(The Center Square) – Sound Transit’s Link light rail service to Federal Way is now open to riders, arriving five years after construction began.
Voters first approved the $2.5 billion Federal Way extension in 2008 as part of the ST2 package. Service was originally expected to reach Star Lake by 2023, but the project faced delays, including an unexpected ground instability issue in August 2022 that forced engineers to redesign a segment in Kent along Interstate 5. Construction ultimately began in summer 2020.
The new extension adds three stations to the Link system: Kent Des Moines, Star Lake and downtown Federal Way.
“The debut of the Federal Way Link Extension marks yet another progress milestone for Sound Transit and the region,” Sound Transit Board Chair and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said in a statement. “This extension brings Link that much closer to connecting all three counties of the Puget Sound region.”
The broader ST2 capital program carries a total construction cost of $17.9 billion. Funding for the Federal Way extension included a $790 million federal grant agreement from the Federal Transit Administration and a $629.5 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Eight years after ST2 was approved, voters approved Sound Transit 3 in 2016 – a larger package that established new agency taxes, including an increased sales and use tax and a maximum allowable rate of 25-cent per $1,000 property tax that costs the average King County homeowner $220 annually, $140 for average Pierce County homeowners, or $187 for a Snohomish County homeowner. The estimated 2026 levy rate is 16 cents per $1,000.
Officials touted the Federal Way Link extension finishing around its final projected costs, but the project had an original estimated cost of around $2.09 billion when voters approved the ST3 package. However, costs rose due to inflation and property values, jumping to roughly $2.5 billion by mid-2018.
As previously reported by The Center Square, Sound Transit’s 30-year financial plan – set at $150.5 billion – identified up to $34.5 billion in cost overruns for its capital projects due to cost growth on the agency’s capital program. The capital program includes major ST3 light rail projects that would connect the agency’s transit network to Seattle’s Ballard and West Seattle neighborhoods, Tacoma, Everett, South Kirkland and Issaquah.
The next Light Rail station set to open is the Pinehurst Station in Seattle, which is expected to open in 2026. It was part of the ST3 ballot measure.
