcar and the light-rail system have stations at Westlake, I expected it to have some mention.

The monorail isn't apart of the Sound Transit system, that's why it isn't present on the maps. You have to buy a separate ticket to ride it.

Rockingham Racer wrote:Thanks for that list. Hard to believe it's going to take ELEVEN years to extend commuter rail a few miles to the south.

Wouldn't that be more a reflection of where it is on the priority list (and when construction starts) not that they'll be working on it for all 11 years?

Rockingham Racer wrote:Thanks for that list. Hard to believe it's going to take ELEVEN years to extend commuter rail a few miles to the south.

I suspect that it's an issue of priorities.

The planned opening dates: 2021, 2022, 2024 (2), 2030 (2), 2035, 2036 (2), 2039, 2041

The dates have an early cluster, around 2022 - 2023, and a late cluster, around 2036. The later dates have more spread than the earlier ones. I think that those ones are rather pessimistic ones, ones that reflect what funds can be raised locally.

Arlington wrote:

Rockingham Racer wrote:Thanks for that list. Hard to believe it's going to take ELEVEN years to extend commuter rail a few miles to the south.

Wouldn't that be more a reflection of where it is on the priority list (and when construction starts) not that they'll be working on it for all 11 years?

That's what it seems like to me. But if they get funding for it, they'll likely bump it up.

Sound Transit Expansion Map shows what's under construction and planned. Clicking on "Project List" reveals links to documents and pages with more details.

• SODO - Alaska Junction (West Seattle)
• Westlake - Ballard, along with a new downtown tunnel
• Angle Lake - Federal Way ... in pre-construction (2024)
• Federal Way - Tacoma Dome
• Lakewood - DuPont
• East Link: ID/CT - Redmond Tech Ctr ... under construction (2023)
• Redmond Tech Ctr - Downtown Redmond
• South Kirkland - Bellevue - Issaquah
• UW - Northgate ... under construction (2021)
• Northgate - Lynnwood ... in final design (2024)

Tacoma Extension: ProgressiveRailroading.com

FTA awards $75 million grant for Sound Transit's Tacoma Link extension

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded a $75 million Small Starts grant to Sound Transit for its Hilltop Tacoma Link extension.

The 2.4-mile light-rail extension will run along Commerce Street and Stadium Way to the Hilltop District in Tacoma, Washington. The line will include six new stations.
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Construction is scheduled to begin in fall, with service starting in 2022.
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CarterB wrote:With all the Seattle commuters to Olympia, why not extend it to downtown Olympia??

Maybe it be because the county Olympia is in doesn’t financially support Sound Transit?
Counties providing tax revenues to Sound Transit are:
King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.

Olympia rests within Thurston County and contributes zero funds to Sound Transit.

SeattleTimes.com: Sound Transit to get $1.2 billion for light rail to Lynnwood

The Puget Sound region will receive nearly $1.2 billion in federal money to help build a light-rail line to Lynnwood, the Federal Transit Administration announced Thursday, putting to an end two years of uncertainty spurred by soaring construction costs and the Trump administration’s stated hostility toward funding transit projects.

The FTA announced the agreement — the largest transit grant it has awarded since President Donald Trump took office — and at the same time tried to push back on the idea that the administration has been reluctant to fund transit projects.

“This grant agreement represents the department’s commitment to Sound Transit and the Seattle region to help mitigate congestion in one of the nation’s fastest-growing areas,” acting FTA Administrator K. Jane Williams said in a phone interview. “The administration continues to advance projects through the program in accordance with the law.”
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Construction on the line will start early next year, with rail service, from Northgate to Lynnwood, scheduled to begin in 2024.
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