Northeast 85th Street station

NE 85th Street
Construction at the NE 85th Street interchange, January 2024
General information
Location	Kirkland, Washington, US
Coordinates	47°40′50″N 122°11′0″W
Owned by	Sound Transit
Bus routes	1
Bus stands	2
Bus operators	Sound Transit

Northeast 85th Street is a future bus rapid transit station in Kirkland, Washington, United States. The station will be located at the intersection of Interstate 405 and Northeast 85th Street near the city center. It will be served by the Stride S2 Line, operated by Sound Transit.

Design and cost

The station's construction entails the complete replacement of a cloverleaf interchange with a three-level interchange with separate ramps for buses.[1][2]

Projected costs of the NE 85th Street station are estimated at up to a third of a billion dollars, making it one of the most expensive BRT projects planned by Sound Transit.[3][4] The city's existing transit center is located about a mile away and at about 200 feet lower in elevation. A proposal to connect the two stations with a funicular climbing Rose Hill,[1] the first aerial tramway in the Seattle area, was proposed in the late 2010s.[5]

History

The project was approved by voters in 2016 with the passage of Sound Transit 3 and is fully funded at $250–300 million.[6] Public meetings for the project kicked off in April 2018.[7][8] The station was originally planned to open in 2024 after three years of construction.[4]^[needs update] The three-level design incorporating a dogbone interchange under Interstate 405 will be the first of its kind in the United States, and the most expensive bus stop in Sound Transit's bus rapid transit system.[1] Sound Transit estimates that the station could transport a few hundred passengers a day in the 2020s.[1]

A five-building office development for Google was planned southeast of the interchange on the site of a car dealership, with an estimated 7,000 employees by 2032.[9] Google canceled the project in 2023, but the city said that other opportunities for development in the vicinity of the bus station would be pursued.[10]

Construction

Project groundbreaking officialy took place in September 2023,[11] and major construction began in January 2024 with demolition of the I-405 cloverleaf ramps at Northeast 85th Street.[12]

References

1. Mike Lindblom (September 6, 2018). "Sound Transit is taking a $300 million gamble on a new I-405 bus station in Kirkland". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
2. Lindblom, Mike (November 10, 2022). "I-405 drivers to get triple-deck interchange at Kirkland". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
3. Dan Ryan (April 30, 2018). "Kirkland's NE 85th BRT Station". Seattle Transit Blog. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
4. Katie Metzger (May 8, 2018). "Council weighs in on NE 85th Street BRT station". Kirkland Reporter. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
5. "Tram could finally give Kirkland more of an identity". MyNorthwest.com. June 4, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
6. I-405/SR 167 Corridor Executive Advisory Group, Washington State Department of Transportation, June 2018
7. Lizz Giordano (May 1, 2018). "Sound Transit kicks off planning for I-405 bus rapid transit". The Everett Herald. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
8. "Bus rapid transit I-405 updates". Sound Transit. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
9. Miller, Brian (November 3, 2022). "6,000 Google workers slated to occupy Lee Johnson's 10 acres in Kirkland". Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
10. "Google backs out of downtown Kirkland location purchase". Seattle: KING-TV. January 20, 2023.
11. Breyer, Allie (October 18, 2023). "Breaking ground and building a better transportation system". Official website. Washington State Department of Transportation.
12. "Breaking ground and building a better transportation system". City of Kirkland official website. Kirkland Public Works Department. January 27, 2024. Archived from the original on 2024-04-15.

External links

• I-405 BRT 85th Street Interchange Project Fact Sheet, Sound Transit official website, dated April 17, 2018