Federal Way Link Extension earns Envision Platinum Award for sustainable infrastructure The second Sound Transit project to achieve platinum status
The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) has awarded Sound Transit’s Federal Way Link Extension an Envision Platinum Award for sustainable infrastructure for going above and beyond to deliver improvements to the social, economic and environmental conditions of its community.
The Federal Way Link Extension is both the second Sound Transit project and the second transit project in the Pacific Northwest to receive verification by ISI, and only the seventh Envision Platinum-rated transit project in the nation. Envision is an internationally recognized rating system for sustainable infrastructure projects. This award is issued following a comprehensive independent peer-review process conducted and overseen by ISI that verified the project accomplishments. The evaluation assessed the project’s performance across 64 sustainability criteria addressing a wide range of indicators including: community, quality of life, management, planning, materials, energy, water, environmental impacts, emissions and resilience.
The design-build contract for FWLE stipulated the need for the project to attain at least an Envision Gold award level. Through the combined efforts of the Sound Transit project team and sustainability group and Parsons, the project’s lead design team, and design-build contractor Kiewit, platinum was achieved.
“We are honored to present the Envision Platinum award to the Federal Way Link Extension project, recognizing its outstanding commitment to sustainability, equity and resilience,” said Kristi Wamstad, ISI’s Verification Director. “This achievement underscores the project team's dedication to creating a transit system that prioritizes environmental stewardship and social equity while meeting the needs of the community.”
“This award is a testament to Sound Transit’s long and deep commitment to sustainability and to the high levels of collaboration achieved with our project partners during challenging times,” said Sound Transit Chief Executive Officer Goran Sparrman. “We are proud of this achievement and look forward to many more sustainability milestones as we build public transit that connects our region to the places we live and work.”
“As a global leader in infrastructure, Parsons is transforming the rail and transit sector by providing innovative, tailored solutions that modernize transportation systems and deliver long-lasting, sustainable benefits to our clients,” said Mark Fialkowski, president, Infrastructure North America for Parsons. “Our contribution to the Federal Way Extension project represents Parsons’ combined engineering expertise and enterprise-wide commitment to sustainability. We are honored to be part of the team that achieved this award by creating a lasting, valuable public asset for the region and community.”
“Kiewit is proud to be the design-build contractor for Sound Transit’s Federal Way Link Extension, a project that showcases innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Strong partnerships, particularly with the community, are essential to our success,” said Kiewit Corporation Executive Vice President Doug Glaser. “We would not be able to accomplish what we did without the remarkable people we had on the team, including the 400 local union tradespeople and the 200 subcontractors and suppliers who came together with our construction and engineering staff to achieve a common goal.”
Set to open in 2026, the Federal Way Link Extension extends light rail from Angle Lake Station in the city of SeaTac to downtown Federal Way. The 7.8-mile extension includes three stations: Kent Des Moines near Highline College, Star Lake at South 272nd Street and Federal Way Downtown. More information about the project is at https://www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion/federal-way-link-extension.
In 2022, the Downtown Redmond Link Extension was the first Sound Transit project to complete Envision verification and received Envision Platinum. Sound Transit anticipates pursuing Envision verification for all its future light rail expansion projects.
Learn more about Sound Transit’s commitment to sustainability at https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/environment-sustainability.
