Tukwila International Boulevard station

Tukwila International Boulevard station

Tukwila International Boulevard is a light rail station on Line 1 from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to Downtown Seattle. The station opened on July 18, 2009, on the first day of Central Link service. It was the line’s terminus until SeaTacAirport station opened in December 2009. Trains serve the station twenty hours a day on most days.

About Tukwila International Boulevard station in brief

Summary Tukwila International Boulevard stationTukwila International Boulevard is a light rail station on Line 1 from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to Downtown Seattle. The station opened on July 18, 2009, on the first day of Central Link service. It was the line’s terminus until SeaTacAirport station opened in December 2009. Trains serve the station twenty hours a day on most days; the headway between trains is six minutes during peak periods. It is also served by King County Metro buses, including two RapidRide limited-stop bus rapid transit routes, which connects it to downtown Seattle, West Seattle, and various locations in southern King County. In 2013, the Puget Sound Regional Council counted a population of 4,155 residents in 2,332 housing units within a half-mile radius of the station, of which 95 percent were considered affordable. The area surrounding the station is split between the cities of SeaTAC and Tukwilla by International Boulevard, leading to two comprehensive plans for transit-oriented development near the station. The earliest proposal for a light train station near Tuk wila came from the Pugets Sound Council of Governments in 1986. The TukWila station area consists primarily of single-family homes, with some multi-family residential and commercial buildings along International Boulevard and Southcenter Boulevard. The King County Housing Authority purchased 286 apartments in a building near TUKwila international Boulevard station in 2015 to preserve their affordable rates for low-income households.

The city of Tuk Wila adopted an urban renewal plan in 1998 and an updated comprehensive plan in 2015, both recommending improved commercial access and additional residential units around the station and on International Boulevard. A Spokane-based developer plans to build 665 housing units on a site northwest of thestation, including 385 affordable housing units. The development plan, however, displaces a number of immigrant-owned businesses at the SeaT Tac Market. The RTA placed a smaller proposal on the following year’s ballot and selected a station near South 158th Street in November 1996. The second proposal, called “Sound Move,” was selected in February 1999 and was selected by the RTA, then renamed the Sound Transit Board. It would have been at an at-grade line on Pacific Highway, with stops at South 144th and 158th streets in Tukewila. The plan was opposed by the Tukawila City Council and rejected by a majority of voters. The project was later renamed the TUKWila light rail line. The line was approved in 1996, but construction did not begin until 2005 due to routing disputes and planning issues. It’s located one mile west of the Westfield Southcenter Mall, a major regional shopping center, and is connected to it via the RapidR ride F Line.