Light Rail Is Coming to Snohomish County: A Guide to the Everett Link Extension
Everything we know about the six future Link stations headed north from Lynnwood — where they'll be, what's guaranteed, and what's still up in the air.
For almost a decade, Snohomish County has been promised something it's never had: a direct light rail connection to Seattle and the rest of the Puget Sound region. Voters said yes to it back in 2016. In 2026, that promise finally got real — and it also almost got cut. Here's where things stand, station by station.
The Big Picture
The Everett Link Extension is a planned 16-mile addition to the regional Link light rail network, running north from the current Lynnwood City Center Station into unincorporated Snohomish County and on to downtown Everett. It was approved by Puget Sound voters as part of the Sound Transit 3 (ST3) ballot measure in November 2016, with an original cost estimate of about $6.6 billion.
Nearly ten years later, the project is in the environmental review phase. Sound Transit expects to publish a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) sometime in 2026, followed by a public comment period, a Final EIS around 2027, and then a formal decision by the Sound Transit Board on the exact route, stations, and maintenance facility location.
Earlier this year, the extension's future was genuinely uncertain. Sound Transit is facing a system-wide $34.5 billion shortfall, driven by inflation, tariffs on construction materials, labor shortages, and rising right-of-way costs. Some of the cost-cutting scenarios on the table would have stopped the line short of downtown Everett entirely. After a packed town hall at Everett Station and months of lobbying from local leaders, the Sound Transit Board voted 16–2 in late May 2026 to approve a revised ST3 system plan that keeps all six Everett stations intact — though not without trade-offs, which we'll get to below.
The Six (or Seven) Future Stations
Traveling south to north, here's what's planned:
1. West Alderwood
The first stop north of Lynnwood, sited near Alderwood Mall. This area is a centerpiece of the county's new Light Rail Community (LRC) zoning, which will allow high-density housing, office space, and street-level retail within about a half-mile of the station.
2. Ash Way
Built around the existing Ash Way Park & Ride, this station sits inside the county's Urban Core Subarea — an area the county has been actively planning for since 2018 specifically in anticipation of light rail.
3. Mariner
Another stop built around a current Community Transit park and ride. Mariner is one of two stations where a planned parking garage has now been deferred to help close the budget gap — more on that below.
Provisional: SR 99 / Airport Road
This one comes with an asterisk. It's a "provisional" station, meaning it's funded for planning and environmental review but not currently funded for design and construction. If more money materializes down the road, Sound Transit will build on the early planning work already done — but for now, it's not guaranteed to open.
4. SW Everett Industrial Center (Paine Field)
Arguably the most consequential stop on the whole line. This station serves Paine Field — home to Boeing's widebody assembly operations (the largest factory building by volume on earth), Paine Field International Airport, and more than 600 aerospace suppliers that make up a roughly $14 billion slice of the county's economy. For the 30,000-plus people who commute into that corridor every day, this station would be transformative.
5. SR 526 / Evergreen Way
This station connects the Evergreen Way commercial corridor to the rail line as it curves toward downtown Everett.
6. Everett Station
The end of the line — a downtown hub that already connects to Amtrak and Sounder commuter rail. This is the last and most expensive phase of construction, and the one that was most at risk of being deferred during the 2026 budget crunch.
Timeline: When Will It Actually Open?
- 2026: Draft EIS published for public review and comment
- ~2027: Final EIS published; Sound Transit Board makes its official decision on route, stations, and the maintenance facility (OMF North) location
- 2037: Service targeted to reach South Everett (128th Street)
- 2041: Service targeted to reach Downtown Everett (Smith Avenue)
That's a long runway — over a decade from now for the full line. But compared to some other ST3 projects that just got pushed back years further (the Issaquah/Kirkland line is now targeting 2050, and Ballard's timeline is up in the air), Everett actually came out of the 2026 budget fight in relatively good shape.
The Trade-Offs
Keeping all six Everett stations funded wasn't free. To help close the gap, Sound Transit's revised plan:
- Defers parking garages at the Mariner and Everett stations, instead leaning on connections to local bus routes and exploring third-party funding for parking down the line
- Cancels the Sounder N Line commuter rail service by 2033 — a low-ridership route currently running just four trains a day each direction
Local leaders, including Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, framed the deal as protecting what they call "the spine" — the full light rail corridor connecting Everett all the way to Tacoma.
What It Means for the County
Light rail isn't just about the trains — it's already reshaping local planning. Snohomish County adopted a Light Rail Community land-use designation as part of its 2024 Comprehensive Plan, and is in the process of rezoning areas around Ash Way and Mariner (and potentially SR 99/Airport Road) into a new LRC zone that supports dense housing, mixed-use development, and walkable, transit-oriented design. County planners worked with Sound Transit and the cities of Everett and Lynnwood on a shared toolkit to guide that growth.
In plain terms: expect to see new apartment buildings, retail, and office space start clustering around these station sites well before the trains ever run.
How to Get Involved
The Draft EIS public comment period is the next major opportunity for residents to weigh in on route and station decisions. Sound Transit has said it will mail postcards to nearby residents, businesses, and property owners ahead of that comment period, and updates are posted on the project's engagement website. Snohomish County residents can also track the Light Rail Community zoning process through the county's Planning Commission.
The Bottom Line
After a scary few months in 2026, the Everett Link Extension survived intact — six stations, all funded, with service reaching South Everett by 2037 and downtown by 2041. It won't happen fast, and it came with real trade-offs. But for a county that's spent nearly a decade waiting for its light rail promise, this summer's vote was the clearest signal yet that it's actually going to happen.
Sources: Sound Transit, Snohomish County, HeraldNet, King 5, Lynnwood Times, My Everett News. Project details are current as of July 2026 and subject to change as the environmental review process continues.
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