On February 15, Sound Transit announced that the first segment of the Link 2 Light Rail line would officially open on April 27. The segment, which is scheduled to run from Sound Transit’s South Bellevue station to its Redmond Technology station, is part of a long-standing effort to connect the Eastside with Seattle via rail.
The seeds for a potential connection were first planted in 2008 when a ballot measure proposed by the organization introduced the “East Link” project, an initiative aimed towards creating connections between the “Eastside’s largest population and employment centers [and] downtown Seattle.” The approval of this Ballot measure gave way to the planning and design process, which lasted from 2011 to 2017 and projected completion date for the entire project sometime in 2023. Delays in the construction process, however, pushed back the completion date, and in August 2023, the Sound Transit Board approved a staggered rollout that limited initial service to the Bellevue-Redmond segment of the project.
This is where East Link stands today, as the section connecting Bellevue and downtown Seattle is projected to open in 2025. In the meantime, prospective riders can expect an estimated commute time of 10 minutes from end to end on the Bellevue-Redmond line, with a train arriving every eight minutes (peak hours) and adult fares ranging from $2.25 to $2.50. When the commute time is compared to the commute time accrued by driving from the South Bellevue station to Redmond Technology station, there seems to be an improvement of 4-10 minutes at peak morning rush hour and 2-10 minutes at peak afternoon rush hour (estimates are based off Google Maps projections for 9 AM traffic and 4 PM traffic).
