That Transit Show

Light rail is now running across a floating bridge.

Sound Transit’s Link 2 Line operates over Lake Washington, creating new connections between Snohomish County and the Eastside. It’s the first time in the world this has been done — but what does it actually mean for riders?

In this episode of That Transit Show, Monica Spain talks with Sound Transit Public Information Officer Rachelle Cunningham about:
  • Increased frequency with the 1 Line and 2 Line
  • What to know before boarding (head signs, transfers, airport trips)
  • Trip planning tools and tap-to-pay options
  • The engineering challenges of running rail over water
  • Why delays happened — and why safety came first
  • What to expect at new stations like Judkins Park
If you’ve been curious about riding across the floating bridge — or how this changes travel in the Puget Sound region — this episode is for you.

Contact Community Transit security: 425-521-5900
Contact Sound Transit security: 206-398-5268

Watch the video version of That Transit Show on YouTube.

Creators and Guests

MS
Host
Monica Spain
HY
Producer
Henry Yarsinske, Jr.
Producer
Laurel McJannet
Digital Content Strategist at Community Transit

What is That Transit Show?

That Transit Show is produced by Community Transit in Everett, WA. It highlights the people, services, and stories behind public transportation in Snohomish County, Washington.

Episode: That Transit Show
Topic: Sound Transit’s 2 Line across Lake Washington
Host: Monica Spain
Guest: Rachelle Cunningham

[00:01]

Monica Spain: Welcome to That Transit Show. I’m Monica Spain, and guess what? It’s here. Sound Transit’s Link 2 Line is running across Lake Washington. Today we’re talking with Rachelle Cunningham, a public information officer at Sound Transit. She’s going to tell us everything we need to know. Welcome aboard.

[00:21]

Monica Spain: Well, Rachelle Cunningham, welcome to That Transit Show.

Rachelle Cunningham: Thank you. It’s so great to be here.

Monica Spain: I know we’re both public information officers. I’m at Community Transit, you’re at Sound Transit. We’re on the phone every week, but we rarely get to see each other in person.

Rachelle Cunningham: It’s true. I think the last time we got together was maybe one of the last Link openings. It was Redmond or one of those.

Monica Spain: Exactly. Got to do these more often.

Rachelle Cunningham: I totally agree.

[00:46]

Monica Spain: We’re talking about the 2 Line today, which is just so exciting. The 2 Line is open now. Dow Constantine, the Sound Transit CEO, called this “the most transformative and consequential day for transit in our region.” That’s big, Rachelle. This is big for Sound Transit, big for people who live here. It’s big for everybody in the entire region.

Rachelle Cunningham: He’s not wrong. He’s absolutely right. This connects north-south, east-west. We really have a transit network now rather than a couple of separated lines and bus service. Transformational is the word.

[01:24]

Monica Spain: Tell me what it felt like the first time you rode the 2 Line, especially across the floating bridge, because that’s something really new. It’s not just new for the region. Isn’t it the first time anywhere?

Rachelle Cunningham: Yeah, it’s the first time in the world that this has ever been done. It was very exciting. I think the most interesting thing about the first trip over the floating bridge was that you aren’t even really aware that you’re going over a floating bridge. It doesn’t move or anything. It’s just like any other track. But you look out the window and there’s this beautiful view of Lake Washington and the mountain if it’s out. So it was super smooth, super easy, and kind of surreal, I guess, because it has been such a long time coming.

[02:07]

Monica Spain: It has been a long time coming, and we’ll talk a little bit about that. But tell us, what new opportunities do people have for getting around the region? You mentioned north-south, east-west. What’s going to open up for people?

Rachelle Cunningham: So many things. Everything, really. I’m a Snohomish County resident myself, so I think this is going to be great for everybody. But for us up in the north end, it’s going to be amazing because we have all of the options right there. The 1 and 2 Lines are both going to serve Snohomish County, so we’re going to have twice the frequency to get places. Well, except for the airport. We’ll talk about the airport. But we’re going to have twice the frequency and a lot more capacity. Your wait time is less, you can go to the Eastside, and you can go to the airport with a transfer unless you get on a different train. As people think about all the different places they can go, they have to pay a little more attention to the train they’re getting on, whether it’s a 1 or a 2.

Monica Spain: So that means looking at the head signs?

