June 8, 2026

The new ST3: What's getting built next?

Concept rendering via Sound Transit [enlarge]

A concept rendering of a West Seattle light-rail bridge, south of the existing bridge. Sound Transit could start the heavy civil GC/CM hunt as early as this week.

With the dust settling on Sound Transit's freshly updated system plan, some work is set to go out for bid as soon as this week. Here's a closer look at when some of the earliest projects might drop and what that work could look like.

NEXT STOP: WEST SEATTLE RFQ

Anyone who followed the intense Sound Transit 3 remaking discussion over the past few months has certainly heard the phrase “shovel-ready,” probably linked to the 4.1-mile West Seattle Link extension between SoDo and Alaska Junction.

Whatever your own personal definition of “shovel-ready” might be, Sound Transit could be officially on the hunt for a heavy civil general contractor/construction manager for some of the West Seattle work as soon as this week.

The line is dropping the originally planned Avalon Station, but Sound Transit is still hashing out some of the design details (including route realignments and station reworkings) for the remainder of the West Seattle line, which is getting an estimated $6.8 billion in funding, thanks to the Sound Transit Board's May 28 system update vote.

Jacobs was chosen in 2025 to lead Phase I design and design validation for the extension.

As we reported last month, an advance notice that ran in the DJC on May 18 pegged an RFQPA drop at June 12 for a heavy civil GC/CM for the W200 section of the line. That work includes about 1.5 miles of aerial and street-level guideway between SoDo and the future Delridge Station, and most notably, the complex cable-stayed bridge (with towers and foundations) planned to run over the Duwamish Waterway.

Back to that shovel-readiness: preconstruction in the first quarter of next year, with construction in the third quarter of 2028, but early work could begin as soon as the fourth quarter of 2027, according to the advance notice.

Project design is expected to be at 60% submittal in February, 90% submittal in November of 2027, and 100% submittal in April of 2028.

GRAHAM STATION RISES ON 1 LINE

The long-planned South Seattle infill station will drop into the 1 Line in the 1.6-mile space between Othello and Columbia City after all.

The street-level light rail station near Martin Luther King Jr Way South and South Graham Street in Rainier Valley was allocated $214 million in the system update.

The project is still in early planning. It's currently slated to move into design in mid-2027, and early work could start the following year.

The station was originally studied as part of the Central Link Light Rail project in 1999, and finally included in the ST3 system plan in 2016.

It appeared the station could be headed for design funding only in last month's system update, but community organizers and local leaders including Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson and King County Exec. Girmay Zahilay pushed to have it fully funded as part of the recent ST3 update.

TACOMA DOME LINE AND ACCESS IMPROVEMENTS

The resolution passed May 28 by the Sound Transit board included $23 million for access improvements and $6.6 billion for the design and construction of the line that will extend about 8.5 miles between the recently completed Federal Way extension to the Tacoma Dome area.

Those access improvements, including new sidewalks and street improvements to better connect bikes and transit to the future line, are about to move into design.

Meanwhile, the Tacoma Dome line is in environmental review, with the Final EIS expected in 2027. Design could begin soon after, with early work kicking off in mid-2029 and construction slated to officially kick off in 2030.

Tacoma Dome Link extension parking that had been originally planned as part of the ST3 measure was placed on the list of deferred projects, meaning work there will only happen if additional funding can be secured.

Sound Transit's System Expansion Committee is set to meet at 1:30 on June 11 to review the board measure and other plans for the coming projects.