Lynnwood City Center station is a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

and bus station in

Lynnwood, Washington Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located north of Seattle and south of Everett, Washington, Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 in Washington, ...

, United States. It is the largest transit hub in southwestern

Snohomish County Snohomish County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. With a population of 827,957 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous county in Washington, after nearby King and Pierce counties, and the 72nd-most popul ...

and is the northern terminus of the 1 Line, part of the

Link light rail Link light rail is a light rail system with some rapid transit characteristics that serves the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is managed by Sound Transit in partnership with local transit pro ...

system managed by

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Se ...

. It is also served by

Community Transit Community Transit (CT) is the public transit authority of Snohomish County, Washington, United States, in the Seattle metropolitan area. It operates Public transport bus service, local bus, paratransit and vanpool service within Snohomish Count ...

and

Sound Transit Express Sound Transit Express (ST Express) is a network of regional express buses, operated by the multi-county transit agency, Sound Transit. The routes connect major regional hubs throughout 53 cities in three counties (King, Pierce, and Snohomish) ...

buses and includes a

parking garage A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

with 1,670 spaces and

bicycle locker A bicycle locker or bike box is a locker or box in which bicycles can be placed and locked, usually 1 or 2 per locker. They are usually provided at places where numerous cyclists need bike parking for extended times (such as during the worki ...

s. A

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

lot near

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

and 44th Avenue West in Lynnwood opened in May 1981 and was the largest of its kind in Washington, with 808 stalls. It was rebuilt by Sound Transit in 2003 and renamed to Lynnwood Transit Center. A light rail project to extend service to Lynnwood was approved by voters in 2008 as part of the

Sound Transit 2 Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, re ...

ballot measure and began construction in 2019. The light rail station at the transit center opened on August 30, 2024, and the facility was renamed to Lynnwood City Center station. The Swift Orange Line, a bus rapid transit service operated by Community Transit, serves the station. Sound Transit's Stride bus rapid transit system will also terminate at the station, connecting it with areas along Interstate 405.

Location and layout

The Lynnwood Transit Center is located on the north side of

at 44th Avenue West, southwest of

Alderwood Mall Alderwood, formerly Alderwood Mall, is a regional shopping mall in Lynnwood, Washington. It is anchored by JCPenney, Macy's (formerly The Bon Marché and Nordstrom and comprises both a traditional enclosed mall and two open-air areas known as T ...

Lynnwood Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located north of Seattle and south of Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. It is the four ...

. The transit center includes 20 bus bays and a

. A five-story

on the southeast side of the site provides 1,670 park and ride spaces and has driveways from two streets. The bus bays have passenger information displays that have real-time arrival information for inbound buses. A

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those who buy or use its products or services, either in person or remotely. Customer service is often practiced in a way that reflects the strategies and values of a firm, and ...

center called "RideStore" is located at the north end of the transit center. The transit center is also located adjacent to the Interurban Trail, which runs through the southeast parking lot and connects it to

, Aurora Village and downtown Everett. The 2003 renovation of the transit center came with the installation of two pieces of

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

work created by Claudia Fitch, known collectively as ''Shift''. The art installation consists of a pair of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

beacons resembling

newel post A newel, also called a central pole or support column, is the central supporting pillar around which a helical staircase winds. It can also refer to an upright post that supports or terminates the handrail of a stair banister (the "newel post"). ...

s that are used to mark the two main crosswalks.

History

Planning for a large park and ride lot in Lynnwood began in the late 1970s with the formation of

and increasing population growth in Lynnwood that had begun to affect the nearby Northgate lot. Construction on lot began in February 1980, with the project's $1.5 million cost paid for almost entirely by the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

. It was scheduled to open in September 1980, but construction was delayed by the discovery of underground springs. The Lynnwood park and ride opened on May 25, 1981, with 808 stalls, becoming the largest park and ride in the

state of Washington Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, serving Community Transit as well as

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-bound

commuter bus A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-floo ...

es operated by Metro Transit. It also became the main bus hub for southern Snohomish County, replacing a street on the north side of the

Fred Meyer Fred Meyer, Inc. is an American chain of hypermarket superstores and subsidiary of Kroger based in Portland, Oregon. The stores operate in the northwestern United States, with locations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. The company was ...

