Preparations continue for significant Link light rail maintenance activities beginning July 11, with periods when passengers will need to allow more time for trips as Sound Transit gets ready to open major light rail expansions.
Completing these “Future Ready” projects before the Link system more than doubles in length from 26 to 58 miles within the next few years will prevent impacts to far greater numbers of passengers.
"These Future Ready projects will pack a lot of work into a few months and will be disruptive to our passengers, but it’s important to do it now to avoid bigger headaches down the road," said Sound Transit Interim CEO Brooke Belman. "We have been scrutinizing our plans, looking for ways to reduce impacts, and we thank our passengers for their patience and advance planning as we tackle this necessary work."
In preparation for the upcoming work, passengers should sign up for Rider Alerts to make sure they receive further information as it becomes available. Throughout the service impacts, the agency will be providing frequent communication with passengers to help them plan their rides.
On July 11, one side of the tracks through Seattle's Rainier Valley will close for two weeks to enable platform work at Columbia City Station. The work involves removing platform tiles and mortar and rebuilding a concrete base to ensure new tiles offer good durability, eliminating tripping hazards and safety risks from cracking tiles.
Since Future Ready plans were initially announced, Sound Transit has continued to optimize its approaches to reduce impacts for many passengers.
The 20-minute train frequencies that were previously announced to be systemwide during work will now only apply between Stadium and Angle Lake stations. Sound Transit will instead strive to maintain 10-minute frequencies between Stadium and Northgate stations.
To enable this effort, every other 1 Line train headed south will terminate at Stadium Station rather than continuing on the single track that is open through the Rainier Valley. This requires southbound and northbound trains to take turns using that track. Passengers on the half of trains that must terminate at Stadium Station will have to wait approximately 10 minutes before boarding the next trains south — with wait times subject to fluctuations. We strongly encourage southbound riders to pay attention to the train’s head sign and wait for an Angle Lake train if traveling south of Stadium Station. This will prevent the need for a transfer at Stadium Station.
The first two-week period of construction at Columbia City will run July 11-24. Another passenger-focused improvement is to delay the second two-week period of construction at the station to Aug. 19-Sept. 1, avoiding two high-ridership sports events.
The next phase of Rainier Valley platform work, which has yet to be scheduled, will involve Othello and Rainier Beach stations. The shorter distances between crossovers where trains can switch tracks will reduce impacts and allow work at both stations to occur at the same time.
Later phases of Future Ready work, for which full details will be announced in advance, include:
Sound Transit will continue to work on detailed operating and passenger care plans for the Future Ready projects and thanks passengers for their patience and advance planning.
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