Lynnwood Link Opening Ceremonies
A Link light rail train stopped at the Lynnwood Center Station during service testing. Photo: Peter Bohler courtesy of Sound Transit.
On Thursday, Sound Transit staff presented the plan for Lynnwood Link Extension's opening ceremonies to the Board's Rider Experience and Operations Committee.
At 11am on Friday, August 30, Sound Transit will hold a ribbon cutting to formally open the Lynnwood Link Extension of the 1 Line. Like the opening ceremony of the 2 Line, the ribbon cutting will be preceded by speeches from elected officials, board members, and stakeholders. The first official public ride will take place from Lynnwood City Center Station following the ceremony.
That evening (4pm to 8pm), Sound Transit is planning a Night Market at Lynnwood City Center station and events at each of the stations opening along the line. ST estimates over 350 organizations are signed up to participate across the four opening stations, including performances, food vendors, arts and crafts booths, games, and more. There will also be a commemorative map encouraging participants to visit new each station along the extension.
Capacity Limitations
ST Express buses operating to Downtown until the 2 Line reaches Lynnwood.Until the 2 Line extension opens across Lake Washington, service on the extended 1 Line will be every 8-10 minutes at peak times. This will be a net reduction in service through Downtown Seattle, which ST expects will result in crowding during peak times. Sound Transit has come up with some measures to reduce the expected crowding, including retaining extra trains (gap" trains) for release as needed, operation of a new ST Express route 515 from Lynnwood, and retaining some commuter buses to maintain capacity until the 2 Line arrives. Due to the lack of access to the Operations and Maintenance Facility on the eastside, ST will store trains overnight at some stations to maintain capacity for 8-minute headways during the day.
Getting to Lynnwood LinkOn September 14, King County Metro and Snohomish County's Community Transit will restructure service to adapt to the extension of the Puget Sound's light rail spine". Here's a summary of each station and its transit connections after the September restructures:
- Shoreline South/148th Station: This station is located just northeast of I-5 at the NE 145th Street exit and includes a new parking garage with approximately 500 new spaces. This station will be directly served by Metro routes 65, 72, 333 (new), 345, 346, and Sound Transit's ST Express route 522 (in 2025).
- Shoreline North/185th Station:This station is located on the east side of I-5, and features improved pedestrian pathways to the station to the west side of I-5 and a new parking garage with approximately 500 new spaces. This station will be directly served by Metro routes 348 and 365 (new), and CT's Swift Blue Line.
- Mountlake Terrace Station:This station is located east of I-5 at the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center just north of 236th Street Southwest, west of Veterans Memorial Park. The station straddles 236th Street Southwest, and is a short walk from the Mountlake Terrace Library, new city hall and future Gateway transit-oriented development neighborhood. This station will be directly served by Metro routes 331 and 333 (new), and CT routes 103 (new), 111, 112, 119, 130, and 909 (new).
- Lynnwood City Center:This station is located at the Lynnwood Transit Center and included the construction of a new five-story garage containing 1,670 parking spaces.The station and transit center will be served by CT routes 102, 103 (new), 106, 114, 117 (new) 120, 130, 166, 201, 202, 901 (new), 903 (new), 904 (new), 905 (new), and the Swift Orange Line.
- Length:8.5 miles, 4 stations
- Projected travel times:
- Lynnwood to Westlake (downtown Seattle): 28 minutes
- Mountlake Terrace to SeaTac: 56 minutes
- Shoreline South/148th to University of Washington: 11 minutes
- Service: Every 4 - 6 minutes during peak hours after the 2 Line opens.
- Projected ridership:47,000 - 55,000 daily riders by 2026