Project Facts
- This will be Snohomish County's fifth direct access facility.
- The project team estimates these improvements will increase bus passenger trips by about 1,000 per day in 2030.
- Community Transit will build a 690-stall garage at the Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride, which will complement the freeway station project.
April 2008
- Engineers are finalizing the designs for the project. We expect to advertise the project for competitive bidding in December and begin construction in spring 2009.
- Community Transit closed the Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride in Dec. 2007 for construction of a new parking garage. The garage project is separate from Sound Transit and WSDOT's freeway station project. For details, please visit Community Transit's Web site.
- Stay informed about what we're doing in Snohomish County with regular e-mail updates.
Overview
WSDOT and Sound Transit will build a bus station in the median of I-5 at 236th Street SW in Mountlake Terrace. The station will have bus-only ramp connections to the I-5 HOV lanes. An overhead, covered pedestrian bridge will connect the station to the Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride. We will also bring the 236th Street and 228th Street bridges up to current earthquake-resistance standards.
Why is WSDOT
working with Sound Transit to build a freeway station on I-5 in Mountlake Terrace?
Sound Transit buses do not currently serve the Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride because they would have to merge across three lanes of traffic from the I-5 HOV lanes to the 220th Street SW exit and then onto city streets to access the lot. This circuitous route would cause service delays, increase bus operating costs, and increase the potential for collisions on I-5 from buses weaving between the HOV lanes and on and off-ramps.
The End Result
The freeway station in the I-5 median will provide Sound Transit buses efficient access to the Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride without having to merge across freeway lanes or travel on city streets.
Project Benefits
Fast and reliable transit service. Buses will be able to load and unload riders without merging across the freeway and driving through city streets to reach the park and ride.
Safety. Providing bus access in the median eliminates the risk of collisions from buses weaving between the HOV lanes and on- and off-ramps. We are also increasing the earthquake resistance of the 236th Street bridge.
Freeway efficiency. Transit facilities such as this help move more people in fewer vehicles.
What is the project timeline?
2002-2006 - Perform preliminary engineering and environmental studies
2007-2008 - Design project
Late 2008 - Advertise for contractors to build the project
Spring 2009 - Begin construction
Late 2010 - Project complete
Public Involvement
Your thoughts and opinions are important to us. Please revisit this page for continuing project status.
Sound Transit hosted an open house in 2004 to provide information and receive comments from the public on this project.
If you have questions or comments, please contact us:
Chad Brown, WSDOT Project Engineer
206.716.1108 / BrownCA@wsdot.wa.gov
Roger Iwata, Sound Transit Community Outreach Specialist
206.689.4904 / iwatar@soundtransit.org
If you would like to be included on Sound Transit's mailing list for project updates, e-mail Sound Transit at mailinglist@soundtransit.org.
Environmental Protection
There are wetlands and streams on the outsides of I-5 south of the project area. We will protect these environmental features during construction with erosion and sediment control measures.
Please visit the WSDOT Environmental
Services Web site for more information.
Increasing safety is one of our priorities
During the design process, we added an element to this project to increase earthquake resistance on the 228th and 236th Street bridges. This work is unrelated to the freeway station work, except that we must do it before or concurrently with the freeway station construction so that we do not have to affect the freeway station in the future with this seismic retrofit work.
In summer 2007 we did an earthquake resistance study on the 228th and 236th Street bridges. Our bridge specialists determined that the 228th Street bridge meets current earthquake resistance standards, so we will not have to do any seismic work on that bridge. They also determined that the 236th Street SW bridge will not need as much earthquake resistance work as we had originally anticipated. As a result, approximately $1.5 million of the original amount that we budgeted for the work will be used for other projects in our seismic retrofit program.
We are also increasing safety by eliminating the risk of collisions from buses weaving between the HOV lanes and on- and off-ramps.
Will this project impact tribal resources?
At WSDOT we seek to address the concerns of the tribal nations using the process outlined in Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and the WSDOT Tribal Consultation Policy adopted in 2003 by the Transportation Commission as part of the WSDOT Centennial Accord Plan.
We determined that this project is exempt from Section 106 consultation as per Section 2(B) of the Programmatic Agreement between WSDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the State Historic Preservation Officer signed July 18, 2000. That agreement includes the following as exempt activities: "all work within interchanges and within medians of divided highways unless the median has been undisturbed by construction." There are no places or objects listed or eligible for preservation registers that are known to exist at or near the project site. We will perform all work associated with the project within the previously disturbed I-5 right-of-way.
Financial Information
This project is funded through the following fund sources:
- 2005 Gas Tax (Partnership funding) - $628,000
- Existing Funds - $150,000
- Other Agency Funds - $27,005,000
These funds are provided by Sound Transit.
- Total funding from all sources - $27,783,000
How can I get more information?
Contact:
Project Engineer Chad Brown
WSDOT Project Office
401 Second Avenue South, Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98104-3850
Phone: 206.716.1108
E-mail: BrownCA@wsdot.wa.gov
Communications Meghan Soptich
15700 Dayton Avenue North
PO Box 330310 MS: 103
Seattle, WA 98133-9710
Phone: (206) 440-4704
E-mail: sopticm@wsdot.wa.gov
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