Local
Eastside rail riders face weekend shuttle service as I-405 northbound shuts down
Light rail service across Lake Washington will be suspended Saturday and Sunday while crews reinforce power equipment near Mercer Island. A full northbound I-405 closure through downtown Bellevue will add another major travel disruption, lasting from late Friday until early Monday.
Eastside travelers will have to plan around two major weekend disruptions: light rail service across Lake Washington will be replaced by shuttle buses, and all northbound lanes of I-405 through downtown Bellevue will close.
Sound Transit will suspend 2 Line service between South Bellevue and International District/Chinatown stations all day Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18. Shuttle buses will run about every 10 minutes along the roughly 8-mile route, stopping near Mercer Island and Judkins Park stations.
The 2 Line will continue operating normally between Bellevue and Redmond. At International District/Chinatown, riders can transfer from the shuttle to 1 Line trains, which will run every eight minutes and serve destinations including the University of Washington, Lynnwood, Sea-Tac Airport and Federal Way.
The service change also affects fans traveling to Saturday night’s Sounders FC match against CF Montréal at Lumen Field, who will need to use the shuttle to cross the lake.
Crews will add supports to overhead power rails beneath the covered sections of the Mercer Island tracks. During test runs last winter, electrical arcing occurred between the rails and trains at higher speeds, Sound Transit spokesperson Henry Bendon said. Trains have been limited to about 40 mph in the area since cross-lake service opened March 28, a restriction that adds less than a minute to trips, he said.
Sound Transit hopes the work will allow trains to return to 55 mph, though Bendon said another weekend of work will probably be needed.
Separately, the Washington State Department of Transportation plans to close every northbound I-405 lane between the Southeast Eighth Street and Northeast Fourth Street interchanges from 11 p.m. Friday until 4 a.m. Monday. WSDOT said the closure is part of the toll-lane expansion between Bellevue and Renton, a project expected to continue through 2027. Nearby city streets are likely to see heavier traffic during the shutdown.