Tag Archives: capitol hill station

On one hand, another weekend with no Capitol Hill-SoDo light rail service — on the other, progress on *late* 2025 opening of 2 Line

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(Image: Sound Transit)

Judkins Park Station and the rest of the 2 Line really are on track to finally open this year — late this year but still 2025. To get there, Sound Transit’s contractors must occasionally shut down parts of the 1 Line to complete some of the required work. This weekend will bring another light rail shutdown between Capitol Hill and SoDo:

In order to perform essential testing to prepare for full 2 Line operations, Link light rail will be temporarily suspended between Capitol Hill and SODO stations from 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17 through the end of service Sunday, Jan. 19. Normal operations are scheduled to resume at the start of service Monday, January 20.

During this time, crews will be performing the first integrated tests of the combined 1 and 2 Line safety communications equipment. These tests include preparing for and simulating over 100 different emergency scenarios and represent another step forward towards the full 2 Line opening. To perform the tests, power to the test area must be suspended. Sound Transit will provide Link Shuttle buses to transport passengers. The buses will run approximately every 10-15 minutes and stop at all stations between Capitol Hill and SODO. Additional information about the bus bridge is available here.

In November, a similar closure was required for the installation of a new signal house and communications system.

Last weekend, the line was also disrupted between Westlake and SoDo for similar 1 Line-2 Line work. Continue reading →

No light rail this weekend between Capitol Hill and SoDo as work continues to finally open Sound Transit’s 2 Line in 2025

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(Image: Sound Transit)

It has been the longest of public transit waits for Sound Transit to finally fully open its 2 Line connecting Seattle to the Eastside. This weekend will bring another round of work to prepare to connect the lines:

In order to perform work connecting East Link to the existing 1 Line, Link light rail will be temporarily suspended between Capitol Hill and SODO stations from 10 p.m. Friday, November 8 through the end of service Sunday, November 10. Normal operations will resume at the start of service Monday, November 11. During this time, crews will be commissioning a new signal house and communications system that will enable the connection of the 1 and 2 lines. Sound Transit will provide Link Shuttle buses to transport passengers. The buses will run approximately every 10-15 minutes and stop at all stations between Capitol Hill and SODO. Passengers traveling southbound from Capitol Hill station will have to get off the train and take the shuttle, reconnecting at SODO station if they are continuing to travel south. The same will be true for passengers heading north through SODO station. Link trains will be running approximately every 15 minutes between SODO and Angle Lake and between Lynnwood and Capitol Hill.

Continue reading →

Hilloween spirit will live on with new Halloween Pop-up Market above Capitol Hill Station

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A scene from Hilloween 2023

The neighborhood’s annual kids carnival may have gone poof in the night but a new event planned for the heart of Capitol Hill on October 31st should scare up some interest.

Seattle’s Urban League has announced it is making its next REVIVAL pop-up market and party in the plaza above Capitol Hill Station a Hilloween event.

“Get ready for a ghoulishly good time at the REVIVAL Market, the thrilling Halloween vendor market that promises tricks, treats, and plenty of shopping,” the announcement reads. “This spooktacular event is a must-visit for ghostly friends and families looking for an evening filled with eerie excitement and unique treasures.”

The organizers are promising “Spooky Vendor Stalls” with “a curated selection of unique goods and services from BIPOC and AAPI-owned businesses, including artisanal crafts, fashion, beauty products, home décor, and much more,” plus “spooky sweets, savory bites, and seasonal drinks from local food artisans and vendors.” Continue reading →

Hopes for cleaning up filthy Capitol Hill Station? Sound Transit’s new graffiti-friendly art program and a pressure washing contract

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This bird is not a fan of pressure washing

Workers installing one of the new art panels (Image: Sound Transit)

Sound Transit is hoping a new initiative will help address graffiti at Capitol Hill Station.

Meanwhile, a new $4.7 million contract will hopefully help clean up the filthy facility.

