Update on Northgate Pedestrian & Bicycle Bridge

The Northgate Pedestrian and Bike Bridge will improve connections between the east and west sides of the Northgate community, helping knit together a neighborhood historically divided by a 10-lane interstate and maximizing the use of transit facilities. The King County Transit Center currently serves over 6,000 passengers a day, and the future light rail station is expected to serve over 15,000 passengers per day.

When complete, the bridge will help connect the neighborhood’s thriving job and retail centers with the rest of the city and region. The project will also connect to nearby walking and biking routes with a multi-use bike and ped path along 1st Ave NE between NE 92nd Street and NE Northgate Way.

The original bridge design exceeded the approved budget, so in late 2016 a new team was formed to design a bridge within the budget. The new bridge design includes several cost-saving changes, such as reducing the bridge width, shortening the bridge length, enhancing the user experience with overlooks and more direct lines of sight, and reducing the overall project duration through changes in construction techniques. The team cut the project cost by half. See how here.

SDOT’s bridge project team will be at a May 6 open house organized by King County for the county’s transit-oriented development project at Northgate, and SDOT will be holding a project-specific open house later this spring/summer. For information about the May 6 open house, click here.