The Sound Transit Board will vote Oct. 10 on a resolution selecting the final route, profile, and stations for the West Seattle Link Extension light rail project. The decision, to be made on October 24, 2024, will mark a significant milestone in extending light rail service to West Seattle.

Download the resolution here

To participate in the meeting:

Hybrid Meeting – In person and Video/Telephone Conference

To participate in the meeting via video conference: https://soundtransit-

org.zoom.us/j/86806115993?pwd=pN6W0apVhJFYrauTAa9o9VZa9iWZzA.1

To participate in the meeting via telephone conference: Call 253-215-8782 or

253-215-0468, then enter Webinar ID: 868 0611 5993, followed by the “#” key.

Public comment can be sent via email to emailtheboard@soundtransit.org or during the board meeting either in person or via ZOOM or telephone.

The alignment includes:

1. A new at-grade SODO station west of the existing station, with a pedestrian bridge for access.

2. An elevated guideway crossing the Duwamish Waterway on a high-level fixed bridge.

3. An elevated Delridge station north of SW Andover Street.

4. A tunnel section through the West Seattle Junction, with an underground Alaska Junction station featuring entrances on both sides of SW Alaska Street.

5. A lidded retained-cut Avalon station beneath 35th Avenue SW.

The selected route aims to minimize community impacts while enhancing mobility and access. It features fewer residential displacements and a lower-height guideway through Delridge compared to other alternatives.

However, the project faces financial challenges. Recent cost estimates "substantially exceed" the estimate in the agency's long-range financial plan. The original cost in the 2016 vote was $1.7 billion. Now the estimate has risen to $7.1 billion. In response, the Board has directed staff to develop a work plan to address rising costs and improve the agency's financial situation.

Sound Transit is also in discussions with the City of Seattle and King County to analyze costs and potential funding sources for certain Board-directed scope elements. Up to $400 million in additional potential funding has been identified through various sources, including publicly-owned property and value capture from increased development.

The resolution follows the publication of the Final Environmental Impact Statement on September 20, 2024, and extensive public engagement throughout the project's development. 

Both Smartertransit.org and Rethinkthelink.org (RTTL) oppose the project. RTTL said in a statement, “This is the motion the Systems Expansion Committee will present at the meeting Thursday, October 10th.   You can comment on this in writing, and/or comment remotely or in person on the 10th.   Now that we know the route the committee has chosen, it is time to comment on the Final EIS.  We at rethinkthelink.org support the NO BUILD option.  Check out our website to view our alternative EIS-C 4.3.  Additionally, Sound Transit does not discuss the section that goes westward from 35th and Avalon up Andover.  This is Yancy but turns into Andover on the west side.  This section takes out many homes and cleaves the Avalon neighborhood in two making it impossible for people on one side of the street to cross to the other to see their neighbors of 25 years.  There is a dead-end cul de sac on the north side.  The double-track will be at grade for what is left of the street, and then curve behind the remaining houses into a retained cut."

When the decision is final, the project will advance to final design, with a projected completion date of Q4 2027. Sound Transit has set a target in-service date of 2032 for the West Seattle Link Extension.