Sound Transit held its second open house June 7 at Madrona Elementary School for the future S. 200th St. South Link Light Rail extension and station in Sea Tac. The first open house was held at Sea Tac City Hall Oct. 5. Enlarged graphics were set up to illustrate station and parking designs, and highlight bicycle and pedestrian access improvements. It was well attended, as dozens viewed the graphics, maps, and asked questions to Sound Transit engineers and other staff in the school's music room.

Plans call for an elevated train to run 1.6 miles south of the current southern point, Sea Tac Airport, roughly running along 28th Ave. S., just west of International Blvd. and Angle Lake. A multi-level park-and-ride lot will be located just northwest of the station.The project is planned for completion in 2016. Rumors are that the next planned stop will be by Highline Community College, but other routes are also on the table, according to staff there, including a downtown Kent station option.

According to its website: www.soundtransit.org/S200thStreet, "This extension will coincide with the opening of light rail from downtown Seattle to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington in 2016, resulting in a system that is over 20 miles, creating over 2,000 jobs, acting as a catalyst for private development in communities south of the Airport, and improving access to the regional transit system all around."

Ron Kempkes, Design Manager, South Link Project, told the Highline Times, "The project was part of the original Sound Move back in 1996. Then environmental studies were done around 1999, so this route has been firmly established since then. There was an additional environmental studies done around 2005 for the airport link (…) We were able to accelerate this plan than what was planned in the (original) ST2 plan."

Miles Haupt, South Line Project Director, added, "I was the construction manager for the Sound Transit tunnel project from the University of Washington to Capitol Hill. I'm very happy about the success of that. So I'm very excited about this project, and looking foreword to being above ground for a while."

Sound Transit is now in the process of procuring a design contracting firm. That decision will be made by their board in September, with construction beginning in early 2013.