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 achieve 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 verification received by ISI, and only the seventh Envision Platinum-rated transit project in the country. Envision is an internationally recognized assessment system for sustainable infrastructure projects. This award is presented following an extensive, independent peer-review process, conducted and monitored by ISI, which verified project performance. The evaluation assessed the project’s performance against 64 sustainability criteria covering 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 that the project must achieve 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 in recognition of its outstanding commitment to sustainability, equity and resilience,” said Kristi Wamstad, ISI’s Verification Director. “This achievement underscores the project team’s commitment to creating a transportation system that prioritizes environmental stewardship and social justice while meeting community needs.”

“This award is a testament to Sound Transit’s long and deep commitment to sustainability and the high level of collaboration achieved with our project partners during challenging times,” said Goran Sparrman, CEO of Sound Transit. “We are proud of this achievement and look forward to many more sustainability milestones as we build public transportation that connects our region to the places we live and work.”

“As a global leader in infrastructure, Parsons is continuing to transform the rail and transit sector providing innovative, customized solutions that modernize transportation systems and deliver long-lasting, sustainable benefits for our customers,” said Mark Fialkowski, president of Infrastructure North America for Parsons. “Our contribution to the Federal Way Extension project represents Parsons’ combined technical expertise and company-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 and construction contractor for Sound Transit’s Federal Way Link Extension, a project that demonstrates innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Strong partnerships, especially with the community, are essential to our success,” said Doug Glaser, Executive Vice President of Kiewit Corporation. “We couldn’t achieve what we did without the remarkable people we had on the team, including the 400 local trade unionists 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 will extend the light rail from Angle Lake Station in the city of SeaTac to downtown Federal Way. The 12.5-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 can be found here 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 receive Envision Platinum. Sound Transit expects to pursue Envision verification for all of its future light rail expansion projects.