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Big changes ahead for Redmond Park-and-Ride

photo: computer rendering of new Redmond P&R

For almost 30 years, the park-and-ride lot located in the heart of downtown Redmond has been a real workhorse for King County Metro Transit. Now, with three facility upgrades in the works, it is poised to become a “show horse.”

The Redmond Park-and-Ride, located on Northeast 83rd Street, is a typical open-air lot with 377 spaces. Fifteen Metro and Sound Transit routes serve the busy lot. Currently, there are more than 1,400 passenger boardings a day at the Redmond Park-and-Ride, despite a minimal passenger-loading area and serious space constraints for buses.

Within the next few years, all that will be changing. Metro will be building a park-and-ride garage on the site, creating a new transit center-style boarding and bus layover area, and a private developer is working on a transit-oriented, mixed-use residential development.

The improvements will increase the convenience of using the Redmond Park-and-Ride for passengers, and make it more efficient for Metro to operate. Here is a breakdown of the three projects:

Garage

The estimated $10 million budget for the Redmond Park-and-Ride garage includes planning, engineering, design, and construction of a 386-stall parking structure on 1.4 acres of the existing lot. The remaining 133,000 square feet of the current lot is being sold to a private developer for the residential development. Proceeds from that sale will fund the garage project.

Metro’s project team is working cooperatively with Trammel Crow Residential and the city of Redmond to develop the appearance and function of the garage to integrate into the surrounding area and with the planned residential development. During construction of the garage, alternative parking in the nearby area will be provided for Metro customers.

The garage will occupy the eastern side of the existing lot. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2008 with completion by spring 2009.

The garage will have three floors. As much as possible, existing trees along the east and south property lines will be preserved. Additional landscaping will provide seasonal color and screening. Architectural treatments will be used to blend with the surrounding area and adjacent transit improvements. The garage will be built next to a north-south pedestrian walkway. The walkway will connect the street grid and provide a pedestrian-friendly feel to the project. Security cameras will be located on each floor.

Transit center

photo: wide computer aerial of new Redmond P&R

The Redmond Transit Center project is located along Northeast 83rd Street. It will be partially on-street and partially off-street. It is designed to increase transit passenger loading capacity, expand the bus loop on the north side of the street to improve transit operations, and add bus layover capacity to the loop.

Planned features include: six passenger-loading bus spaces; six bus-layover spaces (all off-street); two spaces for Access Transportation; improved pedestrian connections with wider sidewalks along Northeast 83rd Street; a new mid-block crosswalk; larger, customized passenger shelters; information kiosks; and new landscaping to blend into the nearby city skate park. There will also be improvements to create better sight distances for buses using the turnaround, and fewer vehicle/bus/pedestrian conflicts by removing the western park-and-ride driveway.

The addition of off-street layover space and the transit turnaround will significantly improve transit efficiency. These two elements allow Metro to invest service hours in carrying passengers instead of “deadheading” empty buses to satellite layover locations.

The design for this project has been closely coordinated with the city of Redmond and Sound Transit over the last three years. The community provided input and feedback to the design team through the city’s Parks and Design Review Boards.

The total budget for the transit center project is approximately $7.2 million from a combination of Sound Transit local funding and federal grants.

The project should be completed by the end of 2007.

Transit-oriented development (TOD)

The western portion of the existing park-and-ride lot is being sold to Trammell Crow Residential for development as transit-oriented, mixed-use development. The county has found that TOD housing increases opportunities for people to take a bus, vanpool, carpool, bicycle, or walk to take care of their everyday needs.

Trammell Crow Residential is planning to build a 324-unit residential complex called Alexan Redmond on the parcel. Up to 20 percent of the units will be affordable for residents earning 80 percent of median income. Construction should be completed in 2009.

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Updated: March 06, 2007

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