MLT Transit Center given rousing welcome

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE

With public speeches and fanfare, public officials Friday, Feb. 20 dedicated Community Transit’s new, 20-million Mountlake Terrace Transit Center and parking garage.

The transit center, which replaces a 25-year-old park &ride lot, opens Monday, Feb. 23 and will have enough space for 880 cars –652 of them inside the garage — about double the capacity of the former facility.

“This garage will provide immediate benefits,” Community Transit CEO Joyce Eleanor told about 100 people serenaded by the Mountlake Terrace High School’s Jazz Ensemble 1.

Funded largely with Federal Transit Agency money, the new center features expanded street level parking, a five-level parking garage adjacent to I-5 which includes 32 solar panels— collecting enough energy to run two energy efficient homes — and was built with recycled materials.

Katy Taylor, Washington Department of Transportation director of public transportation, said the transit center benefited from a $1.3 million regional mobility program grant created in 2005 by the state Legislature.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in the demand for parking,” she said, “When people aren’t confident they’ll have a place to park, they choose s different option: they drive alone.”

Carol Rhodes, Sound Transit’s construction program manager for capital projects, said her agency’s interest in the transit center is especially “keen” now because of another project expected to break ground in April, the $25.5 million freeway fly-over regional bus stop along I-5 next to the garage.

That project includes addition of a pedestrian bridge that will connect the flyer stop to the parking garage so riders can take the ST Regional Express buses.

“When you offer free and convenient parking at transit corridors it makes the decision to get out of your car that much easier,” she said.

Artist Jerry Newcomb, with help from students at Mountlake Terrace and Edmonds Woodway High schools, created cast glass art that adorns different levels in the garage.

“It was a great experience, a whole new way of looking at art work,” said Mountlake Terrace High junior Max Wicklander, who worked on the project.

Eleanor lauded contractor Berschaeur Phillips and engineering firm Otak, as the project employed 250 people.

“Public projects like this one provide important economic benefits to our community,” she said, noting that about 60 percent of construction costs went to salaries.

With public speeches and fanfare, public officials Friday, Feb. 20 dedicated Community Transit’s new, 20-million Mountlake Terrace Transit Center and parking garage.

The transit center, which replaces a 25-year-old park-and-ride lot, opens Monday, Feb. 23 and will have enough space for 880 cars –652 of them inside the garage — about double the capacity of the former facility.

“This garage will provide immediate benefits,” Community Transit CEO Joyce Eleanor told about 100 people serenaded by the Mountlake Terrace High School’s Jazz Ensemble 1.

Funded largely with Federal Transit Agency money, the new center features expanded street level parking, a five-level parking garage adjacent to I-5 which includes 32 solar panels— collecting enough energy to run two energy efficient homes — and was built with recycled materials.

Katy Taylor, Washington Department of Transportation director of public transportation, said the transit center benefited from a $1.3 million regional mobility program grant created in 2005 by the state Legislature.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in the demand for parking,” she said, “When people aren’t confident they’ll have a place to park, they choose s different option: they drive alone.”