page_title: Line T (Sound Transit)
section_title: Construction and disputes
hierarchical_section_title: Line T (Sound Transit) / History / Construction and disputes
caption_attribution_description: English: Tacoma Link car 1001 in Click! cable television advertising livery is southbound approaching South 17th Street on 26 June 2009. In the background are the Museum of Glass hotshop cone, the 21st Street cable-stayed Bridge, the summit of Mount Rainier, and Union Station.
context_page_description: Line T, formerly known as Tacoma Link, is a light rail line in Tacoma, Washington, part of the Link light rail system operated by Sound Transit. It travels 1.6 miles between Tacoma Dome Station and Downtown Tacoma, serving six stations. The line carried 972,400 total passengers in 2016, with a weekday average of over 3,200 boardings. Tacoma Link runs for 8 to 14 hours per day, using streetcars at frequencies of 12 to 24 minutes. Fares are not charged and operating expenses are funded by a subsidy from a downtown business association.
  Tacoma Link was approved in a regional transit ballot measure passed in 1996 and began construction in 2000. It was the first modern light rail system to be constructed in Washington state and succeeded a former streetcar system that ceased operations in 1938. Service on Tacoma Link began on August 22, 2003, at five stations, replacing a downtown shuttle bus. A sixth station, Commerce Street/South 11th Street, was opened in 2011. It was designated as the Orange Line in 2019 and renamed to Line T in 2020.
  Sound Transit plans to extend Line T by 2.4 miles to the Stadium District and the Hilltop area west of Downtown Tacoma in 2022.
context_section_description: Construction of the light rail line near the Tacoma Dome began in August 2000, resulting in a reduction in parking that drew complaints from business owners. A formal groundbreaking was held on October 18, 2000, shortly after the commencement of Sounder commuter rail service to Tacoma Dome Station. Work on the downtown section was delayed into the following year due to a contract dispute and design changes to avoid buried telecommunications systems. During bidding for the $25 million construction contract, a low bid was rejected due to not meeting Sound Transit's small business participation standards. Gary Merlino Construction was awarded the contract in February 2001 and began in July; construction on the line's operations and  maintenance facility in the Dome District had already begun a month earlier under a separate subcontractor.
  The transition between Pacific Avenue and Commerce Street near the future Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center was to be via a public plaza, which began construction in June 2001. The first rails were laid in November 2001, with a formal ceremony the following month to mark the start of work on the entire Link light rail network. Sound Transit agreed to handle operations of the light rail trains on an interim basis for an indefinite period of time, opting not to contract with Pierce Transit or the city government. Major construction along Pacific Avenue began in February 2002, causing periodic closures that affected buses and businesses who requested the use of mitigation funds to make up for lost revenues. The three streetcars ordered by Sound Transit for Tacoma Link were manufactured in the Czech Republic by Škoda Transportation and delivered in September 2002, costing $3 million each. The cars were put on public display in Tacoma and Seattle over the following months to promote light rail projects.
  As light rail construction prepared to reach Commerce Street, Qwest filed a lawsuit against Sound Transit to receive compensation for relocating its telecommunications lines away from the tracks; a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of Sound Transit, due to the use of public right of way by Qwest for their telecommunications lines. Another dispute, with BNSF Railway over a railroad crossing on Pacific Avenue that would intersect the light rail tracks, was settled in January 2003 with an agreement to suspend freight operations through the intersection. Commerce Street was re-opened for use by buses in February 2003 as light rail construction neared completion. The final section of track was welded in place in early April, marking the ceremonial end of track construction, and the installation of overhead power systems began later in the month. Testing of the streetcars began on June 18, 2003, as the line was electrified for the first time 65 years after the discontinuation of the original streetcar network. The first accident for the new line occurred during testing on August 5, when a delivery truck driver scraped a streetcar while illegally parked on the tracks.
caption: A Line T streetcar traveling southbound from Tollefson Plaza to Pacific Avenue
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