Sound Transit says a new art installation at the west entrance to Capitol Hill Station across Broadway is hoped to be a solution rolled out to its facilities that are “highly targeted by graffiti.”

New art panels installed at the station entrance are part of a pilot project organized by graffiti artist Danny Melbihess to showcase the artform and hopefully cut down on clean-up costs by discouraging tagging elsewhere in the station. “It’s a different approach than hammering down or painting over,” a Sound Transit official said. “Graffiti has always been a thing. We can’t get rid of it entirely, but we can channel it.”

Under the program, Sound Transit says Melbihess “curated a group of graffiti writers” to produce art for the project. Two 6×4 Dibond panels are painted offsite and installed at the west entrance where they will be displayed for a couple months before begin rotated out for new work.

The first in the series features work by artist Aerub.

Sound Transit says it “hopes to create a long-standing partnership and some goodwill with graffiti writers” with the new pilot program. Continue reading →

SODA and SOAP — Seattle City Council approves return of exclusion zones including new Capitol Hill ‘Stay out of Drug Area’

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The Harvard Market shopping center which has wrestled with increasing challenges around drug crimes at the corner of Broadway and Pike is within the new Capitol Hill SODA borders

Capitol Hill will have a new “Stay out of Drug Area” covering the neighborhoods around Capitol Hill Station and Cal Anderson Park and Seattle will re-implement exclusion laws hoped to throttle drug and prostitution-related crimes in new zones across the city.

In a five hour session Tuesday filled mostly with public testimony against the laws and with a phalanx of security and police officers called in to quell any disruptive protest in chambers, the Seattle City Council voted to approve the twin bills re-creating the city’s SODA and “Stay out of Area Prostitution” zones — regulations repealed by the council only four years ago after years of criticism over their ineffectiveness and dangerous implications for the victims of sex work-related crime they were supposed to be helping.

The new zones will be located on Capitol Hill, and in the International District, Belltown, the University District, and Pioneer Square with the new SOAP zone covering Aurora. More could be added.

Bob Kettle, chair of the council’s public safety committee, said Tuesday night after the successful vote that this new push for SODA and SOAP will be different than the city’s past attempts at exclusion zones. “This legislation uses a data driven approach to achieve the goals in our Strategic Framework plan,” Kettle said. “I am appreciative for the support our legislation has received from the community and my colleagues, and I am grateful for the opportunity to make Seattle safer.”

Under the legislation passed Tuesday, a designation will allow a judge to bar drug or prostitution law offenders busted in a zone from reentering the area for up to two years. A SODA or SOAP order can also be imposed as a condition of release from jail. Violating an order will become a new gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. Continue reading →

Hollingsworth proposes new Capitol Hill ‘Stay out of Drug Area’ including Cal Anderson Park, light rail station, Broadway/Pike hot spots

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The council member visited the area on a public safety tour earlier this year

The Seattle City Council effort to renew exclusion zones in Seattle targeting drug crime and prostitution could include a new Capitol Hill “Stay out of Drug Area” stretching from Harvard to 11th Ave including Cal Anderson Park.

Under the proposal, the SODA zone here would be “established as the area of the Capitol Hill neighborhood bordered on the north by East Thomas Street, on the south by East Union Street, on the east by 11th Avenue, and on the west by Harvard Avenue.” It would include the popular park, the busy Capitol Hill Station light rail and transit facility, and the areas around the Harvard Market shopping center as well as the core of the Pike/Pine nightlife scene.

The Capitol Hill proposal from District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth is set to be considered Tuesday by the council’s public safety committee as it shapes chair Bob Kettle’s legislation to restore zones scuttled by the city four years ago with renewed locations in Little Saigon and around 3rd Ave and Pike.

It comes amid what Hollingsworth has said will be multiple efforts to address crime, drug use, and homelessness around the Broadway and Pike/Pine core including investments “reinvigorating” Cal Anderson Park. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Station getting new ‘variable messaging signs’

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Sound Transit crews are installing new “variable messaging signs” at Capitol Hill Station and University of Washington Station this week to improve how the system communicates service updates to light rail riders.

