Sunday Double Feature: Federal Way Link Flyover & Transit Decarbonization

A 5-minute drone (sUAS) flyover of the Federal Way Link Extension construction progress in May, southward from Angle Lake to Federal Way. Some observations with timestamps:

0:02: The path of the SR-509 Completion Project, one of two highway expansion projects in the region, is visible as something that could be mistaken for a riverbed.

1:05: Kent-Des Moines Station

1:30: Midway Landfill, a former potential site for OMF-S that would have cost an extra ~$1B to build but would have had zero business or residential impacts. The current preferred location of OMF-S is the Christian Faith Center, south of Federal Way Downtown.

1:53: The last-minute long-span bridge which delayed FWLE over a year.

2:15: Star Lake Station

4:00: Federal Way Downtown Station, with a fun fly-around afterwards.

As Metro is struggling to meet their plans to build out their battery bus fleet and charging infrastructure, Reece Martin looks at the tradeoff between decarbonization efforts and transit expansion.