Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19

Light-rail trains will start bringing people to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at 10 a.m. on Dec. 19, Sound Transit announced this morning.

The airport extension follows on the first 14 miles, from Westlake Center to Tukwila, that opened in mid-July.

Airport ridership is not expected to be enormous, but the station adds prestige, as transit leaders exorcise the "route-to-nowhere" label their opponents used earlier this decade. People in downtown Seattle, or at First Hill hospitals, can choose trains rather than cabs or autos. And rail provides an alternate means to reach the airport at times like Thanksgiving, when the access roads become gridlocked.

Sound Transit projects there would be 4,000 daily trips there by airport employees and patrons by 2030, after a southern corridor to Federal Way is done by the early 2020s, one of three lines voters approved last year.

The elevated stop is between the airport-parking garage and the highway. When riders get off, they will walk across a new skybridge into the garage's fourth floor. A decorated walkway, separate from the parked cars, is being created by the Port of Seattle, along the far north edge of the garage. From there, people will enter the terminal via existing skybridges.

In all, the walk is about one-quarter mile, depending on which airline people take.

Luggage carts will be available at the transit station.

Train testing begins Monday, between the Rainier Beach Station and the new Airport stop, said spokesman Bruce Gray. Starting the first week of December, live trains will release passengers in Tukwila southbound and proceed empty to the airport.

The airport station loads passengers onto the trains from a central platform, so riders will board whichever train has its doors open. Adult fare to downtown is $2.50, one way.

Construction of the 1.7 mile airport segment, led by prime contractors PCL and Mowat, has gone smoothly and is expected to finish right at the segment's $269 million budget, and about two weeks before the official Dec. 31 target.

So far, ridership on the recently opened Seattle-Tukwila line was around 16,100 per weekday in October, showing growth but still 10,000 short of the agency's target by late 2010. For the time being, a trickle of users are riding white shuttle buses from Tukwila to the airport.

The Metro bus Route No. 194, offering express service from downtown to the airport, is scheduled to be eliminated early next year, as riders are expected to hop trains instead. The bus trip takes a scheduled 32 minutes in normal traffic, compared to 36 minutes for the train.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com