Eastside

Eastside

Eastside

The Seattle Times' Eastside section covers the news of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Woodinville, Issaquah, Sammamish, Mercer Island, Newcastle and other suburban cities in King County. Coverage areas include government, crime, community events and neighborhoods.

Sound Transit light rail’s impossible time horizons

Aerial view of work being done on Sound Transit Light Rail tracks (at center) going over the I-90 floating bridge, facing east towards Mercer Island (at top), Bellevue city skyline is at top left, shot Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Sound Transit predicts that Line 2 from Seattle to Bellevue over the I-90 floating bridge will open later in 2025. This is the part of the Line 2 East Link Extension part of Sound Transit’s Light Rail section that runs from Seattle’s International District to the Judkins Park station in Seattle, across the floating I-90 bridge to the Redmond Technology station in Redmond. The East Link Extension currently includes ten stations — International District station, Judkins Park station, Mercer Island station, South Bellevue station, East Main station, Bellevue Downtown station, Wilburton station, Spring District station, BelRed station, Overlake Village station and then the Redmond Technology station. Two more stations in Redmond, the SE Redmond Station and Downtown Station, will open in May of 2025. 229816 229816

Light rail across the bridge to Bellevue is delayed again, into 2026 — 18 years after it was approved. It’s a time frame so long it’s got some contemplating their mortality, writes columnist Danny Westneat.

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