[OhioGuy]

The highly anticipated extension of Link Light Rail's Line 1 up to Northgate, which includes two new subway stations and one elevated station, officially opens this morning after a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday.

Seattle Transit Blog: The ribbon is cut for Northgate Link (photos at this link)

On the eve of Northgate Link’s grand opening, a ceremony and preview ride kicks off a month-long celebration of the Puget Sound region’s latest expansion of rapid transit, this time 4.3 miles north to 3 new stations in the U District, Roosevelt, and Northgate. For a summary of the speeches, read STB’s live coverage of the ceremony on Twitter. On opening day Saturday, various community organizations have prepared events and activities at each station beginning at 10 am.

At Northgate Station, there will be a grand opening ceremony for the John Lewis Memorial Bridge, a pedestrian and bicycle bridge spanning I-5 to North Seattle College from 10 am to noon. For Roosevelt Station, the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association has organized an opening celebration with live music & dancing and food trucks from 10 am to 4 pm at 12th Ave NE & NE 66th St between the station entrances. The U District Station opening festival runs from 10 am to 8 pm and features a $3 food walk, live entertainment, activities for kids, and a beer garden. Sound Transit has exhibits explaining design features and public art along with photo/selfie spots at all three stations that will be up throughout October.

Decades in the making, the Northgate extension to the Link 1 Line, formerly Central Link, will transform travel within North Seattle and beyond by providing a fast, frequent, and reliable transit artery that combined with frequent buses forms a network that expands access to work, education, and leisure opportunities.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Seattle's Northgate Link light rail extension officially opens for riders with 3 new stations

Seattle residents now have more traffic-free, reliable transit options: the long-awaited Northgate Link light rail extension officially opened for service Saturday morning.

With 4.3 miles of new tracks and stations in Northgate, Roosevelt and the U District, the new extension will connect Northgate to downtown Seattle's Westlake station in just 14 minutes. Trains will run every eight minutes during peak hours and every 10 minutes on most weekends and middays.

The new extension is expected to see 41,000 to 49,000 daily riders by 2022, according to Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) projections. Local leaders are hoping the new transit option will be transformational and reflect North Seattle's rapid growth in the last decade.

Image from USDoT

Additional photos and video from Sound Transit.

And a little preview of the potential Link light rail map in the future (map focuses on the central area, it will actually go further north to Everett and further south to Tacoma), which includes a 2nd subway through downtown Seattle... if they can figure out the funding (ST3 was passed to fund the additional expansion though now it's uncertain the funding will be sufficient).

Image from The Urbanist