BELLEVUE, Wash. — Starting Saturday, April 27, people who live on the Eastside will have a new way to get around. After nearly a decade of construction, the East Link Extension will be open for service.
This new extension is almost seven miles long. It has eight stations to allow people to ride between South Bellevue and the Redmond technology area, and it will eventually go even further.
The part of the link that opens on Saturday will run every 10 minutes between 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. seven days a week.
"We were dreaming of it for almost 20 years, like it was so many steps along the way,” said current King County Councilmember and former Bellevue mayor Claudia Balducci. "It's been something that we have needed for a long time. Our businesses have been telling us they need this for a long time and our residents have been as well. So, it's definitely important to our economy and to our people."
The current Bellevue and Redmond mayors agree this light rail line is needed now and for the future.
“They can use the train to get around and go from their home to their work,” said Redmond Mayor Angela Birney. “But they can also get to parks, get to shopping, and connections.”
“I mean, we have the two largest employers on the east side in our cities. So, giving those tens of thousands of employees an opportunity to get to and from work,” said Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson, who added that the two cities are expecting significant growth over the next 20 years.
The Sound Transit Interim CEO said Saturday’s opening is big news.
“It's going to be a tremendous, tremendous boost to the east side economy,” said Sound Transit CEO Goran Sparrman. “It's literally been about two decades since the early primary work got underway.”
He said this project will have an even bigger impact when it is expanded to include two stations connecting to downtown Redmond in early 2025 and when the line expands to Seattle late next year with a Mercer Island station and a Judkins Park station that will connect to the existing Chinatown International District station.
“It really helps to transform the community and give great opportunities to everybody around it,” said Balducci.