Sound Transit Opens Landmark $3.1 Billion Lynnwood Link Light Rail Extension Connecting Snohomish County to Seattle

Historic Cross-County Expansion Connects Snohomish County to Seattle

SEATTLE, Washington — In the most significant regional transit expansion in Pacific Northwest history, Sound Transit, alongside municipal partners and federal transit officials, has officially opened revenue service on the landmark $3.1 billion Lynnwood Link Extension. Stretching 8.5 miles north from Seattle's Northgate station through Shoreline and Mountlake Terrace to Lynnwood, the project marks the historic first time the region's Link 1 Line light rail system crosses county boundaries into Snohomish County.

Financed through regional voter-approved Sound Transit revenue alongside a competitive $1.17 billion Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the electrified rapid transit line provides a fast, congestion-free alternative along the heavily congested Interstate 5 corridor. The extension directly connects northern suburban communities to the University of Washington, Downtown Seattle, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Four Brand-New Architectural Passenger Stations

The 8.5-mile corridor introduces four newly constructed stations featuring contemporary architecture, native landscaping, integrated public art, and multimodal transit connections:

• Shoreline South/148th Station: Elevated station featuring an integrated 500-stall parking structure and direct pedestrian bridges over I-5.
• Shoreline North/185th Station: Grade-level station surrounded by mixed-use transit-oriented housing development with 500 commuter parking stalls.
• Mountlake Terrace Station: Elevated station seamlessly integrated with the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center freeway flyer bus hub.
• Lynnwood City Center Station: The major northern terminus featuring a five-story parking garage with 1,670 stalls, high-capacity bus bays, and civic plazas.

Each station features full Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility, high-speed elevators, illuminated platform canopies, and real-time passenger arrival totems.

Rapid Commute Times and High-Frequency Operations

By running on completely grade-separated rights-of-way, Link light rail slashes travel times to central commercial hubs. Commuters can travel from Lynnwood City Center to Downtown Seattle (Westlake Station) in just 28 minutes, to the University of Washington in 20 minutes, and to Sea-Tac Airport in approximately 56 minutes, completely unaffected by highway traffic jams.

Trains operate with high frequency, arriving every 4 to 6 minutes during peak morning and evening commuting hours and every 10 minutes during off-peak and weekend periods. Sound Transit deploys its state-of-the-art Series 2 light rail fleet manufactured by Siemens Mobility in Sacramento, offering spacious seating, digital passenger information displays, and dedicated storage racks for four bicycles per car.

Catalyst for Sustainable Urban Housing and Regional Decarbonization

Washington Governor Jay Inslee and local mayors emphasized that the Lynnwood Link serves as a powerful catalyst for sustainable urban development and climate leadership. Thousands of newly permitted transit-oriented apartments, mixed-income housing communities, and commercial retail centres are already opening within walking distance of the four new stations.

By taking an estimated 47,000 to 55,000 daily passenger trips out of single-occupancy vehicles along the I-5 corridor by 2026, the 100 percent carbon-neutral electric rail service dramatically curtails regional tailpipe emissions, advancing Washington State's statutory climate targets and delivering generational mobility equity to Puget Sound residents.