The new signs are part of a systemwide upgrade of Sound Transit’s “passenger information system” and designed to show a wider variety of information like service updates and alerts. The upgrade has been a long time in coming as Sound Transit struggled with back-end issues starting in late 2022 around the transition to a new system. Continue reading →

Coming soon light rail changes include new $3 flat fare, the end of ‘tapping off,’ and Broadway’s Station 1-49

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(Image: Sound Transit)

With a new expansion set to open in August, Sound Transit is rolling out a host of changes including a new $3 flat rate that will eliminate the dreaded “tap off” for its light rail riders and new station ID numbers that are hoped to make navigating the growing system easier and that will give you a new way to refer to Capitol Hill Station. Next stop: Station 1-49.

Meanwhile, there is a “new” stop downtown where Sound Transit has renamed the old University Station as Symphony Station to hopefully clear up past confusion for riders thinking they were arriving at the University of Washington stop.

The changes come as Sound Transit is ready to expand its light rail system with service connecting Lynnwood to the existing 1 Line at the end of August. More expansion is coming including the new line connecting Seattle to the Eastside across I-90. Costly construction snafus have delayed the opening of Judkins Park Station and the Eastside expansion line it is part of to 2025 — some eight years after the project broke ground. Continue reading →

Above Capitol Hill Station, Summit Community Center has grown into a place of belonging, connection, and independence

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(Image: Summit Community Center)

(Image: Summit Community Center)

Right in the middle of the lively chaos of Broadway, sits Summit Community Center, a place of belonging, connection, and independence for neurodivergent young adults and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The development above Capitol Hill Station with a mix of new food and drink spaces and new businesses might not seem like an obvious base for the effort, but Summit Community Center will celebrate its first year on Capitol Hill this month established as a “home away from home” for over 270 members.

CHS reported here on the early Capitol Hill plans for the start-up nonprofit dedicated to providing a needed service to young adults with disabilities ages 18-35, a population that is often isolated, particularly after completing their education and losing access to the wraparound services that were provided through schools. The center navigated a long capital campaign as it sought to raise three million dollars through donations to help create the classrooms and indoor recreational gym space as well as fund scholarships and support for membership.

Today, those plans are reality for Seattle families.

“What we’re doing is providing an essential space that offers those same supports and allows young adults to have a comfortable space where they can go and continue to learn and grow”, said Alicia Nathan, founding executive director of Summit Community Center.

Nathan says SCC offers a wide array of services for their members including continued education, shared interest clubs, independent living skills development, pre-employment transition, sports/fitness, and more in a city location with amazing transit service and proximity to Cal Anderson Park and the busy core of Capitol HIll.

“This is just where young adults want to be,” said Nathan. Continue reading →

No light rail this weekend between Capitol Hill and SoDo

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(Image: Sound Transit)

There will be no light rail service through downtown Seattle this weekend. Sound Transit is closing the line between Capitol Hill and SoDo for planned maintenance on Saturday and Sunday:

Due to planned rail maintenance, Link light rail will be temporarily suspended between Capitol Hill and SODO stations from the start of service Saturday, June 22 through the end of service Sunday, June 23. Normal operations will resume at the start of service Monday, June 24. During this time, Sound Transit will provide Link Shuttle buses to transport passengers. The buses will run every 15 minutes and stop at all stations between Capitol Hill and SODO. Passengers should plan ahead and allow for extra time for transfers between buses and trains.

Sound Transit says it expect service to be up and running in time for Monday morning.

The closure is part of the latest work as Sound Transit undertakes needed maintenance, repair, and upgrade work in the downtown transit tunnel in advance of expansion including service connecting Lynnwood to the existing 1 Line at the end of August.

More expansion is coming including the new line connecting Seattle to the Eastside across I-90. Costly construction snafus have delayed the opening of Judkins Park Station and the Eastside expansion line it is part of to 2025 — some eight years after the project broke ground.

 

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