January 17, 2017

Work starts on $174M rail station at Northgate

Image from Sound Transit [enlarge]

Sound Transit broke ground Friday on the light rail station adjacent to Northgate Mall and Northgate Transit Center.

The station is one of three set to open in 2021 as part of the $1.9 billion Northgate Link Extension.

Sound Transit awarded a $174 million contract last summer to Absher Construction Co. to build the elevated station, guideway and parking garage at Northgate. The station will straddle Northeast 103rd Street at First Avenue Northeast.

Absher will build a transit island below the south end of the station platform for light rail and bus connections. The underground parking garage will be northeast of 103rd and First. It will have 450 stalls for transit users and 114 surface stalls for shoppers.

Bike parking will also be provided at the garage, and a future mezzanine will connect to a pedestrian/bike bridge over Interstate 5 that is being planned by the city of Seattle.

King County and the city will invest $20 million in transit-oriented development on land owned by King County Metro Transit next to the park-and-ride lot at Northgate Transit Center. The four-square-block parcel is bounded by 103rd and Northeast 100th Street. New development there will include 200 units of housing for low-income families, as well as retail, commercial and office spaces.

Riders using Northgate Station will reach Husky Stadium in 7 minutes, downtown in 14 minutes and Sea-Tac Airport in 47 minutes.

Northgate Link Extension includes twin 3.5-mile tunnels between Husky Stadium and Northgate Mall. It will have underground stations in the University District and Roosevelt neighborhoods.

Trains will exit the tunnels at First Avenue Northeast and Northeast 95th Street, and move to a 0.8-mile elevated guideway to reach Northgate Station.

When Absher won the contract last summer, Hewitt was listed as the station architect, Jacobs Associates as the engineer and North Star as construction management consultant.