SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Sea-Tac to UW in 45 minutes: Seattle’s new light rail line opens
Mar 18, 2016, 7:58 PM | Updated: Mar 19, 2016, 12:55 pm
King County Executive Dow Constantine welcomed state and federal officials at the opening of another light rail station Friday afternoon. (Dow Constantine via Twitter)
(Dow Constantine via Twitter)
Seattle is on the fast track.
U-Link opens to the public March 19. To commemorate the light rail line in Seattle, Sound Transit is holding a day of celebration.
“At 10 a.m. the new stations at Capitol Hill and the University of Washington open for service. At that point, every train going north will go all the way to Capitol Hill and UW,” said Bruce Gray with Sound Transit. “We’ll be looking forward to getting folks between UW and downtown in 8 minutes.”
Gray has already given the new line a try and he said it’s fast.
“You don’t have time to think about what it’s like because by the time you start thinking about it, you’re there,” he said.
Sound Transit is holding a day of events inside the stations, including:
• Live jazz, rock and hip-hop music
• Expo and game pavillions with games, selfie stations and more
• Food trucks
• Free commemorative items
Gray said that $2.25 will get a rider between UW and Westlake, and $3.25 to go from UW to the end of the line at Sea-Tac Airport.
“It’s a huge bargain and we are expecting thousands of people to take advantage of it. You are going to be able to rely on how long it will be able to take you to get there every time no matter how bad traffic is,” Gray said.
That trip from UW to Sea-Tac will take approximately 45 minutes, Gray notes.
Currently, the light rail system carries about 35,000 people a day during weekdays between downtown Seattle and the airport. By 2020, with the extended stations, Sound Transit expects that ridership to at least double.
But airport runs aren’t the only trips people take on Seattle’s light rail.
“I’m looking forward to taking the train from Columbia City up to Capitol Hill and enjoying the nightlife without having to worry about parking,” Gray said.
“We’re hearing from people who live in the valley who go to school on Capitol hill, Seattle Central or they commute up to UW every day, whether they are going to class or to the medical center or they are working,” Gray said. “This extension is really much more than the 3 miles from downtown to UW. It’s going to open up opportunities that we can’t even imagine today. Think about a kid in the valley and is daunted by the expense of living on campus. They can live at home and get to class.”
The UW station won’t be the newest stretch for long. Later in 2016, Sound Transit expects to open up another station at the south end of the line, further extending its reach there. That station will have parking for about 1,100 vehicles.
In 2021, three more stations will open up, extending the light rails line to Northgate. By 2023, the line will stretch all the way to Lynnwood, and additional lines will go to Bellevue and Redmond.
