Seattle light rail system opens July 18

Ends 40 years of struggle

Steve Hawley, Jul 17, 09.

After four decades of struggle, Seattle is scheduled to open its first light rail line on Saturday, July 18, according to the Associated Press. The article says that the opening festivities will “[end] the city’s dubious status as one of the nation’s largest without a dedicated rail transit system.”

The 13.9-mile system runs from downtown Seattle to a station north of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The remaining 1.7 miles to the airport will be opened in December. Officials expect 40,000-50,000 riders on the first day, dropping to 26,000 daily after that. The estimates are based on numbers from the recently-opened Phoenix light rail line.

The Associated Press states:

The line is probably the most complicated system in the country, as it runs through tunnels beneath downtown and Beacon Hill, at street grade in the city’s south end and on elevated tracks to the airport, [Joni Earl, president of the transit agency] said.

Work has started on a line running northeast from downtown to the University of Washington. Last year, voters approved extensions to the north, south and east that will boost the network to 55 miles by 2023. Longer-term plans call for trains to run south to Tacoma, north to Everett and east to Redmond.

Seattle has debated both light and heavy rail since the 1960s, but each proposal failed. Most recently, Seattle voters approved a monorail system only to reject it again in 2005 due to budget shortfalls.

Map of the Seattle light rail system