Elevator times are two to three minutes at Midtown and three to five minutes at Westlake, but that quote does not appear to factor in waiting time in lines to get into the elevators, which can be very long at peak times, as users of the elevator-only Beacon Hill Station can attest. Sound Transit has modeled travel times from the surface to the station platform at five to six minutes via escalator at Midtown Station and four to six minutes via escalator at the new Westlake Station, agency spokesperson Rachelle Cunningham said. Dawson noted that shallower stations have shorter travel times. “As one can expect with an elevator-only access configuration and deeper, those travel times do add up,” Sound Transit Land Use Planning Manager Sloan Dawson said in the agency’s presentation to the Chinatown-International District and SoDO Community Advisory Group yesterday. ( Update: The agency released the Draft EIS on January 18th.) Chinatown-International District doesn’t have a preferred alternative yet, but one deep bore option is a whopping 190 feet deep.Ī fuller picture will emerge when Sound Transit releases its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Ballard Link and West Seattle Link promised by January 28th, but the agency did reveal new morsels in presentations to its Community Advisory Groups over the past week. Sound Transit’s preferred alignment for the next phase of light rail in Seattle includes a Westlake Station that is 135 feet deep, a Midtown Station that is 140 feet deep, a South Lake Union Station that is 120 feet deep, and a Delridge Station platform that is 85 feet in the air.

(Image by Sound Transit) Reaching the station platform could take six minutes at the deepest stations.

The larger context of the station is planned in concert with the respective cities. Sound Transit has big station decisions planned for 2022.

Seattle light rail route