Rachelle Cunningham: At the head signs, yes. And there should be announcements in all the stations. The 2 Line is only going to run two-car trains, so those will be shorter. During simulated service, we’ve been saying, “Shorter train, shorter trip,” but the trip will be long if you stay on the 2 Line once service begins.

[03:30]

Monica Spain: With simulated service, I’m sure you got a lot of feedback. What kinds of things did you hear, and how is that experience going to be different now that it’s open?

Rachelle Cunningham: We heard that people were very happy to have the extra trains. People love being able to step up to the platform and wait only about four to five minutes rather than the eight to ten minutes we’ve been used to. The difference between simulated service and regular service is that the 2 Line trains will not end in the International District. They’ll stop there, and you can get off, but that won’t be the last stop. If you stay on, you’re going to the Eastside. So people who get on the 2 Line will have to be prepared to get off if they’re not going to Bellevue, Mercer Island, or Redmond.

Monica Spain: Say I miss that stop. Where am I going to get off, and how much time do you think it’ll take to get back on track to where I wanted to go?

Rachelle Cunningham: The good thing is you won’t have to cross the lake. We’ll have a station at Judkins Park, which is still in Seattle. That’ll be the first stop after International District as the train heads east. So you can get off there and head back. You’d probably only have to wait a few minutes to make the transfer. If you’re going to the airport, you’d have to transfer again when you go back to International District, so probably don’t do that if you can avoid it. There are also bus options. If you got off the train at Judkins Park, there are bus options that could help you get to the airport too. The trip planners are going to be really useful as people start going different places, whether it’s Marymoor Park for concerts, the airport, or Bellevue for shopping. And people in Snohomish County aren’t going to have to switch trains to do that.

Monica Spain: It’s going to be awesome. So exciting.

[05:20]

Monica Spain: Let’s talk about the trip planning tools, since you brought it up. There might be people who, for the first time, are thinking about taking light rail. Maybe it hasn’t been convenient before, or maybe they work on the Eastside and this is an opportunity to leave the car at home. Can you walk us through how to plan a trip if you’re going to the Eastside? What tools would you use? Where would you start?

Rachelle Cunningham: I think I would start on soundtransit.org. On the top of our webpage, on the left, is the trip planner. It has options for Link, ST Express, and Sounder. So make sure you click on the Link icon, or you can probably just put in the address you want. You probably have to know which mode you’re taking, whether it’s Link or bus.

Monica Spain: Yeah, which line.

Rachelle Cunningham: Yeah. It’s not super intuitive yet, I think, but we’ll get there.

Monica Spain: So if I’m a Google user, I can also use that?

Rachelle Cunningham: Absolutely. Kind of whatever you’re more comfortable with. The Transit app works really well too. Fortunately, we have all of these online tools that people can use.

Monica Spain: Yeah. And you guys have a good trip planner too.

Rachelle Cunningham: We have a trip planner. We also have a couple options for people. We tell people to call customer care. If you don’t have a phone or if you want more personalized service, people can call us and we’ll walk them through that. We also do one-on-one trip planning.

Monica Spain: That’s handy.

Rachelle Cunningham: Yeah. We will actually ride with people from their house all the way over to Redmond now if that’s where they want to go.

Monica Spain: So that’s amazing.

Rachelle Cunningham: We want to make it easy for people, and I know you guys do too.

Monica Spain: That’s part of why we’re talking today. Another thing is payment. There are now new options to pay in the region. There’s tap to pay, so people can use their credit card or their phone wallet. Can they buy tickets also?

Rachelle Cunningham: They can for the train, yes. If people want a paper ticket, we still have the ticket vending machines at all the stations. But it’s pretty easy just to tap your credit card or your ORCA card. We also have the Transit GO app that people can use. Pretty much any way that you’re able to pay for it, we’ll take it.

Monica Spain: We’ll get you where you need to go.

[07:47]

Monica Spain: As a Snohomish County person, what other destinations are you excited about being able to frequent? Where do you want to go on the train?

Rachelle Cunningham: Everywhere. For people in this region who haven’t experienced the 2 Line on the Eastside yet, because before this you had to drive to the Eastside, it’s a really scenic view. It’s a really pretty trip. Downtown Bellevue is great. I’d go there. There’s also an arts district in the Spring District area where there’s a ton of art. I’d go there. In Redmond, you’ve got the Microsoft campus. There’s a really pretty bridge there that people can see. There’s a good coffee shop right by the station. I think it’s called Doat Coffee, but I’m not really sure. And then downtown Redmond is the terminus, and there are tons of things there. Redmond Square is right there, and lots of things are walkable. You really can’t go wrong, and people might just want to hop on to see what’s there. It’s a really pretty ride.

