Welcome to The Newsfeed I'm Paris Jackson.

2026 marks major changes for Sound Transit's Link light rail.

This year, the long awaited connection between Seattle and Bellevue is set to open.

Yet at the same time, the agency faces a $34 billion shortfall as it seeks to complete voter-approved projects throughout the region.

Reporter Venice Buhain takes a look where the system is going and how our region got here.

(VO) VENICE BUHAIN: The riders here at the Bellevue Transit Center have been waiting patiently for this train.

Oh yeah.

So, the Mariner games for sure.

I'll be taking it there a lot for the Mariner games.

Maybe a football game.

I'm scared of actually, like driving in the city.

I get really stressed with the one way and the parking and so I'm excited to have a train that will take me pretty much everywhere in Seattle.

I have a lot of friends that are that are really excited about being able to get between there and here.

(VO): This month, Sound Transit started simulated service for the so-called Crosslake Connection, sending empty trains across the floating bridge along a similar schedule it will eventually run.

They plan to link the 1 Line which passes through Seattle, with the 2 Line, which passes from downtown Redmond to South Bellevue.

The launch is scheduled for no later than May 31st.

(OFF-SCREEN): So there will be trains on the bridge throughout the day, at fairly regular intervals.

So people will start seeing that happening, which is very exciting.

(VO) The new connection will link South Bellevue and the International District/Chinatown station.

It will add two new stations, Mercer Island and Judkins Park.

The road to light rail started in 1996 when voters in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties launched Sound Transit with new sales and vehicle taxes.

The ten-year plan included the first part of Link's 1 Line, as well as new buses and the Sounder commuter trains from Tacoma and Everett.

In 2008.

Voters approved Sound Transit 2.

That 15-year plan included building the 2 Line and adding new stations south of the airport, as well as new buses and Sounder trips.

In 2016, voters approved Sound Transit 3.

The 25-year plan includes 62 new miles of light rail and building out the system to West Seattle, Ballard, Tacoma, Everett and Issaquah.

Those projects are expected to be completed by 2046.

Just last month, Sound Transit opened three new stations in Des Moines and Federal Way.

Right now, the West Seattle extension is slated for opening in 2032 and Ballard in 2039.

But those dates could change as project plans develop.

Sound Transit expects monthly ridership to increase dramatically after the opening of the Crosslake Connection.

When the Crosslake Connection opens, we expect that we'll probably have between 1 and 2 million more average monthly passengers.

Right now we have about 3 million and we expect that could increase to about 5.5 million every month.

(VO): The Crosslake Connection has been a long time coming.

It was slated to open in 2021, but it was pushed back several times due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the discovery of faulty track supports on Interstate 90.

Riders have been keeping an eye on when it might open.

Yep I have a lot, honestly.

Because me and my roommate, we'll just like keep looking at it to see when the train will actually finally start operating.

It's just been dragging on.

I feel like they've been promising for quite a while.

(VO): But even as Sound Transit prepares for crossing Lake Washington, the publicly funded transit agency now faces a $34 billion shortfall in the coming decades, chalked up to declines in revenue and rises in construction costs.

In response Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine told reporters last year the agency will look at ways to cut costs cross the agency's entire system of buses and trains.

That report is due by the end of 2026.

In Bellevue, this is Venice Buhain, Cascade PBS.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching The Newsfeed, your destination for nonprofit Northwest news.

Go to CascadePBS.org for more.