Its route goes from the Westlake transit hub to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in South Lake Union.

[7][8] It is planned to serve popular downtown destinations like Pike Place Market, the Seattle Art Museum, Colman Dock and Pioneer Square.

The project is expected to greatly increase ridership on the Seattle Streetcar Network to 20,000–24,000 riders per day (compared to about 5,000 today).

[12] In October 2017, members of the Seattle City Council debated cancelling the project and re-appropriating the funds for bus service,[13][14] but no budget amendments were made.

[16] Mayor Durkan announced in January 2019 that the project would be revived if funding is found to cover the entire $286 million cost; due to new engineering and design work that would be required, its opening was pushed back to 2026 at the earliest.

The original South Lake Union fleet, consisting of three double-ended low-floor Inekon Trio-12 streetcars measuring 66 feet (20 m) in length were delivered in 2007[27] and are numbered 301–303.

[29] Before the Center City Connector was put on hold, in 2018, it was planned that the original South Lake Union fleet would be replaced with battery-equipped streetcars when the new connection opened.

[30][31] Seven of the 10 were for the fleet expansion needed for the opening of the Center City Connector, then projected for 2020, and three for replacement of the oldest South Lake Union cars (Nos.