GeekWire rides the world’s first floating bridge train — Seattle’s commute will never be the same

As the train approached the bridge Thursday morning, it was hard to imagine what it would be like to travel on the railroad over Lake Washington.

Would a train on a floating bridge feel less stable than one on a solid surface? Can the train change and move more than usual? Would self-driving cars seem like an attractive option?

The answer to all that, it turns out, is no.

Seattle-area commuters on the new Crosslake Connection section of Sound Transit’s Link light rail 2 Line — especially those with their eyes closed or staring at their phones — will likely have no idea they’re experiencing an engineering marvel.

Cruising above Lake Washington by train on a floating bridge – land first – at 55 mph is as quiet and smooth a ride as any passenger can hope to travel for 1.2 miles.

GeekWire joined the media preview of the region’s new mass transit landmark Thursday, riding between South Bellevue and new stations on Mercer Island and Judkins Park in Seattle’s Central District. The public will be able to ride between Seattle and its Eastside neighbors starting Saturday.

“Look at this. Look. This,” said Sound Transit manager Dow Constantine as he held the train belt and watched the view of Lake Washington unfold. “You come out of the tunnel and you see this, it’s just amazing.”

Looking north on the lake or south toward Mount Rainier, the greatest joy is seeing beyond the eastbound and westbound traffic on Interstate 90 and knowing that travel patterns are about to change dramatically between the technical areas on both sides of the lake.

Asked for a message to thousands of technology workers at Microsoft, Amazon and other companies in the region, whose offices are spread between Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and other places, Constantine said prepare for “a significant improvement in the quality of your life.”

“Now you’ll be able to go back and forth between home and office, whichever side of the pond you’re on, without having to plan ahead for traffic, without the fear of getting stuck in traffic, in a predictable, reliable time, every time.” he said.

He added that companies are interested in how it makes it easier for people to return to the office or how they can entice someone who lives in the Seattle area to come and work on the Eastside, or vice versa.

The nearly 13-mile commute between Seattle and Microsoft HQ — which can range from 20 minutes to two hours — has been a source of frustration for years as the region’s technology boom and subsequent population explosion have clogged local roads.

Bellevue has also grown, especially around Amazon, as the tech giant has said it plans to house 25,000 corporate employees in various buildings downtown. About 50,000 people work in Seattle.

King County Councilmember and Sound Transit Board member Claudia Balducci, whose district includes Bellevue, Kirkland, Mercer Island and Redmond, said the technical staff – which is part of her – have been waiting for a link across the lake and she thinks it will change their lives in one day.

“Sitting behind the wheel is completely wasted, unproductive, stressful time,” Balducci said. “Living on the train you can learn, you can do work. I think it will change the game.”

Balducci said 10,000 people a day already use the previously completed rail line between downtown Bellevue and Redmond Technology Station near the Microsoft headquarters.

Sound Transit projects the fully integrated 2 Line will serve about 43,000 to 52,000 daily passengers by 2026, with trains running every 10 minutes from about 5 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.

“People make informed decisions about where to locate their businesses and homes based on planned transportation,” she said. “A bus stop isn’t going to make you build your new tower if you’re in Amazon, but you can see Amazons, Microsofts and tech companies in general building these. [train] places.”

Light rail and associated stations are not only attractive to technology companies. Housing development and small businesses also follow, along with commuters who come and go easily to visit different parts of the region.

“I think it’s going to really change the experience and the economy in ways that we can’t even predict today,” Balducci said.

While crossing the pond on Thursday, it was impossible to see or feel how much innovation has come to make it all possible from an engineering and technology standpoint. And that’s a good thing when it comes to safety and riding comfort.

Rail infrastructure had to be built into the freeway infrastructure part of the westbound Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, which opened in 1989. The tracks must flex smoothly over the joints between the fixed and floating parts of the bridge, allowing for the bending of the track as the bridge moves.

“Once you introduce roadways and tunnels and floating bridges, there’s more integration, more complexity. All the systems — power, control, logistics — all have to work together,” said Craig Delalla, Sound Transit’s systems engineer.

“It’s a big thing to walk on water,” he added.

Keep scrolling for more photos from GeekWire’s ride: