Contents
Northgate
Project goals
The Northgate Transit-Oriented Development concept ultimately selected for this location will preserve the site as a vital public transportation hub in north Seattle. The site will continue to be an important transfer point and could accommodate such additional services as light rail and monorail stations. Weekday bus trips through the Northgate Transit Center now total 785, with more than 7,000 passenger boardings each day. By 2020, Northgate light-rail ridership is forecast to be 10,000 boardings per day, with 75 percent of those riders arriving and departing by bus.
Integration of the bus transit center and light rail and monorail stations at Northgate with high-density, mixed-use urban development on the “super block” south of the mall will increase transit ridership and help the City of Seattle achieve its growth management targets.
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Elements of the design concept
- Traffic relief. Traffic congestion on 1st Avenue NE and 5th Avenue NE would be relieved by intersection and signal improvements, additional lanes on NE 103rd Street, and the development of a new street, 3rd Avenue NE, that connects the existing office park south of NE 100th Street with the mall north of NE 103rd Street.
- Parking. The existing capacity of the four park-and-ride lots at Northgate is approximately 1,400 stalls. The TOD project would replace these stalls and provide more spaces for commercial and residential use.
- 5th Avenue NE park. King County could “surplus” the park-and-ride lot at 5th Avenue NE and NE 112th Street, located next to Target and Best Buy, providing an opportunity for the City of Seattle to purchase it for creation of a park.
- Environmental friendliness. King County is studying the feasibility of sustainable building practices, such as “green roofs” for the buildings.
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Additional Features
- Bus-rail connections. By relocating the Northgate Transit Center to 1st Avenue NE, King County could provide excellent connections for passengers transferring between Metro buses and both the future Sound Transit light rail station and a potential monorail station. King County Metro Transit and the City of Seattle have tentatively agreed that this proposal should be considered for further study.
- Stormwater. Stormwater from the TOD project would be detained on site and potentially directed to the City of Seattle’s stormwater treatment feature, “the Channel” at Thornton Creek.
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Related documents and links
Some or all of the documents below are PDF files, which can be viewed or downloaded using Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader software. For more information on getting or using Acrobat, please visit the King County Acrobat help page.
- Letter from Ron Sims to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council, dated May 16, 2003: northgate_letter.pdf (PDF file, 78KB).
- Announcement from Ron Sims, dated March 17, 2003, detailing key agreements clearing the way for the Northgate TOD project (archived King County news release).
- City of Seattle Web pages:
- Mayor Greg Nickels’ Northgate Web page (external site)
- Northgate Coordinated Transportation Investment Plan (external site)
- City Council’s Northgate Web page (external site)
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Last update: November 19, 2007