Terrace transit garage on schedule

Published 8:41 pm Thursday, August 14, 2008

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE

Community Transit’s revamped Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride will open to the public early next year with a four-story garage.

The facility will accommodate about 890 vehicles, 660 of which can fit in the garage.

With roof parking, the transit center has five-levels of parking. It is located off 236th Street Southwest next to I-5 and has been under construction since a groundbreaking in December 2007.

Dan Jerome, project manager, said the garage is on budget and on schedule in spite of inclement weather earlier this year.

“We had a wet spring,” he said. “June, as I recall, was really wet. But we’ve maintained our schedule.”

Budgeted at $15.3 million, the new parking garage is scheduled to open Monday, Feb. 9.

Construction will be complete by mid-January and the transit agency anticipates alerting commuters about the changes in the coming months. Park and Ride commuters have been parking at temporary stalls in downtown Mountlake Terrace during the garage construction and park and ride renovation.

“We’re allowing ourselves time to finish punch list types of items, transitioning parking back to this facility before we actually open it to the public,” Jerome said.

Several floors are nearly complete and crews working five days a week have been pouring concrete for months. Garage floors should be completed by the third week of August, said spokesman Tom Pearce.

The new garage will be followed by a freeway station designed and built by Sound Transit.

Jim Edwards, director of capital projects for Sound Transit, said the freeway station is scheduled to begin construction in 2009.

“It’s one element of a series of direct access projects to allow our regional express vehicles to operate as much as possible in the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes,” Edwards said.

Once it is completed in late-2011, riders will be able to make a seamless connection between the Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride and the regional express station in the middle of I-5.

“We have worked continuously with Sound Transit in the design of this station to help make access easier and more enjoyable to get from our bus facilities to this new station,” Jerome said.

Sound Transit’s designed an elevated pedestrian walkway connecting the new freeway stop to the garage.

“We’ve provided an exterior walkway to bring people down to our bus zones,” Jerome said. “We’ve incorporated some art along this walkway, which will help make it a little more enjoyable and safer for patrons.”

Seattle artist Gerry Newcomb worked with Mountlake Terrace and Edmonds-Woodway High School students to produce fused glass works that will be displayed along the walkway, Jerome said.