Monica Spain: It’s funny, because I used to work on the Eastside and you mentioned some of these places. I haven’t been to any of them in a long time. One of the reasons is I didn’t want to drive there. So yeah, you could make a day of it. A lot of people think about taking the train for work or to go to school, but what I hear you saying is make a day of it. It’s a beautiful view.

Rachelle Cunningham: It really is. It’s not just for work. I think we’re finding that people’s travel patterns have changed after the pandemic. It’s more of an all-day thing. People are using the train and transit to get everywhere now, which is just awesome.

[09:39]

Monica Spain: That view over Lake Washington is obviously beautiful, but I want to hear about what went into actually making that happen. I know this was huge from an engineering standpoint. I’m sure there are other places in the world looking at what Sound Transit has done and asking a lot of questions. In a way that everyone can understand, tell us about that.

Rachelle Cunningham: The planning for it has been going on for decades, really since the 1970s. The I-90 bridge was constructed, or reconstructed, to accommodate high-capacity transit. There was a legislative body put together, sort of a blue-ribbon panel commission, and they analyzed all of the challenges. They identified more than 20 issues that had to be overcome in order to build light rail on the bridge, and we did.

A few of the biggest things were the weight, obviously, because it’s floating. So we had to find lighter-weight rail. The fixation had to be different because you don’t want to drill holes in the bridge. There was water coming onto the bridge. There was the weight of it. You’re running electrical trains on water, so we had to figure out how to deal with the electrical current because if that got back into the bridge structure over time, it would corrode the steel. We want the bridge to be strong for its entire lifetime, so we had to figure out how to deal with that.

A lot of smart people really thought about this. I think one of the challenges people are probably most familiar with is what we call the track bridge, which goes over the expansion joints where the fixed bridge meets the floating bridge. At that point there’s some motion. The bridge moves in six different directions depending on traffic, wind, waves, and other things. So it was a matter of figuring out a way to get a train, which is very rigid, to transition through this wiggly little part. The track bridge is built with bearings and things they use in seismic applications, like for building structures, to keep buildings from moving or being damaged during seismic activity. These react to the bridge as it moves and keep a smooth, straight path for the train to travel. You won’t even know it. It’s pretty amazing.

[12:19]

Monica Spain: That was pretty brilliant. A relative of mine grew up in Bellevue and always talks about how they had a Volkswagen bus, and when they were going over the bridge, they’d roll down all the windows so the air could pass through. So it’s a similar kind of situation where wind can affect things. It sounds like everything you did with this construction was meant to mitigate that.

Rachelle Cunningham: A lot of it was, yeah. We actually post-tensioned the bridge, which meant we put steel cables from either end and pulled them tightly together to make the bridge more stable and keep it from microcracking and all of that. A ton of work went into this, and it’s been tested and is working just as expected. So it’s very safe, very smooth, and very cool.

[13:11]

Monica Spain: I’ve heard people talk about frustrations with the delays and things like that with this project. Can you help us feel good about why that happened?

Rachelle Cunningham: Yeah, there were some delays. Some of it was COVID, when everything sort of shut down. That slowed things down. There was a concrete strike that slowed things down. Specific to this project, we had some construction quality issues that we discovered, not on the bridge itself, but on some of the highway structures at either end of it. It was frustrating to have to fix those things, but at the same time, we wanted to do it right rather than do it fast. So we took the time to replace all of those. They’re called plinths. They’re the blocks that hold the rail. By getting through that and making sure they’re right, everybody can be confident now that it’s a system that’s operating and will keep operating smoothly for a long time to come. I hope now that we’re up and running and people can really take advantage of this, we won’t worry about that so much anymore.

Monica Spain: I hope so too. Just enjoy the view.

Rachelle Cunningham: Enjoy the view.

[14:38]

Monica Spain: As far as the stations go, what might people notice? Is there anything different at any of the stations? I know there’s different art that kind of designates each station, but what other things might people notice?

Rachelle Cunningham: Mercer Island Station and Judkins Park Station are the two new stations. They’re kind of in the freeway right-of-way, so you’re going to notice that they have sound walls and the freeway is right there. They’re very easy to get to. Mercer Island has a parking area. Judkins Park doesn’t have parking, but you can get to it from two sides. You can get to it from the park right there, and you can also get to it from the street.

