In mid-November, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced its intent to award $813 million to the Sound Transit University Link light rail project. The funding will be officially awarded following a 60-day congressional review period.

“We’ve pursued and competed for this grant for a long time,” said Bruce Gray, a spokesperson for Sound Transit.

The $813 million grant is the final step to ensuring that the University Link project will be fully funded and completed on schedule by 2016.

“We’ve been working with Sen. Murray’s office and the FTA for a couple of years now,” Gray said. “This is like the endgame of a very long cycle, and it’s exciting to see it finally come to fruition.”

The University Link project has been the top-rated project in the country for some time now. Projects are ranked based on cost efficiency, benefit, ridership and a variety of other factors, and with Capitol Hill being one of the densest neighborhoods on the West Coast, the University Link was seen as a necessity.

Three projects, three timelines

Currently, Sound Transit is working on three different projects within the light rail construction timeline.

The initial Link light rail line between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac airport will be completed later in 2009, with the University Link between Husky Stadium and downtown being completed in 2016.

The Sound Transit 2 package, approved Nov. 4, will expand the light rail north, including a station in the U-District. The first stages of that project will not be completed until 2020. The current $813 million grant is solely for the University Link in 2016.

“We take goals section by section based on what we can afford,” Gray said.

Taking on a load of students

The light rail system is currently projected to have a daily ridership as great as 286,000 during the next 20 years, but even more important than this large number is the amount of those riders that are projected to be students.

The University Link, which will make the commute from the UW to Capitol Hill in three minutes, will serve three major campuses, including the UW, Seattle University and Seattle Central Community College.

The University Link alone is expected to add 70,000 riders a day, the majority of which will be college students.

“This gives the light rail a market of 60,000 students down just one corridor,” Gray said.

Certain members of the UW community have been concerned with the effects of construction during the next few years, but university officials are positive.

“While this project will present operational challenges during construction, at the end of the day it’s going to be an asset for the University and we’re excited to see it moving forward,” said Josh Kavanagh, director of UW Transportation Services. “I am personally enthused to see federal support for this program, it’s a very good thing.”

Reach reporter Casey Smith at news@dailyuw.com.