University of Washington station

Construction

The tunneling contract from UW station to Capitol Hill station came in under-budget by $86 million, or nearly 22%, in March 2009. A groundbreaking ceremony for the station was held in February 2009, and initial excavation began shortly thereafter. Construction of the deep slurry walls and excavation of the station box structure took place in 2010 and 2011. Tunneling toward the Capitol Hill station began in 2011 and was completed in 2012. Construction of the UW station was completed in 2015, and revenue service began in March 2016.

An art installation known as the "Great Wall of Us" surrounded the site during its construction period. The wall, built by the university and Sound Transit, featured photos of faces of various individuals taken at university events.

Location and station layout

University of Washington station is located east of the intersection of Montlake Boulevard and NE Pacific Street, on the University of Washington campus in northeastern Seattle.

The station consists of a two-story surface structure, containing the station entrances and connections to a pedestrian overpass over Montlake Boulevard to the Rainier Vista, as well as two levels of mezzanines leading to the single island platform, 95 feet (29 m) below the surface. Ticket vending machines (which can either dispense a single-trip ticket or reload ORCA cards) are on the street, bridge and mezzanine levels. The levels are connected by a series of escalators and two elevators.

The station is designed with extra capacity to handle large event crowds leaving Husky Stadium for football games, graduation ceremonies, and special events.

The station was designed by LMN Architects, and was praised as the "best Link station" for its architecture and art by Charles Mudede of The Stranger.

Art

University of Washington station has one piece of public artwork, part of the "STart" program, which allocates a percentage of project construction funds to art projects to be used in stations. "Subterranium" by University of Washington alumnus Leo Saul Berk in the station's mezzanine consists of 6,000 aluminum panels cut with patterns and lit with blue lights. Berk took inspiration from the geologic maps for the project and symbols representing the strata of layers below the station, while also adding some original creations.

Services

University of Washington Station is the northern terminus of Sound Transit's Central Link line, which runs south to Downtown Seattle, the Rainier Valley, and the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport toward Angle Lake station. It is situated north of the Capitol Hill station and connected to downtown by the University Link Tunnel. Central Link trains serve University of Washington Station 20 hours a day on weekdays and Saturdays, from 5:00 am to 1:00 am, and 18 hours on Sundays, from 6:00 am to 12:00 am; during regular weekday service, trains operate roughly every 6 to 10 minutes during rush hour and midday operation, respectively, with longer headways of 15 minutes in the early morning and 20 minutes at night. During weekends, Central Link trains arrive at University of Washington Station every 10 minutes during midday hours and every 15 minutes during mornings and evenings. The station is approximately 44 minutes from SeaTac/Airport station and 6 minutes from Westlake station in Downtown Seattle.

University of Washington Station is also a major bus station, served by 18 King County Metro routes from the U District and northeastern Seattle, 5 Sound Transit Express routes from the Eastside, and 6 Community Transit commuter routes from Snohomish County at 7 stops in the Montlake Triangle and Rainier Vista area within walking distance of the station. On March 26, 2016, a week after the station's opening, a major bus restructure redirected most bus routes in the area, including the truncation of several express routes to Downtown Seattle, to feed the light rail station.