[IMAGE]SoundTransitLinkAirportFULL.jpg[/IMAGE] On Saturday, Seattle’s Sound Transit opened the Link light rail extension to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for passenger service.

The first 14 miles of light rail opened from downtown Seattle to Tukwila in July. The final segment from Tukwila to SeaTac/Airport Station, built under a close partnership with the Port of Seattle, provides a 36-minute ride to the airport from downtown with 13 stops serving the SODO, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley and Tukwila neighborhoods.

Service on the 1.7-mile extension line kicked off with an inaugural ribbon cutting at the SeaTac/Airport Station before the station and trains opened for regular passenger service.

Sound Transit and the Port of Seattle collaborated on the Airport Link project which included the new light rail station, pedestrian bridges connecting the station to the airport parking garage and a pick-up and drop-off area to the east serving the city of SeaTac. The Port also relocated and upgraded the Airport Expressway and the Return-to-Terminal roadway loop.

The next light rail extension is scheduled to open in 2016 with service from downtown Seattle to Capitol Hill and the University of Washington. Construction is under way on that segment while Sound Transit plans for 36 more miles of light rail extensions to Lynnwood, Bellevue, Redmond, Mercer Island and Federal Way by 2023.