A week ago today, Sound Transit inaugurated revenue service on the 2 Line, delighting thousands of people across the region who turned out to try Link light rail. The 2 Line currently serves eight stations in Bellevue and Redmond, but it won’t be long before it expands east and west, connecting the Eastside to Seattle and the 1 Line and adding two stations to the east in downtown Redmond, NPI’s hometown.
For many Puget Sound residents, that expansion can’t happen soon enough. While it’s wrong to say the 2 Line in its current incarnation doesn’t go anywhere, the 2 Line was always supposed to connect to the 1 Line, and when it does, it will be possible to get to a lot more places on the train without having to transfer to a bus.
Those who aren’t transportation reporters, urbanism-focused activists, or railfans might be wondering what’s going on with the part of the 2 Line that’s still under construction between downtown Seattle and South Bellevue. Why wasn’t it ready for last Saturday’s opening like the rest of the extension? What’s the holdup?
In a couple of words: Bad workmanship.
Sound Transit’s intention was to open the entire 2 Line last year, but construction defects on the cross-lake segment, known internally as Contract E130, forced those plans to be scrapped. The agency found that concrete plinths supporting the tracks on the east and west approaches to the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge hadn’t been built properly by the contractor, a joint venture between Kiewit and Hoffman.
This discovery prompted a review that led to even more unhappy revelations, as recounted by former Deputy CEO Kimberly Farley in an August 2022 memo to Sound Transit’s interim CEO Brooke Belman (who was later succeeded by Julie Timm):
We first began identifying these issues in 2019.
They included concrete placements that were too low, and, in some cases, comprised of poorly consolidated concrete, with voids below rail fasteners.
To address the low concrete placement and voids, the contractor installed repair mortar that was approved by Sound Transit to make up the difference.
Beginning in fall 2020, repair mortar placed under the fasteners was first observed as failing. This led to an investigation by the project team that identified further quality issues encompassing several types of poor concrete workmanship, including concrete placements that were too low, too high, constructed to the wrong geometry, or resulting in voids under rail fasteners.
Working with Sound Transit, the contractor proposed several solutions to address these various issues. First, the failing repair mortar was removed.
Where installing an approved repair mortar was a viable solution, the contractor proposed doing so. Where that solution was not viable, the contractor has been demolishing concrete from the plinths to a level that would allow reconstruction to the quality required by the design.
Most of 2021 was spent determining the extent of the needed repairs, further developing solutions and starting the repair mortar removal/replacement and initial concrete demolition. In some cases, entire plinths, or the top portions of plinths, needed to be demolished and replaced. In the process of implementing those repair mortar fixes, Sound Transit’s inspectors discovered further deficiencies, such that the overall scope of the challenges has increased rather than decreased.
Beginning in 2022, the repair work progressed to a point where the steel reinforcing bars (rebar) embedded within the plinths could start to be seen.
At this stage, additional quality issues and deviations from the design were identified, including instances where there is 1) too little or too much concrete covering the rebar; 2) incorrect rebar spacing and embedment within the plinth; and 3) missing rebar. These deficiencies raised concerns regarding the integrity and durability of the plinths.
Kiewit and Hoffman have done a lot of other work for Sound Transit — work the agency has been very satisfied with — so it’s especially perplexing that this high-stakes project went so awry. During the 2 Line preview ride last week, I caught up with Ron Lewis, Sound Transit’s Executive Director for Design, Engineering & Construction Management (DECM), to talk about what’s happening with the rest of the 2 Line.
“Any one [of the defects] perhaps could have been accommodated,” Lewis told me. “But when you add them up together and look at it as a system, we were uncomfortable. So, you get to a breaking point where you say the cumulative workmanship means you’re not getting the product that we designed. And you have to make a decision.”
“Are you able to live with that or not? We said no.”
Kiewit and Hoffman are “approaching eighty percent build back now,” Lewis said.
“When you compare what was built before and what’s built today, there’s a noticeable difference in quality, and that means safety along with durability,” he added.
The two contractors brought on different staff, instituted additional training, and implemented stronger quality control measures to ensure taxpayers get what they’re paying for. Agency staff understandably want a quality product that lasts.
Once Kiewit and Hoffman finally deliver the infrastructure they were supposed to have completed several years ago, Sound Transit will be able to start testing out the tracks and preparing for revenue service — a multi-step, multi-layered process. The agency is hoping to have light rail running across Lake Washington sometime in 2025, but it isn’t ready to commit to an opening date yet.
Here’s what you can look forward to when the 2 Line links up with the 1 Line:
- Two new stations will join the system: Mercer Island and Judkins Park (you can get a bird’s eye view of both by checking out our 2021 aerial tour)
- Train frequency on the 2 Line will increase to every eight minutes in peak hours
- It will be possible to get to T‑Mobile Park, Lumen Field, the University of Washington, the Kraken Community Iceplex at Northgate, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Benaroya Hall, the Seattle Central Library, Washington State Convention Center, and many other destinations on foot without having to switch modes
- The 2 Line will consist of fourteen miles of track and ten stations
Additionally, work continues on two new stations to the east: Marymoor Village and Downtown Redmond. When those are done, adding 3.4 miles of track, the 2 Line’s terminus will no longer be in the heart of Microsoft’s campus, it’ll be the middle of Downtown Redmond, which is seeing an explosion of new development.
Sound Transit’s best guess is that the 2 Line will attract 43,000 – 52,000 daily riders by 2026, once these four stations have joined the system and people become aware of all of the places that Link light rail can take them. If we’ve learned anything from building the 1 Line, it’s that system expansion makes a tremendous difference for ridership.
To get light rail across Lake Washington, Sound Transit needed to figure out a way to put a fixed guideway (meaning, rails) on a buoyant structure (meaning, the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, one of the world’s longest floating bridges). It devised a “brilliant solution” that is responsive to surge, roll, yaw, pitch, and track expansion. The ST animation below explains the design of the cross-lake track system.
Below is a collection of new NPI photos showing the construction progress on the cross-lake segment. These photos were all taken this past week.
And this sped-up video will give you a bird’s eye view of the lake section of the tracks.
It’s unfortunate that Contract E130 had problems, but the days when those problems will be behind us are likely not far away. We’re looking forward to the rest of the 2 Line opening to riders just as many of our readers are. In the meantime, don’t forget that the 2 Line directly connects to ST Express routes like the 550 for cross-lake trips!
Props for transparency. Other transit agencies in the U.S. might have tried to keep a memo like this from becoming public.
Could you please note the timeframe for downtown Redmond?