There is an at-grade crossing, and this is something we should make people aware of too. That means there is an area at Judkins Park Station, and others on the Eastside, where the track actually crosses a walkway. So people need to really be aware of their surroundings. Take your headphones off. Don’t look at your phone, because you’re going to be crossing an active trackway. There are barriers and alarms and things, but people need to know that there may be a train coming pretty quickly. That’s a new thing for a lot of people.

The stations are big. They’re actually really pretty. You mentioned the art. There’s public art at each of the stations. At Judkins Park, we have Jimi Hendrix-themed art because that was around his area there. I don’t know all the details because I’m not a local, but there’s also artwork by Barbara Earl Thomas, a well-known local artist, throughout the platform itself. So it’s really pretty.

Monica Spain: Oh wow. That sounds great.

Rachelle Cunningham: Yeah. And Mercer Island has boats and more of a nautical theme in keeping with the island and the lake.

[16:37]

Monica Spain: You mentioned parking, and parking has been an issue at Lynnwood City Center. I’m wondering what advice you have for people in terms of planning ahead. If they’re going to drive part of the way, what do people need to know about parking?

Rachelle Cunningham: Don’t count on it. That’s sad to say, but if you’re going to a big event or commuting in the morning when everybody else is, you have to be aware that it’s not likely you’re going to get a parking spot at Lynnwood. As many spots as there are, they fill up really fast. It’s a super popular station. What I’ve personally done is driven to Northgate. There’s a lot of parking there if you can stand the traffic that far. But this gets back to the whole idea that we’re a system now. It’s about finding another way to do it, finding another place to park, and maybe taking a bus ride in from there, which is what I’ve learned to do. I actually take the Orange Line into Lynnwood City Center. I think a big educational part of this is getting people to think beyond just getting on the train.

Monica Spain: That’s a really good point. There are other park-and-rides in Community Transit’s service area that are less busy. And like you said, you can take the Orange Line to Lynnwood City Center. I think people should look into that. Again, it goes back to planning ahead. Call us at customer care, use the online trip planning tools, and look at all the options. Bus plus train, driving a little farther, carpooling. We also have microtransit. We have Zip Shuttle, and that serves Lynnwood City Center. So if you live within the service area, you may even be able to take Zip Shuttle to the train station.

Rachelle Cunningham: Very cool.

[18:58]

Monica Spain: You mentioned big events, and we have probably the mother of all events coming with the World Cup this summer. And of course there are Mariners games, concerts, and other things. This seems like a really great option for people to explore.

Rachelle Cunningham: It does, yeah. Frankly, we’ve taken a lot of time this year. People may have noticed we’ve had some shutdowns for maintenance. We’ve implemented monthly extended maintenance windows just to make sure the system is operating properly and consistently to get people to all of these games and events this summer. It’s been a little challenging for people on the weekends as we’ve shaped things up, but it makes sense because there are going to be a lot of people riding the system.

Monica Spain: There are going to be people from out of town too. This is an international event.

Rachelle Cunningham: Yes. So wayfinding and signage will be really important. Some of the announcements in stations and on trains are going to be in different languages as well. We know a lot of people using the system will not be locals and won’t know the places, so we’re trying to make it as easy as possible in their languages and make the signage as clear as possible. We’re also going to have a lot of staff ambassadors out during that time to help people who need a little more support. All of our employees are going to be out during the World Cup at our stations to help.

Monica Spain: It’s going to be so fun.

[21:16]

Monica Spain: Talk a little bit about safety on the system and what people should know if they see anything. It’s rare that something happens on transit that affects people in an adverse way, but things happen, or someone might just be wondering.

Rachelle Cunningham: Sure. Security and safety are very important to people and very important to us. We have security personnel at each of our stations. They’re there to assist and take care of any issue that may happen there. On the trains, we have security riding throughout the system, though not on every single train. If people see something strange or they’re uncomfortable, we ask them to text or call our security number. I don’t have that off the top of my head.

Monica Spain: That’s OK. We can add it later and put it in the notes on our podcast.

Rachelle Cunningham: Great. People can text if they’re not comfortable making a phone call. They should know what train they’re on and what direction they’re heading. Each of the cars has a number near the top.

Monica Spain: Where do you look for that?

