Elevated light rail tracks skirt Interstate 5 and a midrise residential building in Mountlake Terrace.
A Link train near Mountlake Terrace Station. (Peter Bohler / Sound Transit)

On Friday, August 30 celebrations continue with the opening of Sound Transit’s light rail extension to Lynnwood. Celebrate this new connection to Snohomish county with us in Mountlake Terrace, your light rail gateway into King County’s northern neighbor. We’ll be hosting a celebration social at Hemlock State Brewing starting at 6pm.

An all-ages venue, Hemlock State starting out of a garage in Shoreline (near another light station opening at month’s end) and now within two blocks of the new Mountlake Terrace Station. Come after your first ride on Lynnwood Link. There is no price to attend, but we ask that you RSVP on our event page so we get a sense of how many to expect.

Sound Transit is hosting their official ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11am at Lynnwood City Center Station, and then kicking off opening festivities at each of the four new stations at 4pm. That should mean the first surges of ridership should have cleared by our evening celebration, hopefully avoiding the long lines at platforms that plagued the East Link (2 Line) opening this spring.

The four stations opening with Lynnwood Link are Shoreline South (at N 148th Street), Shoreline North (at N 185th Street), Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood City Center. The extension spans 8.5 miles and will operate at eight-minute frequencies with mostly four-car trains during peak hours.

There’s much for transit advocates to celebrate lately. Community Transit’s Swift Orange Line opened in March, expanding Snohomish County’s bus rapid transit (BRT) network. In April, we celebrated the opening of the 2 Line in Bellevue’s Wilburton neighborhood, inaugurating light rail serve on the Eastside. King County Metro’s RapidRide G Line opens next month, adding BRT on Madison Street to add a fast, reliable connection between Downtown Seattle, First Hill, Capitol Hill, and the Central District.

2025 and 2026 should see three more line rail extensions with the Downtown Redmond Link Extension, Federal Way Link Extension, and the 2 Line’s Lake Washington crossing. RapidRide I Line is also aiming for a 2026 completion, linking Renton, Kent, and Auburn.

Urbanist meetups are a great opportunity to network, learn, and share ideas with like-minded folks. Whether you’re interested in transportation, housing, public space, sustainability, equity, or even if you’re new to urbanism, we invite you and especially our Snohomish County friends to join us. We are always looking to welcome new folks. Drop by to chat with some of your favorite contributors at The Urbanist.

We hope to see you there!

Event Details:

You can find out about other local events here.

Article Author

The Urbanist Events Committee leads programming and event planning for The Urbanist. Visit the events page for information on upcoming event we or our partners are hosting.