Angle Lake station

Angle Lake station is a Link light rail station in SeaTac, Washington. The elevated station is the southern terminus of the 1 Line and also includes a large parking garage. The light rail line travels north from Angle Lake through Tukwila, Seattle, Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood.

The station was built as part of the South 200th Link Extension project, extending the light rail line south from its terminus at SeaTac Airport via a 1.6-mile-long (2.6 km) elevated guideway. The project was originally approved by voters in the 1996 "Sound Move" ballot measure, with a promise to open in 2006, but was deferred when funding was not found. The 2008 "Sound Transit 2" campaign was approved with funding for the station and extension, estimated to open in 2020; federal grants were obtained to accelerate design and construction, moving up the opening date to late 2016.

The station was originally referred to as the South 200th Street station, but was officially named for the nearby lake in December 2012 by the Sound Transit Board. Construction on the extension began in May 2013 and on the station in September 2014; the project was budgeted at $383 million. Angle Lake station opened to the public on September 24, 2016.

Angle Lake station is located above the intersection of South 200th Street and 28th Avenue South in SeaTac, southeast of the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport and a block west of International Boulevard (State Route 99). The elevated station spans South 200th Street on the west side of 28th Avenue South, with two entrances on each side of the street.

The eponymous Angle Lake is located northeast of the station, with a public park on the lake's western shore accessible via International Boulevard. To the west of the station, the Des Moines Creek Trail connects the area to Des Moines via a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) gravel trail.

Angle Lake station is located in an area consisting of single-family homes, apartment buildings, retail spaces, office buildings, airport parking lots and hotels; a population of approximately 3,886 people live within a 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) radius of the stations. The area is home to a Federal Detention Center, the corporate headquarters of Alaska Airlines, and several hotels that provide a majority of the estimated 7,459 jobs.

In July 2015, the city of SeaTac adopted a station area plan to direct potential transit-oriented development in a 171-acre (69 ha) around the station. The plan determined that much of the vacant land near the station has great potential for development, excluding right-of-way reserved for a future freeway extension of State Route 509. The plan recommended allowing buildings over five stories tall and amenities for non-motorized transportation (bicycles and pedestrians) for the city government to consider in a zoning code update.

The earliest proposal for a light rail station near Angle Lake came from the Puget Sound Council of Governments in 1986, as part of a north–south line from Lynnwood to Federal Way. A regional transit authority (RTA) was formed in the early 1990s to study a regional light rail system, first proposing a $6.7 billion plan in 1995 that included a light rail station at Angle Lake as part of a line between Downtown Seattle, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, and Tacoma. The proposal was rejected by voters in March 1995, and the RTA presented a smaller proposal the following year. The second proposal, called "Sound Move", selected a station at South 200th Street in SeaTac as the southern terminus of a light rail line traveling north through the Rainier Valley to Downtown Seattle and the University of Washington campus; it was approved by voters in November 1996 and was scheduled to open in 2006.