Five light rail stations will close for part of this weekend, but will reopen Sunday so fans can easily reach the Seahawks playoff game.
There will also be some lane reductions and closures, including two lanes of the Interstate 5 Ship Canal Bridge, where a northbound repave will continue to pinch traffic until an early June pause. As during the workweek, express lanes will point north 24 hours a day, and southbound drivers will find stop-and-go traffic from Lynnwood or Shoreline into Seattle, at popular travel times.
No full-direction shutdowns on Interstate 405 or other freeways are planned.
The highlights — football-related and not:
Five light rail stations will close at Westlake, Symphony, Pioneer Square, International District/Chinatown and Stadium on Friday, Jan. 23 at 10 p.m., then all day and night Saturday.
During the five-station closure, train service will continue every 15 minutes, between Lynnwood and Capitol Hill, and separately between Sodo and Federal Way. Shuttle buses will stop on streets next to closed stations.
Normal service resumes Sunday, with 1 Line trains arriving every 10 minutes, along with a few extra trains stashed on side tracks to handle the postgame surge, said Ed Cobean, deputy CEO for service delivery.
The shutdown allows transit staff and contractors to resume work on signal improvements in downtown Seattle, so when 2 Line trains start service from the Eastside this spring, they can share the tracks safely with the north-south 1 Line.
Seahawks gameday trains will go to and from Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams, which begins at 3:30 p.m. The S Line Sounder trains leave Lakewood at 11:51 a.m. and 12:11 p.m. The first inbound train skips Auburn, Kent and Tukwila stations, while the second S Line run serves all stops. The N Line train leaves Everett Station at 12:45 p.m.
Federal Way-area light rail stations, which opened in December, offer a new transit option, and fans didn't completely fill the park-and-ride space before last weekend's football game, said spokesperson David Jackson. There are 500 total stalls at Kent Des Moines, 1,105 stalls at Star Lake and 1,565 stalls at Federal Way Downtown. Arrive early.
Interstate 405 in Kirkland will be reduced by two southbound lanes from 8 p.m. Friday until 7:30 a.m. Saturday, then from 8 p.m. Saturday until 9 a.m. Sunday, as Washington State Department of Transportation contractors continue building a three-level interchange, for future Sound Transit freeway buses and a toll-lane entrance, above Northeast 85th Street.
Highway 530 reopened this week between Darrington and Rockport, next to the Sauk River, after 300 feet of pavement were scoured by December flooding, then repaired.
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