WA: Light rail inching its way to Tacoma. Federal Way Link line to open this year

Passenger service for Sound Transit’s Link 1 Line to Federal Way will begin in December.

It represents another step toward completing the so-called “spine” by extending the light rail to three stations in South King County, the regional public transit agency announced Thursday.

The 7.8-mile Link extension, which broke ground in 2020, will serve the following stations starting Dec. 6: Kent Des Moines, east of Interstate 5 at South 236th Street; Star Lake, at South 272nd Street and 26th Avenue in Kent; and Federal Way Downtown at the Federal Way Transit Center, according to the agency.

Trains will operate every eight minutes during peak hours, Sound Transit said.

“Today’s announcement on Federal Way shows that the region continues to make significant progress toward our mass transit goals,” Sound Transit Board chairman Dave Somers said in a statement. “This is one more step in completing the spine and providing relief from gridlock and more travel options for our residents. I look forward to the day we open Everett, and Tacoma, and the other key elements of the Sound Transit 3 package.”

The estimated $4 billion final segment connecting Federal Way to Tacoma isn’t expected to open until 2035, transportation officials have said.

In December, The News Tribune reported that the $2.5-billion Federal Way Link Extension was 94% complete but not anticipated to open until spring 2026. It had originally been scheduled to debut in 2024 before delays caused by a small landslide, which forced the construction of a bridge near South 259th Place in Kent, according to The News Tribune’s reporting and Sound Transit.

Sound Transit has said that the Link extension from Angle Lake, just south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, to South 320th Street in downtown Federal Way will be able to transport passengers from Federal Way to Sea-Tac Airport in 18 minutes and to downtown Seattle in 46 minutes, The News Tribune previously reported.

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