Northeast 85th Street is a planned

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in the county and the twelfth largest in the state. The city's downto ...

, to be operated by

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It operates the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, r ...

. The station is planned to be located at the intersection of Interstate 405 and Northeast 85th Street near the city center. Its construction will entail the removal of the existing

cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passes over or under the ...

, replacing it with a three-level interchange with separate ramps for buses. Projected costs of the NE 85th Street station are estimated at up to a third of a billion dollars, making it one of the most expensive BRT projects planned by Sound Transit. The city's existing transit center is located about a mile away and at about 200 feet lower in elevation. A proposal to connect the two stations with a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

climbing Rose Hill, the first

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

in the Seattle area, was proposed in the late 2010s. The project was approved by voters in 2016 with the passage of

Sound Transit 3 Sound Transit 3, abbreviated as ST3, was a ballot measure during the November 2016 elections in Seattle, Washington, proposing an expansion of the regional public transit system. The measure was proposed by Sound Transit, which was established ...

and is fully funded at $250–300 million. Public meetings for the project kicked off in April 2018. The station is planned to open in 2024 after three years of construction. If accepted, the three-level design incorporating a dogbone interchange under Interstate 405 will be the first of its kind in the United States, and the most expensive bus stop in Sound Transit's bus rapid transit system. Sound Transit estimates that the station could transport a few hundred passengers a day in the 2020s. A five-building office development for

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

is planned to be constructed southeast of the interchange on the current site of a car dealership. An estimated 7,000 employees would work on the campus by 2032.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , title=Council weighs in on NE 85th Street BRT station , author=Katie Metzger , newspaper=Kirkland Reporter , date=May 8, 2018 , url=http://www.kirklandreporter.com/news/council-weighs-in-on-ne-85th-street-brt-station/ , accessdate=September 6, 2018 {{cite news , work=Seattle Transit Blog , author=Dan Ryan , date=April 30, 2018 , url=https://seattletransitblog.com/2018/04/30/kirklands-ne-85th-brt-station/ , title=Kirkland's NE 85th BRT Station , accessdate=September 6, 2018 {{cite news , title=Sound Transit is taking a $300 million gamble on a new I-405 bus station in Kirkland , author=Mike Lindblom , newspaper=The Seattle Times , date=September 6, 2018 , url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/sound-transits-300-million-gamble-on-new-i-405-bus-station-in-kirkland/ , accessdate=September 6, 2018 {{cite news , title=Sound Transit kicks off planning for I-405 bus rapid transit , author=Lizz Giordano , date=May 1, 2018 , work=The Everett Herald , url=https://www.heraldnet.com/news/sound-transit-kicks-off-planning-for-bus-rapid-transit/ , accessdate=September 6, 2018 I-405/SR 167 Corridor Executive Advisory Group
Washington State Department of Transportation, June 2018

External links

I-405 BRT 85th Street Interchange Project Fact Sheet
Sound Transit official website, dated April 17, 2018 Buildings and structures in Kirkland, Washington Proposed bus rapid transit in the United States