A new transit center for Totem Lake is planned in conjunction with a $120 million expansion of the Evergreen Hospital Medical Center. It's an unusual partnership that has teamed up Sound Transit, Kirkland, King County Metro and the hospital, said Bruce Gray, an analyst with Sound Transit.
"For us, that means we get six bus bays with all the amenities," he said. The cost is $13.2 million for the transit center, which will be part of a planned medical-office tower on the hospital campus near the Totem Lake Mall.
Making signal and street improvements in the area are also part of the project, and combining the efforts of Sound Transit and the hospital provides another bonus. "It saves everybody money in the long run," Gray said.
"We're building on what we did at Overlake," he said of a transit project that combined efforts of Sound Transit, Metro and the Microsoft shuttle-bus service. "And everybody had a hand in planning that one."
Providing better transportation for the area is not a new idea, according to Dave Godfrey from Kirkland's Public Works Department. "A transit center for Totem Lake was voted for in Phase 1 for Sound Transit in 1996," he said. "The city was interested in that project and thought it was a good idea way back then.
A transit center was also part of the city's comprehensive planning for a growing urban center in Totem Lake, according to Paul Stewart, who works on transit planning for Kirkland. The planned expansion of Evergreen Hospital changed the circumstances, however.
Locating the transit center on hospital grounds was part of the permit for the expansion, he said. "What it did is, it set up a condition of approval to increase the height (of the medical-office tower)."
The project is currently in the design phase, and construction on the transit center is scheduled to begin next June, according to Sound Transit. A completion date is set for October 2007.
Steve Brown, CEO for Evergreen, believes the transit center will be good for the hospital. "It will offer access to our services through public transportation," he said via e-mail. "We are delighted to partner with Sound Transit and the city of Kirkland on this important project for the community."[[In-content Ad]]
