TACOMA, Wash. — Opening of the Hilltop Extension of Sound Transit’s Tacoma light rail line will be delayed for a second time, the agency said Thursday, pushing opening of the 2.4-mile addition close to a year behind schedule.
The Urbanist website says the project had originally been scheduled to open in May 2022, but had been delayed to the first quarter of 2023 because of construction delays and issues in procuring new light rail vehicles.
Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm said in a blog post on the agency’s website that recent quality issues had “depleted our schedule cushion” for the opening date before a “new issue regarding the track geometry in one section of the extension” was discovered last week. The agency is bringing in outside experts for an independent assessment of the problem and possible corrective action, she wrote, and as an emerging problem, it is not yet clear what it will mean for a completion date.
The light rail T line, formerly known as Tacoma Link, currently operates a 1.6-mile route between the Tacoma Dome station and downtown Tacoma. The new section will add six stations.
