The Sound Transit Light Rail line set to open by the end of March 2016, allowing quick travel between the University of Washington, Capitol hill and Sea-Tac Airport. The project has been stalled in the planning phase for 20 years, ever since voters approved the plan in 1996 and was originally supposed to be complete in 2006.
The 3.15 mile, $1.9 billion extension to Seattle’s light rail network connects Husky Stadium to the new Capitol Hill station, which will be opening concurrently. It is expected to serve 71,000 passengers by 2030.
In order to support the increase in passenger light rail travel, King County Metro is adding five new bus routes to its network and changing 30 routes.
Travel time between Husky Stadium and Capitol Hill by light rail will take just under five minutes, and the trip from the stadium to Sea-Tac will take under an hour, drastically reducing commute time for students and the greater Seattle community.
“The success of creating good bicycle, pedestrian and transit connections to light rail at Husky Stadium is going to be critical,” Josh Kavanagh, director of UW Transportation Services, said.
“These are not incremental tweaks to the system. It’s a significant reorientation that is going to focus on frequent and reliable service networks that connect to light rail.”
