145th and SR 522 Bus Rapid Transit remains in ST3 Draft Plan

On Thursday, March 24, the Sound Transit Board proposed a ST3 draft plan for public review. Included in the draft plan is a project to improve NE 145th Street and SR 522 between the 145th Street light rail station and the UW Bothell campus to implement bus rapid transit (BRT) service.

Earlier this year, Shoreline joined with four other cities – Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Bothell, and Woodinville – to voice their strong support for including this project in the ST3 package.

Currently, Sound Transit is in the process of evaluating a large list of candidate projects and deciding which projects to include in its ST3 final system plan. SR 522 / NE 145th Street is a major east-west transit corridor that is a key to connecting riders living in the north Lake Washington area to the light rail spine and making the overall transit system work. Including it in the final ST3 plan will ensure a complete network and transit system success.

The north end cities agree the 145th / SR522 BRT project makes sense for north King County and for the sustainable growth of the entire region. They have cited the comparatively low economic cost, existing infrastructure, and rapid projected completion dates as early wins for Sound Transit and the region.

Sound Transit is asking the public to take time to review the information about proposed rail and bus improvements throughout the region and then record their opinions through a short online survey, which can be found here

Other highlights of the draft plan include:

• Completing the light rail spine from Tacoma to Everett
• New Eastside light rail connections from Bellevue/Overlake to Downtown Redmond and from Bellevue to Issaquah
• New light rail service to growing urban neighborhoods of Ballard and West Seattle
• Early project delivery, including new Bus Rapid Transit on I-405 and SR-522/NE 145th street, and buses running on shoulders along I-5, I-405, SR 518, and SR 167
• Improvements to Sounder South stations to serve longer trains to carry more passengers and extending the line from Tacoma to DuPont

You can read the full project list and see a static copy of the draft plan system map in the document library here.