Sound Transit is set to receive $100m funding for its Lynnwood Link Extension under the Federal Fiscal Year 2017 Appropriations Bill.
US President Donald Trump is expected to sign this bill into law later this week.
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The funding will serve as the first instalment of a potential $1.174bn full funding grant agreement (FFGA) for the project under the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) capital investment grant programme, also known as ‘New Starts’ programme.
The project will extend light rail service from Northgate to Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood upon completion. Lynnwood Link is slated to start construction next year and will be completed in 2023.
Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff said: “We're hitting 'go' on a massive capital investment programme that will give our citizens a real way out of ever-worsening congestion.
“This first grant instalment for Lynnwood Link will help us finally deliver light rail to Snohomish County and get thousands of daily riders out of the traffic on I-5.”
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By GlobalDataFTA granted engineering approval for the project last year, which then allowed Sound Transit to advance the final engineering work on the extension. The $54bn system expansion assumes an additional $4.7bn in federal funding and was approved by voters in November.
The extension plan will see trains run along the I-5 corridor from Northgate to Lynnwood with four new stations, including Northeast 145th Street, Northeast 185th Street, the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center at 236th Street Southwest and at the Lynnwood Transit Center.
The project has also been designed to accommodate potential future stations, which would be located at Northeast 130th Street in Seattle and 220th Street Southwest in Mountlake Terrace.
It will also involve construction of new parking structures at 145th, 185th, and Lynnwood Transit Center.
Sound Transit expects to complete the light rail connection to the U District, Roosevelt and Northgate by 2021.
