Transit

Eastside leaders speechified and cut the ribbon on the Downtown Redmond Link light rail extension on Saturday. Thousands thronged the 2 Line to get their first look at the two new stations that opened, bringing the full line to ten stations.

Trams get a lot of praise and criticism among urbanists and urban transportation advocates. Opinions vary wildly on their utility in cities, but Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes makes an in-depth case for why he thinks trams help create better streets, mobility, and land use environments than buses and other forms of urban rail systems at the local scale.

Light rail finally arrives in Downtown Redmond Saturday, the culmination of years of work by Eastside leaders to bring high-capacity transit to this growth hub.

The 2017 Marymoor Village growth center has led to a number of larger multifamily developments in the area around Marymoor Park in Southeast Redmond. This weekend, light rail finally arrives.

New apartment buildings like Eastline and Polaris have brought hundreds of units close to Redmond's forthcoming downtown light rail station. On the horizon are even bigger projects.

Redmond's 1993 Downtown Plan led to an urban transformation that saw the construction of over 5,000 new units between 2000 and 2020. This Saturday, light rail arrives to support that urban growth.

With a major dog park set to be a transit-accessible amenity along the Sound Transit light rail network, the agency is on track to reconsider its current policy that bans dogs and cats that aren't in containers.

The green light from the feds comes on the heels of the Sound Transit board advancing funding for West Seattle Link's design, in the face of increasing trepidation over costs.