Survey: Naming the infill Link station at 130th Street

Circled in red on this recent photo of the current Link service map, Sound Transit is asking for public feedback on potential names for the station under construction near I-5 and N 130th in Seattle. Photo by Nathan Dickey.

Sound Transit recently announced a survey regarding potential names for the infill station currently under construction near N 130th St in north Seattle.

The station names under consideration are:

• Pinehurst
• Pinehurst/Haller Lake
• Pinehurst/130th St.
• North Seattle/130th St.

This would be the northernmost Link station in Seattle, filling in a gap between Northgate and Shoreline S/148th. Some thoughts on the potential station names below the jump:

Pinehurst: While folks familiar with North Seattle may know the area as Pinehurst, our informal survey of non-northend residents of Seattle indicates Lake City is more well-known at that latitude. However, since Lake City is about a mile east of the station, it would be a disservice to riders to imply the station service Lake City directly despite the station being planned as transfer point for bus riders coming from there (as well as from Bitter Lake to the west).

Pinehurst/Haller Lake: The station is located along I-5 which serves as a major geographic and physical boundary between these two neighborhoods. Although it may seem like the station will directly serve both neighborhoods relatively equally, Sound Transit should simply choose one neighborhood and stick to it - and the station is on the Pinehurst side of the freeway. It'd be like naming the Roosevelt station Roosevelt/Green Lake". Perhaps Haller Lake" ought to be under consideration as the station name on its own, but Sound Transit didn't include it in its survey, and its omission is indicative of the more obvious association with Pinehurst.

Pinehurst/130th St.: Sound Transit implemented similar names for stations in Shoreline (Shoreline S/148th and Shoreline N/185th), so this type of compound name has precedent. Although it may seem excessively detailed, it would help unfamiliar riders keep track of their location north of central Seattle and would lend credence to potential street grid oriented revisions of other station names southward like Northgate/100th" and Roosevelt/65th" to ease navigation along the transit spine. On the other hand, it seems that these stations are going to end up being the anchors for transit-oriented development and growth in our region, so sticking to relatively simple neighborhood names may be the way to go. A final pedantic point to note is that the Shoreline stations don't include the St." suffix in the station names; if this station name is chosen, Sound Transit should at least match the adjoining naming scheme.

North Seattle/130th St.: This is the least useful name under consideration, and specifically disowns every neighborhood around the station. It's clearly an effort to avoid the favoring any specific neighborhood, but as mentioned above, if the City does what it should and develops a neighborhood center around the station, the station ought to be given a proper name.

Oddly, the simple planning name of 130th Street" (or even North 130th") is not under consideration on its own. That would be my preference, but either Pinehurst" or Pinehurst/130th" are fine alternatives.

Do you agree? Share your opinions and preferences with Sound Transit by completing the survey, here. The station is currently scheduled to open in 2026.