Crosslake Link Starts!

Eastbound 2 Line train at Judkins Park station

The long-awaited full 2 Line connecting Redmond and Bellevue with Seattle, the U-District, and Lynnwood opens Saturday March 28. We've had several articles on the opening-day celebrations schedule, a preview ride, Judkins Park station, Mercer Island station, the 50-year history of East Link, and downtown Redmond's urban walkability. The City of Seattle has a page on getting to Judkins Park station from the surrounding neighborhoods.

On the same day the March service change will go into effect. King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit will change some of their routes on Saturday. Pierce Transit will follow on Sunday. Metro has a list of route changes and which Link stations they will serve.

Also on Saturday there's a large No Kings march, and the Mariners opening weekend. Here's the total large events list:

• 9am: Crosslake Link speeches and ribbon cutting, Sam Smith Park at Judkins Park station.
• 10am: Crosslake Link service and the full 2 Line start.
• 10am-2pm: Crosslake Link celebrations at several stations. (Schedule link above.)
• 12pm-4pm: No Kings march from Cal Anderson Park at Capitol Hill station.
• 6:40pm: Mariners first pitch at T-Mobile Stadium near Stadium and CID stations.

To get to Judkins Park station for the speeches before Crosslake service starts, Sound Transit will have shuttle buses running from South Bellevue and Mount Baker stations from 7-10am every 15 minutes. The City of Seattle has a page on getting to Judkins Park station from the surrounding neighborhoods and bus routes. Seattle residents have Metro routes 4, 7, 8, 48, and 106. Route 7 comes from downtown every 10-12 minutes. Route 4 also comes from downtown but is half-hourly and the stop is a few blocks further away on MLK. Route 8 will be on its service-change alignment so it will stop on 23rd at the station.

Go early in case the trains are full and you have to wait a couple trains to get on. From past experience full trains are most likely:

• 10am-12pm Crosslake (CID through Bellevue Downtown) for the Link opening.
• `10am-11am Eastside (South Bellevue through Redmond) for the Link opening.
• 11am-1:30pm Capitol Hill (U-District through downtown) for No Kings.
• 3-5pm downtown for going home from No Kings.
• 5:30-7pm Stadium (starting in the U-District, Eastside, and south Seattle) for the Mariners.

I don't want to overstate the problem. In the first and last half hour you're likely to be able to get on the first train but you may have to wait for the second. At the height of it you may be able to get on but you'll likely have to wait one or more trains within a couple stations of the target. The crowds could be as expected or they could be larger. And tens of thousands of people will want to board Link at Judkins Park after the ribbon-cutting and VIP ride.

Two other No Kings events will be near Link stations, from the list in the Seattle Times and seattle-protests.org:

• Bellevue: 11am-1pm at 14801 NE Bel-Red Road. That's between BelRed and Overlake Village stations.
• Mercer Island: 2-4pm at Aubrey Davis Lid Park, 2223 W Mercer Way. That's a 1-mile walk from Mercer Island station west along I-90 (a pedestrian trail on the south side to a linear park).

I'll be taking the 8 around 8am to the speeches, then waiting around until the Link line shortens. I'll visit Symphony station for a bit of the symphony performance, Spring District station for the zoo and a mini-park two blocks south of the station, Downtown Redmond to spend time there, and Marymoor Village to see the view from the top of the P&R. I also want to go to the main No Kings march so I may have to postpone Redmond to another day.

You can use the comments to plan group rides or meet up for events, or tell us your experiences on Saturday.

This is an open thread.