Major delays announced for light rail expansion into Redmond, Lynnwood, and Federal Way
Aug 19, 2022, 6:43 AM | Updated: 7:47 am
Fall colors along the I-90 floating bridge (Sound Transit)
(Sound Transit)
The ribbon cuttings for Sound Transit light rail extensions are being pushed back again. Construction problems, a concrete workers’ strike, and other issues are pushing all the projects behind schedule.
East Link, Redmond, Lynnwood, and Federal Way. None of them will likely open on time.
Major construction flaws on the I-90 expansion from Seattle to Mercer Island will likely push the opening to Bellevue by a year or more, until sometime in 2024.
Workers are having to pull up 4-miles of track already put down on either side of the floating bridge because their concrete supports were built to the wrong dimensions or with bad concrete. There are problems with mortar pads, rebar placement, and track fasteners.
The Federal Way extension will likely be pushed more than six months, until 2025. A recent 200-foot-long landslide along the alignment made engineers realize the ground is more unstable than they thought. Workers will have to sink columns deeper into the soil than anticipated.
The Lynnwood extension is also facing 4-to-6 month delays, pushing the opening until 2025. Sound Transit is putting the blame for this delay squarely on the concrete workers’ strike earlier this year.
Redmond could also be pushed into 2025, primarily because of the problems with the track over I-90.
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Sound Transit interim CEO Brooke Belman told the board Thursday she takes no joy in this news:
“I want to emphasize that every challenge you’ll hear about today is resolvable and we will open these transformative projects, and we will do so as rapidly as possible with our chief priority being our passengers’ needs for safety, quality, and long term durability,” Belman said.
There are no new estimates on how much further over budget these problems and delays will make all of these projects, but Belman wanted to make it clear to the public that they will be finished:
“We are speaking to the ability to meet current schedules and not the ability to deliver light rail across the I 90 floating bridge,” Belman continued.
“We are 100% confident in the design and operability of the segment across the floating bridge and to complete the entire alignment.”
We shall see.
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