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Community invited to join in Aug. 17 Northgate Link light rail groundbreaking

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Ceremony, family-friendly festivities get underway in Roosevelt at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 17

Community members are invited to take part on Friday, Aug. 17 as Sound Transit launches construction of the largest Sound Transit 2 project to date: the 4.3-mile extension of Link light rail service from Husky Stadium to the U District, Roosevelt and Northgate. Passenger service is scheduled to begin in 2021.

Northgate Link Extension groundbreaking and community celebration
August 17, 2012
3:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Groundbreaking ceremony-3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Community kick-off celebration-4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Location: Former QFC site at N.E. 66th Street & Roosevelt Way N.E.
(view map)

The community celebration provides a chance to involve the whole family in celebrating the expansion of regional light rail service. The celebration will include:

  • Live music by Roosevelt High School Jazz Ensemble, Nu Klezmer Army, the Illicit Jug Cartel and the Rolling Retreads
  • Face painter, balloon artist and train-themed bouncy house for the kids
  • Link train photo booth - bring your camera or camera phone
  • Zap Gridlock, Sound Transit's traffic-fighting superhero
  • Project information booths - learn the latest on the station designs, public art, bicycle parking and access, current Sound Transit service and more.

Northgate Link will run mostly underground offering fast service to UW and downtown Seattle 20 hours a day through the most congested traffic corridor in the region. A trip from Northgate to downtown will take 14 minutes. Northgate to UW will take eight minutes. For more information on Northgate Link see: www.soundtransit.org/Northlink

Voters approved Northgate Link in 2008 as part of the ST 2 vote to add up to 36 miles of new light rail lines to the north, east and south of Seattle. In 2023 Sound Transit is scheduled to open additional Link extensions from Northgate to Lynnwood and from downtown Seattle to Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond. In 2016 the agency will open an extension from Sea-Tac International Airport to South 200th Street, and next year environmental analysis and community involvement will get underway on options for extending light rail further south.

Construction continues to move forward toward a 2016 opening of the University Link light rail extension between downtown Seattle, Capitol Hill Seattle and Husky Stadium, approved by voters in 1996. Tunnel boring activities are now complete.

Sound Transit's funding partners in the Northgate Link extension include the Federal Transit Administration and Puget Sound Regional Council. Planning partners include the City of Seattle, University of Washington and King County Metro. The groundbreaking festivities are made possible thanks to the generous support of Jacobs Associates, LTK Engineering Services and NorthStar.