advertisement

---

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $10 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery III (TIGER III) grant to Sound Transit for a light-rail extension project, and a $12.5 million TIGER III grant to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) for a station replacement project on its Red Line.

The Sound Transit grant will help pay for a 1.6-mile extension of Link light-rail from Sea-Tac Airport to South 200th Street in Seattle, Sound Transit officials said in a prepared statement. The project, which will include an elevated guideway, station and parking facilities, is scheduled to open in September 2016 — four years earlier than initially envisioned in the voter-approved Sound Transit 2 plan, they said.

Earlier this year, Sound Transit’s board accelerated the schedule for construction and operation of the South 200th Street light-rail extension based on the project’s “state of readiness” to move forward with design and construction, agency officials said.

Meanwhile, GCRTA will apply its $12.5 million grant toward the Mayfield Road Red Line Rapid Transit Station, which will replace the current station at East 120th Street. The cost of the entire project is $17.5 million, which includes the station’s design and construction, and the rehabilitation of two transit track bridges, GCRTA officials said in a prepared statement.

Station construction is slated to start in early 2013.