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Open house to highlight design work on East Link’s Mercer Island Station

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Community members encouraged to take part in the final design process for extending light rail

Community members are invited to get involved with the final design work that is underway for the East Link light rail extension at an upcoming open house focusing on the Mercer Island segment.  

Mercer Island segment open house
5-7 p.m.
Thursday, June 6
Presentation begins at 5:30 p.m.
Mercer Island Community and Event Center,
8236 S.E. 24th St., Mercer Island  

The East Link station serving Mercer Island will be located in the center roadway of I-90. East Link riders will enter the station at 77th Avenue Southeast and 80th Avenue Southeast, in close proximity to the Mercer Island Park-and-Ride lot. The station is being designed to advance the City of Mercer Island's goals of promoting mixed-use development in its Town Center.

East Link is scheduled to enter construction in 2015, with work on I-90 starting approximately one year later. Under a partnership between the state and Sound Transit, new 24-hour HOV lanes in both directions across Lake Washington on I-90 will be completed before the center roadway is closed for light rail construction.  

The final design process will advance design work from approximately 30 percent to 100 percent completion and will offer continuing opportunities for residents, neighborhood organizations, property owners and businesses to get involved. Attendees of this open house will learn about the Mercer Island station design. Staff will also discuss the process to establish a permanent station name.  

The scheduled 2023 opening of East Link will give Mercer Island residents fast and reliable access to destinations along a regional light rail system stretching approximately 50 miles. Islanders will reach downtown Seattle or downtown Bellevue in approximately 12 minutes and the University of Washington in 20 minutes.  

As the region's population continues growing East Link will provide expanded transportation capacity to the I-90 corridor. Increases in the length and frequency of trains over time offer the capacity to carry from 9,000 to 12,000 people per hour in each direction, which would more than double the person-carrying capacity of I-90. By 2030 East Link is projected to carry about 50,000 riders each weekday.