SEATTLE — Happy crowds filled Sound Transit’s four newest light rail stations Friday, as communities north of Seattle welcomed their new 8 1/2 -mile refuge from generations of Interstate 5 traffic snarls.
The first train rolled out of Lynnwood just after 12:30 p.m., following an opening ceremony where political, labor and Tulalip Tribes representatives praised the $3 billion extension from Northgate to Lynnwood.
The service will help commuters “leave one of the most congested corridors in the country behind,” declared Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, vice chair of the Sound Transit governing board.
An estimated 1,000 people lined up midday at the Lynnwood stop, where security metered the flow of people to prevent dangerous crowding on the platform. A jazz band played below, next to the plaza’s steel hummingbird sculpture, and later in the day, parties were held at all four stations: Lynnwood City Center, Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline North/185th and Shoreline South/148th.
Bridget Shrack and Deanna Kreger, about 20 people from the front of the line for the first train, said they already take light rail “all the time.” Shrack looks forward to riding again Wednesday from Lynnwood to the airport, where she’ll board a flight to Hawaii.
Kreger, who lives near Shoreline South/148th Station, said she’s been “waiting for years for this, as I watch homes get demolished.” Mid-rise apartments are being built west of I-5, but boarded houses still surround the immediate station entrance east of the freeway.
“Once the [interest rates] go down, the developers will come,” Kreger said. “This is a long time coming.”
Kerm Kahlon and Harjinder Sandhawalia, who live nearby, were staffing a booth in Lynnwood for the Service of Core Humanity.
“I moved here in 1980. In ‘81, bought my first house,” Kahlon said. “We have seen so many changes. The population is growing and we only have two freeways, which are so congested. We needed something like this. I’m excited for the change.”
Sandhawalia, who lives in Mountlake Terrace, predicted that as more buildings take shape near the train terminus, “Lynnwood will be the new Bellevue.”
U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, who have a history of delivering federal infrastructure money to the Puget Sound region, attended the opening.
Light rail’s reach into Snohomish County will transform commutes for many who stew in I-5 traffic, ride a not-so-fast express bus or scramble to catch trains at Northgate, heading for the University of Washington and points south. Trains go from Lynnwood City Center Station to downtown Seattle’s Symphony Station in 30 minutes.
Eric Robles, checking out the trains in Shoreline, said he currently drives to his job in health care near UW, but will change many commutes to a train, saving a tank of gas per month.
“Now I don’t have to drive, pay for parking and deal with traffic,” he said. “So, yeah, I’m excited.” Robles said he’ll also bring his bike to UW station to ride the Burke-Gilman Trail, or to Green Lake. He also will use light rail to get to the airport.
“I hate driving and anything to do with traffic,” he said.
New stations also will change the housing landscape, where 10,000 nearby apartments are new, under construction or in the permit pipeline.
David Martinez, waiting Friday with his bicycle, said he moved to nearby Edmonds five years ago, “knowing light rail was on the way.”
Link will improve upon his former hourlong bus trip from the Ash Way park-and-ride a few miles north, offering “a lot more stability in my commute.”
For opening day, though, he had another goal in mind. “I’m going downtown to get bagels for my wife,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Lynnwood Link, along with extensions for the Eastside and South King County, was approved by regional voters in the ST2 sales-tax measure of 2008 — the night Barack Obama was elected president, and during a recession. That week, a transit board member called ST2’s win “an act of great generosity to our grandchildren.” While benefiting from rail, they’ll also pay their share of debts into the 2060s or beyond, to finance a 112-mile light rail network similar in length to Washington, D.C.’s Metro.
The next push north is scheduled for 2037 with stops at West Alderwood near the mall, Ash Way, Mariner, Highway 99 in South Everett (possibly) and Southwest Everett Industrial Center near Paine Field. Two final stations at Evergreen Way and downtown Everett are aimed for 2041, depending on cash flow.
In Lynnwood, project costs doubled to $3 billion while federal aid covered $1.2 billion in grants and $658 million in low-interest loans.
About 50,000 people a day are expected to board or exit a train in the four new stations and boost ridership to 100,000 to 136,000 along the whole 33 miles between Lynnwood and Angle Lake in SeaTac.
Sound Transit is unlikely to solve congestion, but light rail cruising at 55 mph could entice thousands to change travel habits.
During 2025 and 2026, the state will close three lanes of I-5 at shifting spots, including the Ship Canal Bridge, to replace worn-out concrete. Those blockages will make the train more essential.
With more passengers and less freeway space, the pressure only grows on Sound Transit to reduce frequent train stalls, and avoid repeating power outages such as those that blocked North Seattle service Aug. 1 and occurred twice this spring on the Eastside starter line. A couple hiccups occurred Friday, with an elevator outage in the Lynnwood parking garage and another at Mountlake Terrace station that lasted a couple hours.
This Labor Day weekend station opening is the biggest civic event in Lynnwood since 1979, when Alderwood mall opened its doors to 30,000 people.
Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell, who is on the Sound Transit board, calls light rail’s arrival even bigger, as a permanent option that didn’t exist before in south Snohomish County, and a catalyst for more housing in Lynnwood’s redeveloping downtown.
“We have been looking at this project for generations,” she said in a recent speech. “I remember in 2008, I couldn’t decide if I believed in Sound Transit, if I believed in light rail enough to actually vote for this project, and I didn’t see where it would happen within my lifetime.”
Frizzell recalled her daughters bringing up climate change and traffic congestion, and saying, “Think about how easy it’s going to be for you to get to a Mariners game.” Frizzell changed her mind, “and I’ve not regretted that decision.”
A century ago, Interurban trains to Seattle and Everett passed egg farms, which replaced logged-off timber, and before that Native hunting and fishing grounds, in what is now downtown Lynnwood. Now the old train route is a walk-bike trail next to the 1 Line.
Meanwhile, Sound Transit changed its fares Friday to a $3 flat rate for adults, regardless of distance; renamed the former University Street Station in downtown Seattle as Symphony Station; and established a cheaper ORCA all-day pass for $6 on light rail and buses. Riders no longer need to “tap off” with their ORCA cards (to calculate distance and fare) after a trip.
The longer train line will be tested this weekend by fans heading to Metallica concerts Friday and Sunday evenings at Lumen Field, and UW Huskies football Saturday night.
The Lynnwood line’s schedule of six trains per hour (slightly more at peak times) could double by early 2026, once contractors finish the late I-90 connection across Lake Washington, from South Bellevue to the International District/Chinatown station. When that’s done, trains from Bellevue will turn north to UW and Lynnwood, enabling 12 trains per hour each way.
