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Week of May 25, 2009
New Burien Transit Center opens Saturday
as part of Metro Transit’s service change
King County Metro Transit will open its new Burien Transit Center on Saturday, May 30 as part of its seasonal service change.
Metro's new Burien Transit Center has six off-street bus bays for more convenient boarding. |
In addition to the new transit center, Metro is also expanding operating hours in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT), consolidating park-and-ride spaces in the Northgate area, and revising some bus routes and schedules to update service.
The $12.5 million Burien Transit Center features six bus bays for passenger boarding, including one dedicated to paratransit service. All of the boarding areas are now located off-street, enhancing safety for both transit customers and motorists in downtown Burien.
The transit center, located at 209 SW 148th St., has covered waiting areas with benches and windscreens. The adjacent park-and-ride lot has parking for 340 vehicles and includes five charging stations for electric vehicles. The transit center has lighting and 24/7 monitored security. It is served by Metro routes 120, 121, 122, 123, 131, 132, 133, 134, 139, 140, 180, and Sound Transit Express Route 560.
Metro’s project team worked cooperatively with the City of Burien to integrate the transit center into the city’s downtown revitalization plans. The transit center is close to civic amenities, such as Burien Town Square – home of the new city hall, King County Library, and mixed-use retail and residential development.
Other changes starting this Saturday include:
New tunnel hours
The DSTT will now be open from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and from 6 a.m. to midnight on Sundays for all current tunnel bus routes. When the DSTT is closed, tunnel bus routes will operate on Second, Third, Fourth or Fifth avenues in downtown Seattle.
The new hours are in preparation for the start-up of Link light rail service on July 18. Light rail will serve all tunnel stations except Convention Place.
Park-and-ride spaces in the Northgate area are now more consolidated around the transit center. The lot north of Target on Fifth Avenue Northeast will close permanently on May 30. | So this week, the tunnel closes at 7 p.m. on Friday night and reopens with its new operating hours on Saturday morning at 5 a.m.
Northgate Park-and-Ride on 5th Avenue NE
The Northgate Park-and-Ride on Fifth Avenue Northeast is closing on May 30. The city of Seattle recently bought that parking lot from King County to build a new community park. Also at the end of May, Metro will lose the 63 spaces in the Target garage on Fifth Avenue.
But there are 350 new park-and-ride spaces leased by Metro east of the Northgate Transit Center, along with 1,130 other spaces near the transit center. The new spaces are located in the garage of the new Thornton Place development at Northeast 103rd Street and Third Avenue Northeast in Seattle.
Schedule and route revisions
- The 18 Metro and Sound Transit bus routes currently using the DSTT will now operate in the tunnel 20 hours a day Monday through Saturday, and 18 hours on Sunday. At times when the tunnel is closed, the routes in service will operate on Second, Third, Fourth or Fifth avenues in downtown Seattle;
- Two new Route 918 trips will provide connections with a new northbound Sounder train arriving at Kent Station at 6:34 a.m. and a new southbound train arriving at 3:34 p.m. Check the new blue timetable or Metro Online for other schedule adjustments;
- Route 66 to downtown Seattle and Route 67 to the University District will begin and end at the Northgate Transit Center and will no longer serve bus stops on 5th Ave Northeast north of Northeast 100th Street;
- Route 210 on the Eastside will serve the Lakemont neighborhood via Lakemont Boulevard and 164th Ave Southeast. It will no longer operate on Newport Way between Lakemont Boulevard and 164th Ave Southeast;
- There are bus stop adjustments at the South Sammamish Park-and-Ride, Bellevue Transit Center, Houghton Park-and-Ride, and Aurora Village Transit Center. See Metro Online or the Rider Alert for more information.
Metro adjusts its routes and scheduling three times a year in February, June and September to improve service and keep up with the changing needs of transit passengers. All of the changes are detailed in new blue Metro timetables and a special Rider Alert brochure. Look for them on buses in the racks near the front of the coach. The brochures and timetables are also available at Metro information racks, libraries, and work sites.
New schedule information is available in Metro’s online Trip Planner. Be sure to enter a travel date of May 30 or later to access the new information. The revised route schedules will be available on Metro Online on Friday, May 29. Or, call Metro Rider Information at (206) 553-3000.
Rich Green
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Every year, Metro Transit honors an outstanding member of its Vehicle Maintenance staff, and this year it’s mechanic Rich Green.
Green is a 22-year veteran with Metro. His supervisors consider him one of the most technically qualified mechanics at Metro, and say he has proven to be invaluable in developing quality working relationships with the vendors who manufacture Metro’s diverse fleet of buses.
“Rich is always eager to take on the newest coaches and technology, his quest for knowledge and understanding have afforded Metro an outstanding resource for problem solving and improvements every day in the buses we provide for our customers,” said Harold Taniguchi, director of the King County Department of Transportation.
The King County Road Services Division will host a drop-in open house on Thursday, June 11 to discuss plans to replace the May Creek Bridge in the summer of 2010.
The bridge is located on Southeast May Valley Road just east of State Route 900 (Southeast Renton-Issaquah Road), and its timber supports are decaying. The replacement bridge will meet current safety standards with a wider roadway and improved sightlines.
Learn more about the project at the June 11 open house, which will run from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Briarwood Elementary School, 17020 SE 134th St., Renton. For information about the meeting, contact Barbara de Michele by email or phone at (206) 263-3792.
Southeast 80th Street – Crews will be repairing the Kimble Creek Bridge on Southeast 80th Street near Snoqualmie beginning Monday, June 1. Southeast 80th Street will be closed across the bridge until Friday, June 19.
171st Place Northeast – Crews are replacing a culvert underneath the roadway on 171st Place Northeast at Northeast 167th Street near Woodinville. The road will be closed at that location until late June.
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