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Construction crews recently made the final connections to join more than 14 miles of continuous light-rail tracks as part of Sound Transit’s Central Link light-rail project. The connections completed the southbound track between Westlake Station in downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac International Airport.

Sound Transit began testing light-rail trains between the Sound Transit Operations and Maintenance Facility in SODO (south downtown) and the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel last fall. Now that the rails are connected to tracks running through Beacon Hill and into the Rainer Valley, the agency can stretch test runs further south to Tukwila Station later this summer.

Crews now will continue work on the northbound track and the last portion of track leading into Airport Station.

The 15.6-mile Central Link line will open in two phases: a 13.9-mile segment from Westlake Station to Tukwila is set to open in summer 2009, and a 1.7-mile extension to the airport is scheduled to open by the 2009’s end.