East Link Light Rail - Project Update

East Link is Sound Transit’s voter-approved project to build light rail transit from downtown Seattle to the Eastside with stations serving Rainier Avenue, Mercer Island, south Bellevue, downtown Bellevue, the Bel-Red corridor, and Redmond’s Overlake area. East Link will connect to the Link light rail line between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport that opens this year, and also to the University Link project connecting downtown Seattle and the University of Washington which is now under construction. Approved funding also includes continued environmental review and preliminary engineering for the Segment from Redmond’s Overlake area to downtown Redmond.

East Link Draft EIS

Sound Transit, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), published the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) for the East Link project on December 12, 2008. The public comment period for the Draft EIS lasted 75 days, more than the required 45-day period, and ended on Feb. 25, 2009.

On March 26, 2009, the Sound Transit Board was presented with a summary of the comments received during the Draft EIS public comment period. The Public and Agency Comment Summary is available online. This is only a summary document; and it is not intended to address every comment received. All the comments received and responses to those comments will be included in the Final EIS that is scheduled to be published in 2010.

Next Steps

Over the next several meetings, the Sound Transit Board will consider the information and findings in the Draft EIS, as well as the public and agency comments, in order to identify a preferred alternative. The preferred alternative, along with all the other alternatives, will be analyzed as part of the Final EIS process. After the Final EIS is published, which is anticipated to be in summer 2010, the Board will select the project to be built.

The tentative Board schedule* is as follows:

• Thursday, April 9, 2009 – Board discusses the alternatives
• Thursday, April 23, 2009 –Board discusses the alternatives
• Thursday, May 14, 2009 – Board discussion and potential identification of a Preferred Alternative.

*Please note the schedule now includes two meetings where East Link alternatives will be considered by the Sound Transit Board before a preferred alternative is identified. Public testimony on the East Link project is welcomed at each of the above listed meetings.

All board meetings are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. in the Ruth Fisher Boardroom at Sound Transit’s Union Station headquarters, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104. Board meetings and agendas are tentative and subject to change. Please check the Sound Transit online calendar here>>> for the latest information.

Board meetings are video taped and available for viewing on the Board video archive page here>>>

Stay Involved

You can be a part of the future by staying involved in the planning effort. Visit www.soundtransit.org/eastlink to view current information and to sign-up for electronic updates. Once you sign up for e-mail updates, you'll see a "Quick Subscription List" showing all of the updates available.

• Select Sound Transit Board & Committee Information for information about the activities of the Sound Transit Board.
• Select East Link Project Updates for updates on the East Link project.

Roger Pence
Community Outreach Coordinator
Sound Transit Link light rail
roger.pence@soundtransit.org