store in Lynnwood. The park and ride regularly reached capacity in its first years and prompted drivers to park in unauthorized areas. Several reliever lots were built in neighboring areas, including eastern Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace, but the Lynnwood lot remained at capacity. Plans to expand the lot were part of the first

funding package that was approved by voters in 1996, along with plans for a direct access ramp to Interstate 5's

high-occupancy vehicle lane A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger, ...

s (HOV lanes). The bays would be relocated to the north and expanded to accommodate 20 buses at a time.

service to Lynnwood began in September 1999 and construction of the new transit center began in August 2002. In September 2003, the rebuilt the park and ride lot was opened and renamed to Lynnwood Transit Center by Sound Transit and Community Transit. The $33.6 million project expanded the lot to over , added 300 parking spaces to the lot, and consolidated the bus bays on the site of an old warehouse; additional amenities built during the project included a coffee stand, bathrooms, public art, and a

center. The following year, the $31.2 million HOV direct access ramp, the first of its kind in the state, was opened to replace the congested onramp on 44th Avenue West.

Light rail

Lynnwood Transit Center was selected as the northern terminus of the Lynnwood Link Extension, a

extension that is part of the

system. The extension and its $1.6 billion in funding was approved by voters in 2008. The extension is projected to carry 63,000 to 74,000 daily riders by 2035; 17,900 daily riders are expected to board at Lynnwood Transit Center's station. The light rail station is elevated above the direct access ramp and southeastern parking lot, crossing from the southwest to the northeast. The station has two entrances connected to its

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

below platform level: one that travels across the roadway and leads to a ground-level

plaza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

; and another with direct access to a five-story

with 500 stalls. The existing bus station was retained and slightly expanded to accommodate more

layover 250px, Layover for buses at LACMTA's Los_Angeles.html" ;"title="Warner Center Transit Hub, Los Angeles">Warner Center Transit Hub, Los Angeles In scheduled transportation, a layover (also way station, or connection) is a point where a vehic ...

space. Parking at the transit center would increase to 1,900 stalls, with room to expand further. The station's official name, Lynnwood City Center, was adopted in July 2017. Lynnwood Transit Center Parking Garage

Construction of the station required the demolition of a furniture store to the east of the bus bays, a well as a

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

, restaurant, and

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

. Demolition of the stores began in July 2018 and the project broke ground on September 3, 2019. In early 2020, Sound Transit opened a temporary parking lot on the east side of 46th Avenue West to replace several closed areas of the park and ride that were repurposed for construction staging. The southwest lot was closed in June 2022 and replaced by a leased area on the north side of 200th Street Southwest. Construction on the five-story parking garage began in October 2020 and it opened for use on April 17, 2023. The garage replaced the existing and temporary surface lots, which were then converted for construction staging and bus layover space; 226 surface stalls remained once construction is complete, giving Lynnwood Transit Center a total of 1,900 park and ride spaces. The station campus was awarded

LEED Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...

certification in 2024 for its environmentally-friendly and sustainable design features. Community Transit opened its rebuilt RideStore at the transit center on August 27, 2024. Light rail service from the station began at 12:37 p.m. on August 30, 2024, on the 1 Line. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the extension was held at Lynnwood City Center station and attended by hundreds of people; it was followed by a

night market Night markets or night bazaars ( zh, 夜市) are street markets which operate at night and are generally dedicated to more leisurely strolling, shopping, and eating than more businesslike day markets. The culture of night markets originates from C ...

with booths and vendors representing 165 community organizations. 2 Line service from Lynnwood is expected to begin in 2025. Trains from Lynnwood are anticipated to take 28 minutes to reach Westlake station in

Downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

. Community Transit plans to truncate most of its commuter routes to Lynnwood Transit Center and add new all-day express routes along the Interstate 5 corridor; a temporary Sound Transit Express route that runs parallel to the 1 Line is planned to launch in 2024 to accommodate overflow passengers until the 2 Line opens and provides full capacity to Lynnwood. A further extension of the light rail system to Everett is planned to carry the 1 Line and 2 Line and be opened in phases from 2037 to 2041.

Transit-oriented development

Sound Transit determined in 2011 that the area around the transit center had "moderate to strong" potential for

transit-oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of Real estate development, urban development that maximizes the amount of Residential area, residential, business and leisure space within Pedestrian, walking distance of public t ...

