The T Line, 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 and serves 12 stations between Tacoma Dome Station, Downtown Tacoma, and Hilltop. The line carried 934,724 total passengers in 2019, with a weekday average of over 3,100 boardings. Tacoma Link runs for nine to 18 hours per day, using streetcars at frequencies of 12 to 20 minutes.
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 the T Line in 2020.
Sound Transit extended the T Line by to the Stadium District and the Hilltop area west of Downtown Tacoma on September 16, 2023. A longer western extension to the Tacoma Community College campus via South 19th Street is planned to open in 2041.
History
Background and proposals
Public transit service in Tacoma began with the opening of the city's first horse-drawn streetcar line on May 30, 1888, running on Pacific Avenue between Downtown and Old Town. The city's streetcar system was expanded and electrified, growing to by 1912 and serving outlying areas while feeding into the Seattle–Tacoma Interurban. The streetcar and cable car network was gradually replaced with motor buses, with the final streetcar leaving service on June 11, 1938. Bus service in Tacoma was gradually consolidated under the Tacoma Transit Company, which was acquired by the city in 1961 and folded into Pierce Transit in 1980.
A regional transit system, later named Sound Transit, was formed in the early 1990s to address traffic congestion in the region and proposed several projects for the Tacoma area. Tacoma had been targeted for urban revitalization, particularly around the University of Washington branch that opened in 1990. Among the proposed revitalization projects was the construction of a multimodal station near the Tacoma Dome that would be connected to Downtown Tacoma by a "shuttle" light rail line, costing approximately $40 million to construct. The Tacoma Dome Station would also be served by commuter rail and a regional light rail line continuing north to Federal Way, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, and Seattle. A combined light rail line that served both Downtown Tacoma and the Tacoma–Seattle corridor was part of a $6.7 billion ballot measure that was rejected by voters in March 1995, but planning for the multimodal Tacoma Dome Station continued.
Approval and planning
A second transit plan was proposed without the Federal Way line, which was dropped in favor of express bus service, but retained the Downtown Tacoma connector. It was passed by voters in November 1996, allocating $50 million for a line in Tacoma that would be built as a "starter line" within the following six years. Tacoma Dome Station opened for buses in October 1997 and a shuttle bus connecting to Downtown Tacoma operated by Pierce Transit began service on February 2, 1998. The Downtown Connector was transferred to Sound Transit in 2000.
Route planning for the Downtown Tacoma line, named "Tacoma Link", began in early 1998 with the intent to create a new transportation connection to downtown retail and cultural attractions. A set of 20 potential route alignments were considered for connecting Tacoma Dome Station to the University of Washington campus, the South 13th Street area, and the Theater District. The preliminary options were narrowed down to five candidates in the draft environmental impact statement, which were grouped based on their use of either Commerce Street or Pacific Avenue to travel north–south through downtown. The line's cost rose by $12 million to $77 million due to the choice of low-floor streetcars that would be level with the platform.