Thursday morning (Dec. 17th), Sound Transit held a “sneak peek” ride for the press on the section of the Link Light Rail between the Tukwila and Sea-Tac Airport stations (which opens this Saturday), and Photographer Michael Brunk was able to stowaway on board, where he took these pics:

Click to View Michael Brunk’s Photo Slideshow

From Sound Transit’s website:

The extension of the popular light rail service means holiday travelers will have a reliable, one-seat ride between downtown Seattle, the city of SeaTac and the airport, taking only 36 minutes. This new station provides a smooth, green travel option for the 20,000 people who work at the airport and the 30 million who travel in and out of it every year.

The SeaTac/Airport Station is connected to the fourth floor of the airport’s main parking garage. A covered, level walkway separated from the main parking area will lead passengers to the main terminal. Station amenities include boarding pass kiosks, and in the near future, a flight time information display.

The first 13.9 miles of Link opened in July with service between downtown Seattle and Tukwila. Link service runs from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday and from 6 a.m. to midnight on Sundays.

SeaTac/ Airport Station opens just in time for the holidays: Sound Transit is the official transportation sponsor for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes.

For Central Link light rail service info, visit http://www.soundtransit.org/linkschedule

Artworks at the station
The new Sea-Tac Airport Station features four art installations. “Flying Sails,” by artist Werner Klotz, spans the mezzanine and platform levels of the station. The plates feature the names of First Nation tribes from Washington state and cities from around the world that share the latitude or longitude of Seattle.

Other works include Fernanda D’Agostino’s “Celestial Navigation” at the International Blvd. plaza; Christian Moeller’s “Restless” along the International Blvd. pedestrian bridge; and an exhibit on Northwest tribal culture on the mezzanine’s north end. The interpretive exhibit by Pacific Studios showcases a cast concrete canoe, and a display explaining the history of the Native American presence in the Puget Sound region.

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The Port of Seattle alerts us that the north entrance to the Sea-Tac Airport Garage will close overnight for four nights beginning tonight (Monday, Dec. 14) and continuing through Thursday, Dec. 17th.

It will close at approximately 7pm each evening and will reopen each morning at approximately 5am.

The reason for the closure is that contractors will be removing the scaffolding below the pedestrian bridge between the Sound Transit Link Light Station and the Airport Parking Garage.

Link light service to Sea-Tac begins this coming Saturday, Dec. 19th.

During the north entrance closure, vehicles will be detoured via the upper drive (Departures level) to the south entrance of the garage. Rental car returns will be detoured to a temporary access road. Traffic exiting the garage will not be affected. Drivers should watch closely for the temporary directional signs.

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The Port of Seattle tells us that the exit from the Airport Garage is being changed on Tuesday morning, July 28th, at approximately 5 a.m. to accommodate construction of the new pedestrian bridge that will connect the Link Light Rail station to the Airport.

Drivers leaving the garage are advised to make an immediate right to enter the northbound Airport Expressway. This route gives drivers access to the exit to South 170th Street, which connects to both Air Cargo Road and International Boulevard (SR 99).

The Light Link Rail connection between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport will be completed by the end of 2009,

Drivers should use extra caution exiting the toll plaza, drive slowly and pay close attention to signage on the new route.

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On Tuesday, June 9th, Sea-Tac Airport will close its Cell Phone Waiting Lot for about a month in order to replace it with a location nearly double in size.

The new location, just north on Air Cargo Road, will create nearly 100 spaces for vehicles, doubling the size of the current lot. It is expected to open in early July.

The closure will allow the modification of the new lot with barriers, striping and signage.

The Cell Phone Waiting Lot is a free service from The Port of Seattle that allows drivers to wait up to 30 minutes in the lot until arriving passengers have deplaned, collected luggage and called to be picked up outside of Baggage Claim. Drivers must stay with their vehicles.

Please be aware there is no parking or waiting allowed on the airport roadway shoulders at any time.

The alternative for drivers who normally use the Cell Phone Lot is to use the Hourly Parking at the Terminal Main Garage, which charges $2 for 30 minutes.

For more information on Sea-Tac Airport’s parking options, visit their website here.

