Sound Transit’s Hilltop trolley extension 75% finished. So when can you hop a ride?
Street closures are diminishing along the Hilltop Tacoma Link Extension line now that 75% of the project is completed, according to Sound Transit.
Riders can expect to travel on the new route in May 2022.
Tacoma Link opened its original 1.6-mile line in 2003. Construction began on the 2.4-mile extension in late 2018.
More than 44,000 of the total 50,000 feet of rail have been installed, according to Sound Transit spokesman Scott Thompson. Only a few sections, most notably where the two lines connect at South 7th Street and Commerce Street as well as a turn from Division Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. Way are left to be completed.
In April, new traffic signals will be installed along the line beginning at the line’s terminus at MLK Jr. Way and South 18th Street.
Nearly all of the 341 Army green colored power poles have been installed. Electrical wires that power the trolleys will be strung between the poles beginning in June, Thompson said.
The newly expanded operations and maintenance facility near Freighthouse Square will open in June. Rail connections to the building still need to be completed.
Work continues on seven new stations for the route. Tacoma artist Kenji Hamai Stoll has created sculptures for the canopies of each station. Plans call for installation in fall.
Five electrical substations that will supply power to the new line have yet to be built.
Five train cars are being manufactured in Pennsylvania and should arrive in fall, Thompson said. The new cars will be added to the existing fleet and will provide service every 10 minutes.
Walsh Construction Co. is the primary contractor on the $217 million project. Funding comes from Sound Transit, Tacoma and $90 million in grants.
The project has not been without hurdles. A construction staging yard was relocated after citizen complaints, the project needed a $35 million boost in funding after problems in relocating utilities ate up the budget and a system-wide name change was scrapped after concerns over racism were raised.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 10:32 AM.
