Sound Transit Gets $1.17 Billion Grant For Lynnwood Light Rail

SHORELINE, WA - The federal government will commit $1.17 billion in grant funds to the Sound Transit Lynnwood light rail extension, the agency said Thursday. The funding was in question after the Trump administration earlier this year proposed cutting funding for the project.

The Lynnwood extension will provide light rail access in Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood. The remaining cost of the $3.2 billion light rail line will come from taxes raised by the voter-approved Sound Transit 3 package.

The Trump administration has made some chilling anti-transit statements, putting projects like the Lynnwood extension at risk. In February, a proposed budget floated by Trump eliminated the $1.17 billion grant for Lynnwood, and eliminated about $500 million for a Federal Way light rail extension.

Acting Federal Transit Administration Administrator K. Jane Williams called the grant approval "extraordinary federal support" in a press release.

The Lynnwood extension will span 8-1/2 miles between Northgate in Seattle and the Lynnwood Transit Center. The line will run almost entirely along I-5. The new stations include:

• Northeast 145th Street at the Seattle/Shoreline border
• Northeast 185th Street in Shoreline
• The Mountlake Terrace Transit Center at 236th Street Southwest
• The Lynnwood Transit Center at 48th Avenue West

Sound Transit plans to open the extension by July 2024.

Patch file photo