2 Line (Sound Transit)
The 2 Line is a light rail line serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of Sound Transit's Link light rail system and runs for 33 miles (53 km), connecting Snohomish County and Seattle to the Eastside region of King County. The line has thirteen stations it shares with the 1 Line between Lynnwood and Downtown Seattle; the 2 Line then serves twelve standalone stations in Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue, and Redmond.
The project to build the 2 Line, originally named the East Link Extension, was approved by voters in the 2008 Sound Transit 2 ballot measure. Its construction costs were projected at $3.7 billion. The line uses the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, one of the Interstate 90 floating bridges, which was constructed in 1989 with the intent to convert its reversible express lanes to light rail. Early transit plans from the 1960s proposed an Eastside rail system, but preliminary planning on the system did not begin until Sound Transit's formation in the early 1990s.
The proposed alignment of the East Link project was debated by the Bellevue city council in the early 2010s, with members split on two different routes south of Downtown Bellevue; city funding for the downtown segment's tunnel was also debated and ultimately included in the final agreement. The alignment was finalized in 2013, after more than two years of debate, and delayed the beginning of construction to 2016 and the completion of the project several years beyond 2021. The Seattle–Overlake section was scheduled to open in 2023, but was postponed due to construction issues on the floating bridge section that resulted in the replacement of its plinths.
The first section of the 2 Line opened in 2024 with ten stations between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology. The line was extended northeast to Downtown Redmond station in May 2025. The full line opened on March 28, 2026, and includes the world's first light rail service on a floating bridge. The Pinehurst infill station is under construction and scheduled to open in late 2026. The entire line is expected to carry 50,000 daily riders by 2030.