Sound Transit is inaugurating Federal Way Link light rail service on Saturday December 6, capping off two decades of anticipation and work to make it happen. The 7.8-mile extension adds three stations south of Angle Lake, delivering light rail to Kent, Des Moines, and Federal Way for the first time ever.
Federal Way Link will extend the 1 Line to 41 miles in total length, making it the second longest light rail line in the U.S behind Los Angeles’s A Line. Expected travel times between Lynnwood and Federal Way will be 82 minutes. From the Federal Way terminus, Sea-Tac Airport will be 16-minute trip, the major league sports stadiums will be a 43-minute trip, and Downtown Seattle will take about 50 minutes, according to Sound Transit.
Federal Way will remain the southern end point for Sound Transit’s light rail network until at least 2035, when the 1 Line line is extended to Tacoma Dome, with stops in South Federal Way, Fife, and Tacoma’s Tideflats neighborhood.
“Seeing what this extension is going to do for Highline [College], other organizations, businesses, just the access for people to jobs and education everything else, it’s a huge life-changing moment for people,” Terri Mestas, Sound Transit’s Deputy CEO for Megaproject Delivery, told The Urbanist at a preview ride earlier this week.
For a sneak peek at the station designs of the three new stations, check out our article. All three stations featured elevated platforms with a distinct art program for each.
Opening day festivities
The opening day ceremony kicks off at 9:30am Saturday at Federal Way Downtown Station, giving elected officials plenty of time to speechify before the scheduled 11am start of service. According to published schedules, the first train to Lynnwood will be departing Federal Way at 11:01am, and riders hoping to be on the first train to run the full length of the 1 Line southbound between Lynnwood and Federal Way will likely need to be on the one departing Lynnwood at 9:46am.
If you’re not jumping on that first train for the bragging rights, you can also join The Urbanist for a group ride down to Federal Way from Capitol Hill Station on Saturday morning. Whichever train you catch, join us to celebrate at Mama Stortini’s Restaurant & Bar in Downtown Federal Way at 1pm.
From 11am to 3pm, each new station will also have opening day activities, including a prize giveaway for riders who enter by getting their ticket stamped at all three stations. Pick up your commemorative map and see prizes and instructions here.
Delays to Federal Way Link — major landslide risk forced redesign
Voters greenlit the project in 2008 as part of the ST2 ballot measure, but it was not fully funded until eight years later with the approval of Sound Transit 3 (ST3). When ST3 plans were being drawn up, Sound Transit had pledged a 2024 opening for the Federal Way extension, but construction issues forced a delay.
Sound Transit ran into an issue with soil conditions in Kent that were unexpectedly bad. A landslide during early construction work along the I-5 embankment next to the McSorley Creek Wetland exposed the issue, forcing the agency to quickly redesign the project to add a bridge dubbed “Structure C” to span this problematic section.
Luckily, the unforeseen issue only set the project back by about a year and a half, thanks to the agency’s quick work to overcome the problem. Needing to redesign a project once construction has started has the potential to be a much bigger setback on a large project like this one.
The great debate: SR 99 or I-5
Federal Way Link will remain one of the biggest examples of a missed opportunity for many Puget Sound transit advocates. From Angle Lake Station, Pacific Highway S — a segment of State Route 99 — seems like a natural choice as a pathway for continuing south, and was considered by Sound Transit as the agency mulled its options for getting to Federal Way. But Kent, Des Moines, and Federal Way all united around the idea of routing the alignment closer to I-5.
Sound Transit’s own alternatives analysis noted a much greater potential for transit-oriented development (TOD) if the SR 99 alignment was selected, with the I-5 alignment saving Sound Transit money by utilizing more excess highway right-of-way. In a comment letter for the project’s environmental review, the City of Des Moines brought up reduced driveway access, SR 99 lane closures, reduced parking, and a “permanent reduction in property values” as factors that led to the decision to push Link toward the highway.
Despite the fact that the writing was clearly on the wall for an I-5 alignment, transit advocates didn’t give up without a fight.
“We believe that the full SR99 alignment would maximize TOD opportunities, ridership potential, bike/ped/transit access, would do the most to meet our state and regional greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, and maximize future economic development potential,” read a 2015 letter signed off on by Transportation Choices Coalition, Cascade Bicycle Club, Puget Sound Sage, and the Housing Development Consortium. “The SR 99 alignment has the highest ridership, best TOD analysis at each proposed station location, offers the best potential to reduce municipal infrastructure costs, and will provide better access to regional destinations and amenities.”
After initially supporting an SR 99 alignment to activate its Midway area, the City of Kent pivoted to supporting a pedestrian bridge over SR 99 to get riders more safety across the highway, which is one of the most dangerous corridors for pedestrians in the region. That bridge never materialized, and the adjacent stop for King County Metro’s A Line bus remains a long walk away from Kent Des Moines Station.
Now South King County’s next generation of leaders will be tasked with making the best of what has been delivered, as King County Metro prepares to restructure bus routes in the area to better connect riders with light rail. Housing growth around the three stations has struggled mightily, though Federal Way has major visions for its station area in particular.
Saturday’s celebrations do ultimately reflect a major milestone for the entire region’s transit network, and for South King County in particular. Despite the rain in the forecast, Federal Way Link deserves its moment in the sun.
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.
Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrian streets, bus lanes, and a mass-timber building spree to end our housing crisis. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood and loves to explore the city by foot and by bike.