New Sound Transit Link light rail stations are coming to NE 130th and NE 148th Streets! With your help, we’ve studied how we could make getting to the stations easier and safer.

Crossing NE 130th St. Photo Credit: SDOT.

Summary

The Shoreline South/148th Link light rail station is planned to open in 2024. The NE 130th St Station is scheduled to open in 2031, however in February 2020 the Sound Transit Board approved advancing final design and may consider opening the station sooner.
In our NE 130th St & Shoreline South/148th Stations Multimodal Access Study, we created a roadmap for future improvements to make it easier to walk, roll, bike or take transit to these stations.
We want to make it safe, and convenient for people of all ages and abilities to walk, roll, bike, and take transit to the future light rail stations.
Together, the 18 proposed projects create a complete network to support multimodal access to the future stations, as well as the proposed SR 522 Bus Rapid Transit Stations along NE 145th St.
As part of this study, we also identified potential funding sources for each of the projects. This is a helpful guide for future investments!
We will coordinate project concepts from this study with other city departments and partner agencies in the study area.

Multimodal access studies – like this one for NE 130th St & Shoreline South/148th St stations – create a roadmap for future improvements to make it easier to walk, roll, bike or take transit.

The Shoreline South/148th Link light rail Station is planned to open in 2024. The NE 130th St Station is scheduled to open in 2031, however in February 2020 the Sound Transit Board approved advancing final design and may consider opening the station sooner.

To build fully-connected, multimodal transportation systems, regional transportation teams rise to the challenge. We work collaboratively to build a transportation ecosystem that ensures all the assets in our region – Link light rail stations, sidewalks, bus routes, and more – fit together to keep you connected. Transportation investments require significant coordination and partnership between different agencies to make a complete and seamless system that gets people around the region.

A Multimodal Access Study is one of the first steps in our collaborative planning process. We at SDOT use these studies to identify potential projects.

Our main goals for the study were to:

Work with the community to understand and identify existing accessibility/mobility challenges to the future stations
Identify possible improvements to address these challenges
Support the Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD)‘s work on the Station Area Plan
Identify potential funding sources and prioritize proposed projects

We want to make it safe, and convenient for people of all ages and abilities to walk, roll, bike, and take transit to the future Link light rail stations – but we’re not there yet.

Challenges include disconnected street grids, major barriers like I-5, and a lack of sidewalks. We expect that more than half of the future NE 130th St Station passengers will arrive by bus, which means frequent and reliable transit connections are really important! We see promising opportunities to improve busy streets for transit, walking, and biking.

We asked community members in those neighborhoods that will be served by the stations to share their ideas and concerns about accessing them.

Four people near a map on a table at a community outreach and engagement event. Two people are looking at and marking the map. — We gathered feedback on community mobility challenges and ideas for multimodal improvements during outreach. Photo Credit: SDOT.

We’ve worked with neighbors to develop concepts for potential improvements to make walking, rolling, biking, and taking transit to these future stations safer and more convenient.

Working with the Office of Planning and Community Development on outreach efforts, we held public meetings, distributed online surveys, and led workshops. We collaborated with community-based organizations to help reach and hear from youth and people of color that live, work, and play in the area.

We heard the community ask for:

Upgraded sidewalks, bike facilities, and street crossings in the neighborhoods near the stations
Safe walking and biking connections along NE 130th St and NE 145th St
Improved NE 130th St overpass for walking and biking
Improved walking connections around the Jackson Park Golf Course

We consolidated potential projects into cost-effective, feasible improvements. Then, we evaluated the projects one by one and elevated the projects best aligned with our goals: Safety, Equity, Connectivity and Mobility, Livability, and Implementation.

Ultimately, we developed 18 proposed projects and shared them with community for feedback. See all projects in a map format in the study.

Together the 18 proposed projects create a complete network to support multimodal access to the future stations, as well as the proposed SR 522 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations along NE 145th St.

There are many ways to increase the safety, comfort, and convenience of walking, rolling, biking, and taking the bus. We looked for opportunities to enhance access to the future stations with:

Walking improvements, like multi-use trails, sidewalks, and curb extensions
Biking improvements, like protected bike lanes and neighborhood greenways
Transit improvements, like transit queue jumps – which give buses the green light and allow them to move through intersections before other vehicles – and bus stop improvements.

Person walking on a multi-use path among green trees. — **Walking improvements,** like multi-use trails, sidewalks, and curb extensions.

People biking on a protected bike lane. — **Walking improvements,** like multi-use trails, sidewalks, and curb extensions.

Graphic showing a transit queue jump. A Rapid Ride bus is shown being given the green light in advance of other vehicles to move more smoothly through the intersection. — **Transit improvements,** like transit queue jumps, give buses the green light and allow them to move through intersections before other vehicles.

As part of this study, we also identified potential funding sources for each of the projects. This is a helpful guide for future investments!

Even though projects have been identified as priorities for this area, these projects will still need to compete for transportation funding resources. We will also pursue opportunities to advance the design and construction of projects through funding collaborations with agency partners. Lastly, we encourage the community to pursue other available funding sources identified in the City of Seattle’s Community Resource Guide.

We will coordinate project concepts from this study with other city departments and partner agencies in the study area, including:

OPCD on the development of their 130th St and 145th St Station Area Plan
Planned and/or funded SDOT projects
Partner agencies including Sound Transit, King County Metro, and WSDOT on projects that support safe and convenient access to the future light rail stations.
Seattle Public Utilities on the North Thornton Natural Drainage Systems project
Seattle Parks and Recreation to study potential improvements around Jackson Park
Sound Transit to study on-street parking within approximately one-half mile of the future Link light rail stations and public input to develop curbside management plans

Thank you for your contributions to this important planning process! We’re excited to see these projects come to life when possible, and we’ll keep you updated on our progress.

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