East Link Starter Line Opening

The first segment of Sound Transit's 2 Line is now open between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology! This new line features 8 new stations at Redmond Technology, Overlake Village, BelRed, Spring District, Wilburton, Bellevue Downtown, East Main, and South Bellevue.

The line from Seattle to Overlake was approved by voters in 2008. Following a turbulent planning period, the project was set to open in 2023, however, (long story short) construction quality issues on the segment between South Bellevue and Downtown Seattle caused a massive delay. Since the issues only affected the I-90 portion of the line, in August 2023, Sound Transit decided to move forward with opening an Eastside-only "starter line" in spring 2024. Spring 2024 is now here and so is the starter line! The remainder of East Link will hopefully open sometime in 2025. Another extension to Downtown Redmond is currently on track for early 2025.

It is definitely a little weird without the connection to Seattle, but it is much faster than existing bus service between Overlake and Bellevue and also makes it much easier to access BelRed and Spring District by transit. There are also plenty of opportunities to access the new line via bike with Eastrail at Wilburton station and two new bike/ped bridges at Overlake Village and Redmond Technology. If you want to get to the 2 Line from Seattle, you can take route 550 to South Bellevue or you can take route 545 to Redmond Technology.

This video showcases the new line, starting with the first westbound train from Redmond Technology and then each station from east to west.

0:00 - First train from Redmond Technology!
3:43 - Redmond Technology
5:04 - Overlake Village
7:29 - BelRed
8:38 - Spring District
10:23 - Wilburton
12:39 - Bellevue Downtown
14:24 - East Main
16:48 - South Bellevue

Thanks for watching!

All videos taken April 27th, 2024.