Sound Transit Breaks Ground on Northgate Station

Cranes are up and parking closed at Northgate, as seen on January 15

Sound Transit broke ground last Friday on Northgate Station, bringing the opening for Northgate Link one day closer (though still four years away). As we've reported before on the blog, the station will be elevated above NE 103rd Street on the east side of 1st Avenue NE, just west of the current transit center and southwest of the Northgate Mall.

A 455-stall parking garage, the subject of much controversy, will be built on the north side of NE 103rd Street to replace the existing park and ride. The County plans to build at least 200 affordable housing units on the former park and ride to the east of the station (along with a relocated bus station), as part of a mixed-use development funded in part by the City. SDOT will also build a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 5 (funded by Move Seattle) that will extend the station's walkshed to North Seattle College and surrounding neighborhoods.

The station and elevated guideway will be built by Absher Construction, who accepted a $174 million construction contract last August. The firm was also responsible for the nearby Northgate Library as well as Tukwila's permanent Sounder/Amtrak station and the second parking garage at Tacoma Dome Station.

While the boring for Northgate Link's tunnels were completed last fall, there is plenty of work to do before light rail trains can begin carrying passengers. Cross-passage work is anticipated to be completed by early 2018, stations at Roosevelt and U District will have to be built from the tunnel up to the surface, and the elevated viaduct leading to Northgate Station will need to be hoisted into place.

Sound Transit has also posted a nice aerial flyover of the work area (including the approach to the tunnel), which we've embedded below:

Correction (16:40): The 200 affordable housing units is a King County project that is partially funded by the City of Seattle.