EVERETT — Design aficionados who commute between Everett and Seattle can rest easy.
Not only will a new bus line get them to Seattle faster, the bus stops along the way just might be pretty, too.
The Snohomish County Council approved on Wednesday a development agreement with Community Transit that will ensure that new stations built along that bus line will be reasonably attractive and include enough landscaping and other design standards required by county codes.
Four councilmen on the five-member board voted to approve the agreement. Council Chairman Mike Cooper was absent.
The new 17-mile bus line, known as a Swift bus rapid-transit line, will connect Everett Station with Aurora Village Transit Hub in Shoreline. The $35 million project is a collaboration between Community Transit, Snohomish County and the cities through which the line will run.
Once new bus stops are built, the line is expected to get people from one end to the other in as little as 40 minutes.
That’s compared with the 50 minutes or more it takes for commuters who board regular buses. Swift buses will pause at a dozen stops between the two hubs, compared with the 60 stops regular buses hit along the same route.
Five of the new stations will be in areas subject to county design codes. According to the development agreement, county planning officials will review the design of those bus stations.
“Community Transit has general design standards they’re using, but each city and the county has to approve the agreement on local design standards,” Cooper said after the council meeting.
Concrete pavers around each stop will be imprinted with birds, starfish, bugs, swirls or leaves, depending on the theme of each stop. Small towers will advertise the stop as a special “Swift” stop, and translucent partitions will divide benches.
Construction on several stops began in November. Service on the new line is expected to begin late this year.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
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