Seattle Light Rail Closures Hit Airport To Downtown
Key points
- Sound Transit will close sections of the 1 Line on select November and December 2025 dates for maintenance and 2 Line integration
- Airport to downtown trips will rely on bus bridges between Capitol Hill and Stadium during several all day and overnight tunnel closures
- Late night suspensions between Northgate and Capitol Hill and in the downtown tunnel will affect travelers arriving on evening and overnight flights at Seattle Tacoma International Airport
- Passengers should add 30 to 60 minutes to Link transfers, watch specific closure dates, and consider taxis, shuttles, or shared rides when timing is tight
Impact
- Where Impacts Are Most Likely
- Expect the biggest slowdowns on 1 Line trips between Seattle Tacoma International Airport and downtown on November 16 and on late night and early morning windows December 12 to 13, 20 to 21, and 27 to 28
- Best Times To Travel
- Midday and early evening trips outside the main tunnel closure windows should see smoother rail service than very late nights or early mornings when bus bridges operate
- Connections And Misconnect Risk
- Travelers connecting from long haul flights landing after about 9 30 p m should assume part of the rail trip will be on slower shuttle buses and build generous buffers for hotel or cruise check in
- Onward Travel And Changes
- Cruise passengers and rail or coach travelers using downtown hubs should verify whether Link is running through the tunnel on their specific dates and be ready to route via Stadium or use street transport instead
- What Travelers Should Do Now
- Anyone planning to use Link between the airport and downtown through late December should check Sound Transit Rider Alerts, map their route around closure dates, and have a backup ride option if luggage or mobility needs make bus transfers difficult
Travelers who normally count on a quick Link ride from Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to downtown now face a patchwork of Seattle light rail closures from November 8 through December 28, 2025, as Sound Transit takes the 1 Line offline on selected days and nights to handle heavy maintenance and 2 Line integration work. The most disruptive windows shut the downtown tunnel between Capitol Hill and Stadium, forcing airport passengers onto bus bridges instead of a one seat train ride, while late night suspensions north of Capitol Hill complicate trips for evening arrivals. Anyone flying into or out of Seattle over these weeks should expect longer transfers, add at least 30 to 60 minutes of buffer, and have a backup taxi, shuttle, or rideshare plan if timing is tight.
In practical terms, the Seattle light rail closures on the 1 Line mean that airport to downtown trips will be patchy on defined November and December dates and overnight windows, so travelers can no longer assume that Link will offer a direct, end to end ride at all hours.
How The 1 Line Closures Are Structured
Sound Transit has laid out a sequence of what it calls strategic closures, each targeting a different part of the 1 Line. On November 8, service between U District and Westlake pauses from the start of service until 2 00 p m for track and ventilation work, with buses replacing trains through the northern core. On November 16, operations between Capitol Hill and Stadium stop for the day to allow crews to replace a cracked rail in the downtown tunnel, again with bus bridges covering the missing segment. From November 18 through 20, service between Capitol Hill and SODO ends early on three consecutive evenings so maintenance teams can work longer overnight windows in the tunnel.
In December, the pattern shifts north and then back to the tunnel. From December 2 through 4, trains continue to run between Lynnwood City Center and Northgate, and between Capitol Hill and Angle Lake, but service from Northgate to Capitol Hill shuts down after about 11 00 p m, with shuttle buses linking the closed stations for the rest of the night. Later in the month, three separate weekend windows, December 12 to 13, 20 to 21, and 27 to 28, suspend 1 Line service between Capitol Hill and Stadium from 10 00 p m until 10 00 a m, while trains keep running from Lynnwood City Center to Capitol Hill and from Stadium south to Federal Way Downtown.
For airport users, the key detail is that most of these closures leave 1 Line trains running past SeaTac Airport Station and Stadium Station, but they break the through tunnel that normally carries trains directly into Westlake and the rest of downtown. That is why the practical effect is less about the airport losing rail service completely and more about forced transfers, loading luggage onto buses, and dealing with added travel time and crowding around the tunnel replacement stops.
Background, How Link And The Downtown Tunnel Fit Together
The 1 Line is the backbone of Seattle s light rail network, running from Lynnwood in the north through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, then on to SeaTac Airport and Federal Way. For most visitors, especially those arriving by air, it functions as a simple spine, one train from the airport to the city center, then easy transfers to hotels, cruise terminals, and regional buses. The same underground tunnel is also the future home of the 2 Line trains from the Eastside, which is why Sound Transit is now installing advanced signaling and upgrading systems between Capitol Hill and Stadium as part of a wider integration project.
Installing automatic train protection and related equipment in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel is not something that can be done around live service, especially when trains already run every few minutes through the core. The agency says these closures will enable more reliable and frequent combined 1 and 2 Line operations once the East Link connection opens, but in the short term they compress heavy work into weekend and overnight blocks that fall directly across some of the busiest airport travel days of the year.
