Sound Transit and the Port of Seattle are working together to bring light rail to Sea-Tac Airport.

With light rail construction in progress along the Interstate 5 and State Route 518 corridors, the link to Sea-Tac International Airport is scheduled to open by the end of 2009.

"Light rail is going to be a fast and reliable way for people to get between the airport and downtown, no matter how much congestion is on the roads, and on a time they can depend on," Geoff Patrick, spokesman for Sound Transit, said recently.

With the route from downtown Seattle already half done, the extension to the airport is one of the final pieces of the project.

Population is on the rise in the Puget Sound area and alternate forms of transportation could become a more popular option for commuters, Patrick noted.

"Congestion is only going to get worse so it's important to have an alternative way to travel that will cut through the congestion," he said. "We think it's going to be a very popular service."

In the meantime, light-rail construction already is causing some delays for drivers, particularly along the expressway into the airport and Southcenter Parkway in Tukwila.

A widening of the expressway will make room for light rail, which will run between the north and south traffic lanes.

One of the major problems Port officials have noticed is congestion that occurs on the loop that circles the parking garages on the Airport Drive. With police enforcing a strict load-unload only parking standard, drivers are forced to continue looping around the drive until the person they are intending on picking up is at the baggage claim curb.

"It turns into a situation where people start to block the people who are trying to get in," said Bob Parker, spokesman for the Port of Seattle.

As a solution to the problem, Airport Drive is being extended to South 160th Street during light-rail construction to make the loop longer to deter drivers from circling around and around.

The airport has a cell phone lot where drivers can wait until they get called from the people they are picking up. So far, the lot isn't being used to its full potential by these drivers.

The traffic "changes will make the police officer's job easier so we are hoping to solve the problem architecturally," Parker said.