, including housing and offices. The area around the transit center is part of a regional growth center designated by the

Puget Sound Regional Council The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) is a metropolitan planning organization that develops policies and makes decisions about transportation planning, economic development, and growth management throughout the four-county Seattle metropolitan ...

; the Lynnwood city government designated the area between the transit center and the

to the northeast as its

city center A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms that exist in ...

, preparing for heavy development that is expected to follow light rail expansion. The city raised the height limits for buildings in the area to in 2005, looking to "resemble

downtown Bellevue Downtown Bellevue is the central business district of Bellevue, Washington, United States. It is bounded by I-405 to the east, NE 12th Street to the north, 100th Ave NE to the west, and Main Street to the south, and covers an area of around . ...

". The light rail station's northeast construction staging area is planned to be offered for transit-oriented

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...

development. A 2024 proposal from Housing Hope for the site comprises two buildings with 167 units of affordable units in various configurations, a

medical clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care needs ...

, a

community center A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

, and other spaces.

Services

Lynnwood City Center station is the northern terminus of the 1 Line, which runs north–south through the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

campus, Downtown Seattle, the

Rainier Valley Rainier Valley ( ) is a neighborhood in southeastern Seattle, Washington. It is located east of Beacon Hill; west of Mount Baker, Seward Park, and Leschi; south of the Central District and north of Rainier Beach. It is part of Seattle's So ...

, and

Seattle–Tacoma International Airport Seattle–Tacoma International Airport is the primary international airport serving Seattle and its surrounding metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is in the city of SeaTac, which was named after the airport's nickname Se ...

. It is 22 stations north of Angle Lake, the southern terminus; Mountlake Terrace is the next southbound station. Trains on the 1 Line serve Lynnwood City Center station twenty hours a day on weekdays and Saturdays, from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.; and eighteen hours on Sundays, from 6:00 a.m. to midnight. During regular weekday service, trains operate roughly every eight to ten minutes during

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...

and midday operation, respectively, with longer headways of twelve to fifteen minutes in the early morning and at night. During weekends, 1 Line trains arrive at Lynnwood City Center station every ten minutes during midday hours and every twelve to fifteen minutes during mornings and evenings. The station is approximately 28 minutes from Westlake station in Downtown Seattle and 65 minutes from SeaTac/Airport station. The station is a major hub for buses in Snohomish County operated by

, which operates 921 daily trips that travel through or terminate. In 2016, prior to the completion of light rail service, more than 40 percent of Community Transit's bus routes served the transit center, with 500 total buses passing through each day. Buses arrived at Lynnwood Transit Center at an average frequency of every three minutes during peak periods. The Swift Orange Line, a bus rapid transit service, connects the station to

Edmonds College Edmonds College, formerly Edmonds Community College, is a public community college in Lynnwood, Washington. More than 17,000 students annually take courses for credit toward a certificate or degree at the college. The college employs more than 1, ...

, and Mill Creek. The network was restructured in September 2024 following the opening of the light rail station to replace express routes that had continued south to Northgate station and Downtown Seattle. These include all-day express routes to Marysville and Stanwood and peak-only routes that serve Mill Creek and Lake Stevens. Community Transit launched a

ride-hailing A ridesharing company (or ridehailing service) is a company (or service offered by a company) that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxis, cannot legally be hailed from the street. ...

service, called "Zip", in 2022 to serve Lynnwood with a focus on connections between the transit center and local destinations. The regional

system also truncated its routes at Lynnwood City Center station and provides all-day access to

Everett Station Everett Station is a train station serving the city of Everett, Washington, United States. The station has been served by ''Amtrak Cascades, Cascades'' and ''Empire Builder'' since opening in 2002, replacing an earlier station near the Port o ...

and peak-only trips to Seaway Transit Center in Everett. During disruptions to Link light rail service, bus shuttles are used between stations at designated stops. At Lynnwood City Center station, Bay D3 is used by the shuttles.

References

External links

Lynnwood Transit CenterLynnwood Link Extension
{{Sound Transit railway stations, Blue=y, Central=y, state=collapsed 1981 establishments in Washington (state) Link light rail stations in Snohomish County, Washington Transportation buildings and structures in Snohomish County, Washington Lynnwood, Washington Railway stations in the United States opened in 2024 Bus stations in Washington (state) Sound Transit Express Transit centers in the United States