After over a decade, Sound Transit has finally given a date for the opening of Light Rail service across I-90: March 28. This addition was planned for way back in 2008, when voters approved the East Link extension, now dubbed the Crosslake Connection, that would connect Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond.
While the project was set to be completed in 2023, it was fraught with delays, pushed first back to an opening date of April 2025, and now to March 2026. Sound Transit attributed the setbacks to the unique construction environment of building a train over a floating bridge, which is the first of its kind in the world. The new portion of the track will be part of the existing 2 Line and meet with the 1 Line at the International District/Chinatown station. This comes with the addition of two new stations: one on Mercer Island and another in the Judkins Park neighborhood of Seattle.
For those commuting from the Eastside to Seattle and vice versa, the connection means shorter waits and faster travel times, and a higher incentive to ditch cars in favor of the much cheaper fare to take the Link. Additionally, the expected increase in traffic on the 2 Line will correspond to an increase in hours, as trains currently stop running at 9:30 p.m, changing to an end of service at 1:00 a.m. once the Crosslake Connection opens. While plenty more test runs still need to be conducted, the Seattle area will finally have Light Rail across I-90 after a nearly two-decade-long wait.