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The Port of Seattle has announced that there will be road closures at SeaTac Airport this weekend, beginning Friday night Jan. 30th at 9pm and ending Saturday morning Jan. 31st at 4am in order to erect a pedestrian bridge that will connect with the Light Rail Station:

Here’s the official info:

To accommodate the erection of the pedestrian bridge, pictured above, that will connect the SeaTac/Airport Light Rail Station on the west side of International Boulevard (SR 99) and the pick-up/drop-off parking area on the east side, there are road closures and detours scheduled for the overnight hours, beginning on Friday evening, 1/30, and ending Saturday morning, 1/31.

9 p.m. (Friday. 1/30) – 4 a.m. (Saturday, 1/31)

Both northbound and southbound International Boulevard (SR 99) will be closed between South 170th Street and South 176th Street. The detour route will be clearly marked. Motorists may see traffic control and single lane closures set-up as early as 8:00 p.m
11 p.m. (Friday. 1/30) – 4 a.m. (Saturday, 1/31)

The northbound Airport Expressway will be closed. Detour routes will be clearly marked. This closure will also necessitate the following:

• The Upper Drive (Departure Level) will be closed. Traffic will be detoured onto the Lower Drive (Arrivals Level).
• The entrance to the Airport at South 182nd Street will be closed and traffic detoured to the Air Cargo Road entrance via South 170th Street.
• The south entrance to the Airport Parking Garage will be closed and all parking traffic will routed to the north entrance.
• Traffic exiting from the Rental Car area will be rerouted.
• Traffic exiting from the Airport Parking Garage will be rerouted.
• There will be no local access from the Airport Parking Garage from 11 p.m. on Friday night until 4 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Drivers traveling to and from Sea-Tac Airport should allow extra time for delays during these periods and of course drive cautiously and pay close attention to flaggers and detour signage.

More info at the Port of Seattle website.

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Live webcam view from Sea-Tac Airport
(refresh page to see latest image).

Cancellations and delays continue at Sea-Tac Airport, and here’s the latest bulletin from the Port of Seattle:

Airport is open – two runways are operational.

There are many airline-initiated cancellations.

Backlog of stranded passengers awaiting rebooking.

No local hotel rooms available, many passengers sleeping in airport.

Travelers are advised to contact their airline for flight status and to attempt to rebook from home.

Airport concessions are having trouble getting deliveries, anyone coming to the airport should come prepared.

If you’re planning on flying out anytime soon, be sure to check your flight status at the airport’s Web site: http://hosting.portseattle.org/fids.

To see live road conditions via webcam feeds, go to our Webcams page.

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We just returned from driving a family member to the airport (luckily in a newer 4-wheel drive Volvo  wagon), and, far as we can tell, flight delays are minimal, but getting out of the parking garages is awful.

Some pics from Thursday afternoon Dec. 18th:

Traffic moved slowly through the pickup area, with no stalls around 2pm.

After taking 35-45 minutes to exit the parking garages, you'll end up in slow-moving traffic heading south toward 518. TIP: If you're heading west towards Burien, stay in the left-most lane as all the others are jammed up trying to get on 518 west.

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A bus carrying the football team from Bellevue High School overturned on I-5 in SeaTac Friday morning (Nov. 28th) , injuring some of the 38 players on board and causing a major traffic jam.

The bus was driving south near South 188th Street around 11:15am when a swerving car caused it to careen and flip on its side. .

Some of the football players suffered minor injuries, including Bellevue High head coach Butch Goncharoff.

The Bellevue High Wolverines, the state’s top rated 3A football team, was en route to playing against Olympia’s Capital High at 3pm in the Tacoma Dome.

The game has been postponed until 7pm Monday night.

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According to several news sources, a man was found shot to death in his car near SeaTac Airport early Monday morning.

The man, in his 30s, was found slumped over the wheel in a car near the intersection of International Blvd (aka Highway 99) and State Route 518 just after midnight.

The shooter remains at large.

Apaprently, SR-518 was closed down for a while as police dogs and a helicopter searched the area, causing backups for drivers headed to or from the area.

The name of the man who was killed has not been released.

SOURCES:

• KOMO News
• Seattle P-I
• KIRO-TV
  

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SEATAC – The Port of Seattle is preparing to move ahead with a $413 million rental car center at Sea-Tac Airport. It’s the next big project after last week’s port commissioner decision to lift a moratorium on major contracts.

The commissioners say the port has made reforms recommended in a critical state audit that found it mismanaged projects.

SOURCE:

• Tacoma News-Tribune

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