But in the end they coalesced around Harrell’s last-minute proposal to build the North/South of CID stations. The Board sided with that coalition initially, agreeing that the Fifth Avenue station was off the table and delaying its vote to provide more time to study a Fourth Avenue station option. That group, which called itself Transit Equity for All and grew to include transit advocates and Pioneer Square business groups, threw its support behind the Fourth Avenue station, saying it would be a benefit for the neighborhood and the optimal choice for easy and fast connections between transit lines. The Fifth Avenue station was a nonstarter for neighborhood elders, business owners and advocates who feared that construction through the heart of the neighborhood would be devastating. In the original expansion proposal, the Sound Transit Board was tasked with choosing between building a station on either Fifth or Fourth Avenues in the CID. The South of CID station would be built at Sixth Avenue and Seattle Boulevard, a few blocks south of the Uwajimaya grocery store, which sits near the southwest corner of the CID, and a few blocks north of the existing Stadium Station that serves T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field. Constantine wants the station there as part of the Civic Campus redevelopment effort he announced in his State of the County address in early March, which would bring new housing and businesses to the area. The North of CID station would be built underneath the existing King County Administration Building at Fourth Avenue and James Street. Approved by voters in 2016, the more than $54 billion system expansion will build light rail from Tacoma to Everett and add a second tunnel through downtown Seattle as part of a new line that will run from Ballard to West Seattle. The new stations are part of the third phase of LINK light rail.
But the vote signals the Board’s preference for a plan that would create two new stations currently called “North of CID” and “South of CID.” The vote is far from a final decision on station location - Sound Transit staff need to conduct a lengthy analysis of each proposed site before the Board votes on the final location(s).
With a 15-to-1 vote, the Board adopted an 11th-hour proposal from Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and King County Executive Dow Constantine to build stations just north and south of the Chinatown-International District (CID), rather than on Fourth Avenue adjacent to the existing CID light rail station.
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