The West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions will provide fast, reliable light rail connections when they open in 2030 and 2035.
We know that seems far away. But building quality transit takes quality time.
Before construction crews turn their first shovels of dirt, thousands of hours of work goes into studying potential construction and operational impacts.
And there’s a tremendous amount of that work happening right now as we prepare to connect West Seattle and Ballard with the Link light rail system as it expands in all directions.
The Draft EIS, public and agency comment on the draft and the Final EIS enable the Board to select the project to be built based on an understanding of potential impacts from various alternative alignments.
The EIS considers a broad range of potential environmental impacts – from effects on noise levels and wetlands to neighborhoods and historic buildings.
Fieldwork 101
Staff and consultants are in the field right now studying how the project could affect both the natural and built environments.
Their activities include tree analysis, site reconnaissance, soil sampling and historic building inventory, to name a few.
Here’s a quick overview of the variety of work that's happening in the field right now.
Some of the work, like geotechnical drilling and noise monitoring, will be more visible to neighbors than other tasks, like the building-by-building evaluation to identify potentially significant historic resources.
Using tablets equipped with detailed mapping software, architectural historians from our consultant, Jacobs, are quickly and efficiently photographing and recording distinctive characteristics of buildings within the study area of the West Seattle and Ballard projects.
This is part of the work to comply with federal, state, and local regulations regarding the treatment of what are called “cultural resources.”
Over 1,200 structures (50 years old and older) within the study area are being evaluated.
The Draft EIS process takes about 18 months, said Lauren Swift, who manages the environmental work in this corridor for Sound Transit.
The alternatives identified by the board for the Draft EIS will go through environmental review before another robust round of public engagement.
The Draft EIS will be available for public and agency comment in early 2021.
The Board will select the project to build after the Final EIS is issued, which is expected to be in 2022.
Get involved
Are you interested in learning more about the alternatives we’re studying in the Draft EIS and what happens next in environmental review? Join us at an upcoming forum in your neighborhood.
Reach out to an outreach specialist for more information at wsblink@soundtransit.org or 206-903-7229.
Or join us at an upcoming neighborhood forum to learn more about the alternatives we're studying in the Draft EIS.
Nov. 20
Downtown - Station areas including Seattle Center, South Lake Union, Denny, Westlake, Midtown, Chinatown-International District
Central Seattle Public Library (Washington Mutual Room)
Nov. 21
West Seattle - Station areas including Delridge, Avalon and Alaska Junction
Alki Masonic Center
Dec. 3
Chinatown-International District Station
Union Station Great Hall
Dec. 5
Interbay/Ballard - Station areas including Smith Cove, Interbay, Ballard
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Dec. 7
Delridge Station
Delridge Community Center (gym)