Cross-Lake Link 2 expansion opening day experience

 

Downtown Bellevue in the background, Lake Washington and the I-90 Floating Bridge as viewed from Sound Transit Link 2. Photo by Carl Dinse

By Carl Dinse

I didn't brave the early morning crowds and shuttles to the ribbon cutting event but instead drove to a friend's house in Lynnwood at about 10am Saturday morning. As a group we walked a few blocks from their residence to the Orange Swift line and took a short 15-minute ride from there to the Lynnwood Transit Center.

I haven't used public transit much for most of my life, certainly not for commuting as my commute situation doesn't have a good option outside of driving a vehicle. I have to say I am very excited for the region now that we finally have a good option for public transportation that bypasses traffic and gridlock. Seattle is growing up and becoming a real city.

Specifically for Shoreline, ever since we lost King County Metro route 342 a couple years ago we lost any efficient public transit option between Aurora Village and downtown Bellevue. The now completed cross-lake path on Sound Transit's link route 2 makes that path possible once again.

Back to Saturday morning, we got on a southbound Link 2 train at around 10:35am in Lynnwood and decided to ride it all the way to Marymoor Village station in Redmond so we could experience the entire route. In all, the entire stretch took us about 1 hour and 25 minutes and we encountered no traffic, just pauses as we stopped at each station along the way. 

On our way back we stopped at the Spring District Station, where they had a live DJ playing dance music, a photo booth, indoor market with a solo music artist performing, and a small petting zoo for the kids.

Spring District Station on Link 2 in Bellevue
Photo by Carl Dinse

After a coffee break at the Spring District, we got back on to Link 2 and headed to Mercer Island and caught the end of the party there which was hosted in the Mercer Island Park and Ride parking lot. There was a bunch of vendors, food trucks and a live band. There was also a very large crowd of people in attendance and waiting to get back on the Link heading towards Seattle.

Mercer Island Link 2 Station
Photo by Carl Dinse

We traveled westbound from Mercer Island across Lake Washington back to Seattle and stopped at the International District to have a late lunch and do a little bit of shopping before heading back north to Lynnwood.

View walking out of the Link Light rail station in the International District, Seattle.
Photo by Carl Dinse

A fascinating fun fact about this cross-lake opening is this is the first train in the world to cross a body of water on a floating bridge. The engineering involved to make that work is a world first, making Seattle once again a pioneer in civil engineering. 

It'll be a big deal in the history books of tomorrow's generation. If you are as nerdy as I am about how things work, this YouTube video explains in detail the challenges of rail on a floating bridge, and the complicated expansion joint system they had to design and build to make this all happen.

If you haven't used the link rail yet, I recommend giving it a try at least once, and exploring some of the neighborhoods it now connects to, especially on the east side. I plan to do some more exploring, especially this summer.

For more photos from opening day for Link 2 cross-lake extension, you can view them in my gallery linked here.