MOUNTLAKE TERRACE – A new transit station and parking garage on I-5 are expected to improve bus access to Mountlake Terrace and help relieve the city’s demand for parking.
The $25.5 million station is planned in the median of I-5 at 236th Street SW. A pedestrian overpass, part of the bus station project, would connect to a new, $12 million parking garage to be built at the park-and-ride lot on the east side of the highway.
Buses would enter and exit the new station by ramps from the freeway’s carpool lanes.
Construction on the parking garage is scheduled to start late this year or early 2008 and be finished by early 2009. Construction on the new transit station and pedestrian overpass is to start by late 2008 and be finished in 2010.
Currently, Sound Transit buses don’t stop in Mountlake Terrace. Getting to the park-and-ride lot from I-5 can take too much time, and buses would have to cross three lanes of traffic to exit the freeway, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The park-and-ride is used only by Community Transit, which focuses its service on Snohomish County commuters.
The station is projected to generate 390 new passengers each day on Sound Transit buses. That number could rise to 1,000 extra passengers daily by 2030, Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray said.
“Our role is to have more regional connections,” Gray said.
Sound Transit and the state Department of Transportation are paying for the transit station and pedestrian bridge. Community Transit is paying for the parking garage.
There are 388 parking places at the park-and-ride on 236th Street SW. With the parking garage, there would be about 880 spaces.
Commuters who catch the bus in Mountlake Terrace often park their cars on city streets because there’s no parking available at the park-and-ride. The increased demand has created an overall parking shortage in the area, Mountlake Terrace Community Development Director Shane Hope said.
“This will help the city in relieving the parking shortage, which is now spilling over into neighborhoods and the downtown area,” Hope said.
The park-and-ride would be shut down for about a year during construction of the parking garage, Community Transit spokesman Tom Pearce said. He said his agency plans to set up temporary park-and-ride lots at churches and nearby businesses.
“There’s such a demand down there,” Pearce said. “We hear from people who’d like to use the park-and-ride, but they get in there and realize they can’t find a space.”
The new stop and parking garage also fits neatly with plans to someday build a light-rail line through the area, Gray said. A light rail station is being planned for the same area, he said.
“This would give us a good stop next to a parking garage,” Gray said.
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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