I walked down to the Capitol Hill light rail station this morning, and took the new 2 Line extension to Judkins Park station (it opened on Saturday March 28).
At Judkins Park station, my two amigos joined me, and we went on to Bellevue Downtown station to go to a movie theater there. (I will report about the movie tomorrow).
The map and the drone picture below it are from the Seattle Times. The rest of the images are my snapshots from the roundtrip on the 2 Line from Capitol Hill Station to Bellevue Downtown, and back.
The Judkins Park station and Mercer Island station were the ‘missing link’ between the 1 Line and 2 Line. These were the two that opened on Mar. 28, and now commuters can go from Lynnwood City Center all the way up north to Downtown Redmond, or to Federal Way. A light rail train crosses the I-90 floating bridge during testing this month. [Photo by Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times]Here’s a new view of downtown from the light rail, from the 2 Line after it left the International District station. That’s Lumen Field stadium on the left, home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.Going under Interstate 5 along South Dearborn Street and the steel truss bridge called the Jose Rizal Bridge (constructed in 1911).The platform at the new Judkins Park Station, looking where I came from, from Seattle downtown. Trains on this side go through Seattle downtown and up north to Lynnwood City Center.Artwork at Judkins Park station. My amigos arrived on foot at Judkins Park station, and here comes our train that will take us to Bellevue Downtown station. We arrived at Bellevue Downtown station, and walked up to the little plaza above it. Here comes a train that started out at Downtown Redmond station. The City Hall plaza by the Bellevue Downtown station has a new reflection pool. That’s the City Center Plaza building on the left. The building with the orange accents is brand new and called Bellevue 600: a 43-story high-rise office building developed by Amazon.We’re making our way on foot to Bellevue Square. I am stopping to turn around and admire the vanishing edge of the Symetra Center: a 25-story office building built in 1986. We went to the movie theatre to see Project Hail Mary, and went for a beer and a bite, and made our way back to Bellevue Downtown station. Here comes our Lynnwood-bound 2 Line train that will take us back to Judkins Park station and Capitol Hill Station. It’s nice to see people already lining up to take the train, even though it is still early (4 pm).Inside the train.A view of the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 405, from the train. The marina with its boat slips on the shore of Lake Washington that is called the Newport Yacht Basin. Going through a tunnel on the way to Mercer Island station. Arriving at Mercer Island station. Going over the floating bridge on Interstate 90 that take us over Lake Washington. The Mountain was out today. Almost across Lake Washington, and Judkins Park station. I am spotting a Cybertruck on Interstate 90 (in the middle of the picture).
