Sound Transit Seeks Community Input on Long-Awaited Graham Street Station

Last week, Sound Transit hosted a workshop at the Filipino Community Center in the Rainier Valley for residents to offer their input about the layout of the new Graham Street light rail station, projected to begin construction in 2028 and start services in 2031. In 2046, the Graham Street Station is estimated to have between 3,700 to 5,700 average boardings per day, according to Sound Transit.

The Graham Street Station will bridge the 1.6-mile gap between the Columbia City and Othello Stations and will serve the Hillman City, Brighton, New Holly, and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. The project goes all the way back to 1999, when it was studied as part of the Central Link Environmental Impact Statement. It was deferred due to costs, and it wasn't until 2016 that it was included in the voter-approved Sound Transit 3 (ST3) ballot measure and identified as a Tier 1 priority. Still, the planning stage didn't begin until 2023.

The station will be south of South Graham Street, in the median of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Sound Transit had considered a station north of South Graham Street, but it ultimately decided against that location because of major utility lines, less space, concerns about long distances between pedestrian crossings, and fewer and farther connections to buses and community destinations.

The chosen location is served by King County Metro's 106 bus line, which travels between the Chinatown-International District and Renton along Rainier Avenue South, MLK Jr. Way South, and Renton Avenue South. King County Metro may develop new routes to complement any new light rail stations within a couple of years prior to new rail services.

The station location Sound Transit chose presents its own challenges. "At Graham, the track is not actually perfectly straight, which it needs to be to have the track aligned with the platform for safe boarding," said senior project manager Brian Macik. "We need people to be able to get on and off the train safely, so this does involve some track reconstruction at Graham. In terms of utilities, there's a large, 42-inch sewer main in the southbound lane of MLK, right next to the light rail alignment, so some of the station options could potentially conflict with that."

The community was presented with three different options for how the station may be built. In Option 1, the station would have side platforms, similar to the Columbia City and Othello stations. There would be two platforms, one on each side of the track, with passengers heading north using one platform and passengers heading south using the other. This option would put the southbound platform on top of the sewer pipe, which would possibly require the pipe's relocation.

Concerns with Option 1, in addition to the possible relocation of the sewer pipe, which would add to construction time, is that it would require pedestrians to cross two sets of tracks — which increases the odds of an accident happening. Each of the options does include automatic pedestrian gates to address safety concerns, which, according to an engagement survey Sound Transit conducted in July 2024, is generally what people are most concerned about.

Option 2A would put a center platform in the middle of the street. Unlike Option 1, this would require pedestrians to cross only one set of tracks. It may also require the sewer pipe's relocation, and it would also require more land along both sides of MLK to accommodate pedestrian gates.

Option 2B is similar to 2A with the center platform, but instead of placing the platform in the middle of the street, it would be offset slightly to the east to avoid the sewer pipe so the pipe would not have to be relocated. The drawback with this option is that the impact to businesses on the east side would be greater, whereas with the options that place the platform in the middle of the street, impacts would be equal to both the east and west.

Slayman Appadolo, a Brighton resident and project coordinator for the Cham Refugees Community, usually walks to the Othello Station to catch the light rail. "Safe access to the platform [is important]," Appadolo said about the new station. "Mainly just access, but at the same time trying to find a location that would be more fitting for the area, regardless of the other variables."

Between 2009 and 2021, there were 10 fatalities due to light rail collisions — nine of the victims were pedestrians, and eight of the fatalities occurred in Rainier Valley. After a couple was killed crossing the tracks at the Columbia City Station in 2021, Sound Transit added flashing electronic signs that warn "ANOTHER TRAIN IS COMING." The pedestrian gates that Sound Transit would include in the Graham Street Station would most likely be automatic and would raise only when it's safe to cross.

In addition to safety, community engagement specialist Tamar Shuhendler said residents want to ensure local and small businesses are protected as the project takes place. "Making sure that business displacements are either — we are trying to limit them or we're working in collaboration with businesses as much as possible so that we're mitigating those consequences. That's something we're factoring into each station and to what potentially the roadway might look like, and working with the City on what roadway changes might be." 

The project requires the construction of a rail crossover, which allows trains to move from one track to another, at MLK Jr. Way South and South Juneau Street, near the Filipino Community of Seattle center. The crossover would maintain operations during the station's construction, when northbound and southbound 1 Line trains would need to share one track instead of using two tracks as usual — known as "single tracking." The crossover will shorten the length of single tracking and maintain train frequency in line with Sound Transit policy.

If you'd like to offer your input to Sound Transit about how to improve safety at crossings, fill out its online form by Feb. 10.