What This Means For Airport To Downtown Trips
For a typical traveler landing at SEA, the pattern through year end is straightforward but inconvenient. During normal daytime hours when no closure is active, the 1 Line still offers a one seat ride from SeaTac Airport Station into downtown. On days like November 16, and on the December weekends mentioned above, that through ride is broken. Passengers boarding at the airport will ride Link north only as far as Stadium, then disembark and walk to clearly marked shuttle stops to board a replacement bus through the closed tunnel to Capitol Hill and the northern stations or to downtown stops near the usual Link stations.
Those same tunnel closures also affect the reverse flow. Travelers leaving downtown for early morning flights on the December closure weekends, for example, may start on a shuttle bus at Capitol Hill or a downtown station area, then transfer back to Link at Stadium to continue to the airport, with total journey times lengthened by the extra transfer and surface traffic conditions. In both directions, wheeling luggage on and off buses and managing stairs or curbside loading points will matter, particularly for families, passengers with reduced mobility, or anyone traveling with oversized bags.
Late night travelers face an additional twist between December 2 and 4, when the northern leg between Northgate and Capitol Hill closes after 11 00 p m. Evening flights that arrive around or after that time will still be able to use Link between the airport and Capitol Hill, but anyone staying in the University District, Roosevelt, or Northgate areas will finish the trip by shuttle bus rather than by train. Sound Transit publishes bay locations for these shuttle stops at each affected station, but the practical impact is that journeys become multi stage and sensitive to surface congestion instead of staying entirely on rails.
How The Bus Bridges Work In Practice
Sound Transit s planned disruptions page describes the shuttle network as a simple overlay on top of the closed segments. Between Northgate and Capitol Hill, buses serve stops near each rail station in both directions, with specific bays at Northgate, Roosevelt, U District, and the University of Washington, and with Capitol Hill acting as the southern anchor. During the downtown tunnel closures, a separate shuttle line runs between Capitol Hill and Stadium, again mirroring the 1 Line stops above ground and connecting directly back to trains at both ends.
In normal traffic, those bridges might add 15 to 25 minutes to a trip compared with an all rail journey, but during busy weekends or on stormy winter nights, they can take longer. Riders also have to budget a few extra minutes for wayfinding, since shuttle stops use surface bus bays, not station platforms. Sound Transit encourages passengers to check trip planners and Rider Alerts on the day of travel so they can see whether buses or trains are running through their segment of interest and whether any additional holiday schedule changes are in effect.
Alternatives Between The Airport And Downtown
If you are traveling with heavy luggage, small children, or mobility devices, the added bus bridge may tip the balance toward a direct street based transfer. Seattle Tacoma International Airport has extensive taxi, rideshare, and shuttle options that can carry you directly to downtown hotels, cruise berths at Pier 66 or Pier 91, or the King Street Station area without transfers. While these are usually more expensive than a Link ticket, for a short stay or a late night arrival they can be worth the time savings and lower stress compared with negotiating a mixed rail bus journey while tired.
For some visitors, regional coach or hotel shuttle services may also be a good fallback, especially when bundled into cruise packages or group tours. Because Link remains available outside the closure windows, however, most travelers will want to treat street based modes as a targeted backup, using rail whenever the timetable shows a direct, tunnel through service between the airport and downtown.
Planning Around Other Seattle Travel Risks
These Link closures do not happen in a vacuum. They sit next to a separate jet fuel disruption that has already forced airlines to adjust some long haul schedules at Seattle Tacoma International Airport, as covered in our recent piece on the Seattle jet fuel shortage, and they coincide with the broader pattern of Thanksgiving and early winter storms that are regularly slowing flights into the Pacific Northwest. A traveler who hits both a delayed arrival and a tunnel closure could easily see a short downtown transfer turn into a multi hour detour.
Given that backdrop, it makes sense to de risk the ground side of the itinerary wherever possible. If you are connecting from a long haul flight into a cruise departure or a same day train from King Street Station, consider arriving a calendar day early, especially on the key December weekend closure dates. If you cannot move the arrival, then at minimum leave wide buffers, keep all flights on a single ticket where you can, and favor flexible, cancellable ground arrangements in case you need to switch from rail to road at short notice.
Practical Tips For Using Link During The Closure Period
First, check your specific travel date against Sound Transit s closure calendar before you commit to rail. If your flight lands or departs on November 16, or on the December 12 to 13, 20 to 21, or 27 to 28 windows, assume that the downtown tunnel will be closed overnight and into the morning, and plan for a bus bridge leg. Second, pay attention to time of day, because the December 2 to 4 north end closures only kick in after 11 00 p m, so a mid evening arrival might still enjoy a full rail ride, while a midnight arrival will not.
Third, travel light if you can, and pack so that boarding a shuttle bus is as painless as possible, with wheels and straps you can manage in a crowd. Fourth, bookmark Sound Transit s Rider Alerts page and consider signing up for email or text updates for Link routes, since the agency has already signaled that work will continue into January 2026 and specific dates may change or expand. Finally, if your plans involve tighter commitments such as cruise boarding times or important meetings, weigh the small extra cost of a door to door car against the compounded risk of a delayed flight feeding into a tunnel closure and a bus bridge.