Rachelle Cunningham: It’s at the ends of the cars and it’s usually pretty big. Tell them what car you’re on. Then they’ll call security, and at the next station, the people there will board the train and help. They’re usually very fast. I’ve called a few times just because things looked a little sketchy, and they’re always really good about coming on, seeing what’s happening, and giving that presence there. It is rare, but we want everyone to be prepared and feel confident.

Monica Spain: Absolutely. And if it’s an emergency, always call 911.

[23:10]

Monica Spain: I think a lot of people assume that, especially with travel patterns changing after the pandemic, it’s always going to be faster to hop in the car and drive across the bridge or drive to the airport. What would you say to someone who thinks light rail can’t compete with that?

Rachelle Cunningham: I think when you talk about speed, you also have to talk about reliability. Those things go together. At some times of day, yes, you might be able to get there faster in your car, but you never know what’s going to happen. There could be an accident, a road closure, or something else that slows things down. The real benefit of light rail is the reliability of it. You know from start to finish how long it’s going to take you to get there. I would say it’s not always the speediest trip, but you’re able to plan ahead and consistently get there when you need to get there.

Monica Spain: What are some travel times to common places people might want to go, like the airport or large employers such as Microsoft, from Snohomish County?

Rachelle Cunningham: If I were leaving for the airport, I’d probably give myself an hour and a half. That sounds like a long time, but that way you’re comfortable and not worried. If you’re going to the airport, get on the 1 Line if you can. If you can’t, then you’ll need to transfer somewhere between Lynnwood and International District, so that would take a few extra minutes. If you leave an hour and a half to get to the airport, you’ll be in really good shape. It would probably be about that long too if you were going to Microsoft on the far Eastside. Maybe a little more than an hour. But that’s time you can spend reading a book or doing some work instead of pulling your hair out.

Monica Spain: Is there Wi-Fi on the train?

Rachelle Cunningham: There is not Wi-Fi on the trains, but there is cell service, so you can work around it.

Monica Spain: Personal hotspots.

Rachelle Cunningham: Exactly. Another good thing about coming from Snohomish County is you pretty much always get a seat. So if you’re going somewhere, you can bring your luggage on or just get comfortable.

Monica Spain: I think we have it the best in Snohomish County. Those little extras make it even more compelling.

[25:40]

Monica Spain: With the travel times we’re talking about, what about coming home to Snohomish County? Say I’m going to a concert at Marymoor Park. What do I need to know about how late these trains run? Are there any changes to the hours?

Rachelle Cunningham: That’s a really good question, especially with summer coming up and everybody going to Marymoor Park. The hours are generally from about 5:00 in the morning until midnight on both lines. That should give you enough time to get back to the train from a concert at Marymoor, and from most baseball games.

Monica Spain: We had a couple long ones this year, didn’t we?

Rachelle Cunningham: Oh my gosh, yes. In those cases, we just started what we’re calling the night bus. I don’t have a whole lot of details about that, but it’s basically a service where people can take the bus from the airport or downtown during the times that Link isn’t running.

Monica Spain: This is night owl service running overnight?

Rachelle Cunningham: Yes, to accommodate that kind of thing.

Monica Spain: Because you want to plan. That’s another thing. Community Transit service doesn’t run super late. So if you’re coming back late on the train, because your hours are later than ours, you need to plan how you’re going to get home because a bus may not be running by the time you get back.

Rachelle Cunningham: Exactly. That’s the planning-ahead part. This is all about planning.

[27:12]

Monica Spain: Speaking of looking ahead, what is next, Rachelle?

Rachelle Cunningham: Oh my gosh, what is next? I don’t know. I’m still just loving this. But this actually completes the ST2 program that voters approved. The next thing will be Pinehurst Station in Shoreline, which will open in 2026. Beyond that, I think it’s buses. We have Stride bus rapid transit that’s being constructed. That also helps folks on the Eastside. It’ll be over I-405, and you can get to Renton. It connects with Link at Bellevue and Lynnwood, and I think Shoreline too. So it’s just expanding this network and making more options for getting places, not just car or train. Now you’re going to have car, bus, train, all of it.

[28:15]

Monica Spain: Well, this is really exciting. I’m sure you’ve worked on this for a while, and it’s great to see it happening and people using it. It’s so great having you here, Rachelle.

Rachelle Cunningham: Thank you. It’s been a lot of fun. I appreciate it.