The eight-mile extension of Sound Transit’s 1 Line south to Federal Way is on track to open earlier than expected, the agency announced Thursday. Previously scheduled for a grand opening in early 2026, riders could be able to board trains at the three new stations south of Angle Lake before the end of 2025, with an exact start date still being finalized. That early opening will pave the way for Sound Transit to open the full 2 Line across Lake Washington by next spring, well in advance of the summer 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup events for which the entire region is preparing.
Announcing the news at the Sound Transit board’s system expansion committee, CEO Dow Constantine said that accelerating the timeline became possible thanks to increased staffing. And that opening Federal Way will not have any negative impact on the agency’s ability to deliver the highly anticipated train connection between Seattle and Bellevue.
“We are seeing a trend earlier than we had anticipated, and the staff has now confirmed to me that we can open this critical light rail extension while maintaining the project opening window for the cross lake connection over the I-90 floating bridge,” Constantine told board members. “It’s great news for the south end communities and for connectivity throughout our system. It’s also a testament to our staff’s ability to deliver projects as soon as they’re ready.”
Constantine touted the news as evidence of internal reforms at the agency that are beginning to bear fruit, as Sound Transit gains more experiencing opening lines and being able to juggle multiple projects at the same time.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We are taking a rider-first approach by opening light rail when it is ready to go, and not sticking to previously established schedules if, in fact, it turns out that we can get the rail lines ready faster,” Constantine said. “Our teams have now informed me that what used to take four to six months to prepare for a single opening can now be condensed significantly to allow both Federal Way and the cross lake part of East Link to be open without one project delaying the other.”
When running, Federal Way Link will provide riders with a 55-minute trip between Westlake and Downtown Federal Way, along with access to stations in Kent at Star Lake Road and Kent Des Moines Road, near Highline College. Designed for heavy park-and-ride usage with nearly 1,200 parking stalls at Federal Way and another 1,600 across the other two stations, the extension will also create potential for transit-oriented development, particularly around the Federal Way terminus.
Last year, the City of Federal Way approved a development agreement that is poised to bring a 1,600 units of housing close to the station, a project that is seen as a catalyst project for the city’s suburban-style downtown. Sound Transit is also planning a significant number of affordable housing projects on vacant parcels along the route, including at Kent Des Moines and Downtown Federal Way.
Originally approved in the 2008 Sound Transit 2 ballot measure, Federal Way Link had to be scaled back to only include Kent Des Moines station in 2010, as a result of financial issues stemming from the Great Recession. Following the approval of the 2016 Sound Transit 3 ballot measure, the project became fully funded again and set to open by 2024. That schedule slipped in 2022 with the discovery of unstable soil conditions along the route during construction, and Sound Transit was forced to redesign the project, creating a new long-span bridge that it called an “engineering marvel.”
As for the full 2 Line opening, Constantine told board members that the agency was still trending toward a grand opening sometime between January and April 2026. Following a successful “unpowered LRV tow” between Mercer Island and Judkins Park stations in May, Sound Transit is poised to start live wire testing on the bridge later this month, a significant milestone for the project. Last month, the agency successfully tested operating trains every four minutes north of International District Chinatown in a test of how the 1 and 2 Lines will operate along the same tracks.
Pressed by System Expansion Committee chair Claudia Balducci, Constantine confirmed that the opening for Federal Way is “on its own path” and will not impact the opening date for the 2 Line.
“We asked this question before we brought this idea forward, that opening Federal Way early because it’s ready does not have a negative impact on East Link, on the I-90 bridge, and we’re confident of that,” Constantine said. “So this is a good news story, Madam Chair, and it’s, I hope, another example of the agency maturing, of learning from each project, being able to deliver and hand over these projects better and quicker.”
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.