Sound Transit launches new website for visitors to learn more about Everett Link
What’s next for Snohomish County’s light rail after the Lynnwood Link extension opens – with light rail stations at Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood – in 2024? Sound Transit has launched a website to invite community members to learn more about the upcoming Everett Link Extension project.
The website, available at everettlink.participate.online, provides additional information on the Link Light Rail service from Lynnwood City Center north through Snohomish County with stops near regional destinations.
Sound Transit’s Everett Link Extension will add 16 miles and six new stations and a makeshift (unfunded) station on SR 99 / Airport Road, connecting Snohomish County’s residents to the regional light rail network. The project will also build an operations and maintenance facility to support the regional network.
In connection with the launch of the website, Sound Transit is also looking for members for a Community Advisory Group. The group will provide a forum for community members to learn about the development of alternatives for the project. The group will include local residents, transit drivers, business owners and representatives of community organizations that reflect diversity across the corridor, particularly colored communities, historically and institutionally underrepresented communities, systemically disadvantaged and others whose voices may not always have been heard or prioritized.
The Sound Transit Board takes into account recommendations and feedback from the Community Advisory Group in making its decisions. Anyone wishing to join the group should fill out an interest form online at https://bit.ly/CAGInterest by October 18. Interest forms are available in Spanish, Russian, and Korean.
In the fall, the project team will gather public opinions on various route and station locations in order to examine them more closely through a process called “scoping”. Scoping is a major milestone in the Everett Link Extension project. It is an opportunity for the community to share their thoughts on the Link light rail project and to help Sound Transit develop, evaluate and compare different routes, stations, operating and maintenance locations.
In August, the Sound Transit Board passed a plan setting 2037 as the timeframe in which the agency can afford to open service to the SW Everett Industrial Center and 2041 as the timeframe for service to Everett Station, based on current sales forecasts and cost estimates.
However, the board also identified a more ambitious goal of having a service opening for Everett Station in 2037 through intensive efforts to expand funding and control over project costs. This planned schedule, which is a year later than the original schedule for reaching Everett Station, requires additional funding and / or savings, as well as increased commitments to support local, state, and national partners.
For more information on the Everett Link Extension project, please visit: www.soundtransit.org/everettlink.