Sound Transit's Link light rail extension connecting Seattle and Bellevue opened March 28, establishing a new cross-lake transit connection through the International District/Chinatown Station. The Downtown Seattle Association identified it as a catalytic infrastructure event in its 2026 economic report. For the Metropolitan Improvement District, new transit connectivity historically shifts pedestrian flow patterns and retail demand in ways that existing programming mandates were not designed to serve. The MID's April foot traffic data — tracked through Placer.ai — will be the first indicator of whether the extension drives the off-peak and weekend activity the district has been building toward.

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April and May MID foot traffic data showing whether the extension measurably shifted pedestrian patterns and whether the change is concentrated on weekdays, weekends, or distributed across the week.