The station has a single above ground entrance located southeast of Husky Stadium. A pedestrian bridge over Montlake Boulevard will provide a direct connection to the upper campus and the Burke-Gilman Trail while minimizing conflicts between automobiles, pedestrians and bicyclists. 

• Aerial view
• Station entrance rendering
• Platform
• Platform level Station entrance
• Mezzanine level view
• Cross section north-south
• Cross section east-west

Mode: Link

Service begins: Expected 2016

Rider projection: By the year 2030, approximately 25,000 riders will board light rail trains daily at the University of Washington Station.

Phase: Construction

Fact: Sound Transit will plant more than 200 trees near Husky Stadium

Utility relocation 
Completed summer 2009

Early University Link construction activities began in February 2009 with the relocation of utilities and new concession stands near Husky Stadium, including new storm drains under the parking lot south of the stadium, new water, power and communications lines in the landscaped area southwest of the stadium and demolition of two small ticket office, concession and restroom buildings.

Excavation and tunneling
January 2010 – Mid 2013

Construction started with a contractor grading the construction site to make it level and digging out the area for the station. The excavation for the station and crossover tracks is approximately 800 feet long, 100 feet wide and 120 feet deep. 

The same contractor who excavated the station also dug the two tunnels between the University of Washington and Capitol Hill. 

For more details on tunnel construction:

Tunneling for University Link

Station construction

2011 – 2014

Shortly after the tunnel boring machines were launched, a second contractor joined the tunneling contractor to begin construction of the station and the above ground entrance to the station. Work includes: Completion of the station box excavation, floors, stairs, mezzanines, elevators, etc.

A new bike ramp and a pedestrian bridge from the second level of the Sound Transit Light Rail Station over Montlake Boulevard will provide a direct connection to the upper campus and the Burke-Gilman Trail while minimizing conflicts between automobiles, pedestrians and bicyclists.

As the station construction draws to an end, the contractor will restore the trees, shrubs, lighting and other landscaping around the station. Sound Transit will plant more than 200 new trees adjacent to Husky Stadium. 

University of Washington* Montlake Triangle project
Starting 2014

The area where the new pedestrian bridge will touch down onto campus – the Montlake Triangle – is also getting a major facelift by the UW. A portion of NE Pacific Place and the Burke-Gilman Trail will be lowered, a land bridge will be built over the top of the roadway and trail and the entire area will be re-landscaped. 

That work, combined with the new pedestrian bridge over Montlake Boulevard, will provide a direct connection between the station and upper campus and minimize conflicts between automobiles, pedestrians and bicyclists. 

For more information click here.

* Not a Sound Transit project

Temporary art

A vast assortment of photographic images on the construction wall surrounding the construction site is collectively known as “the Great Wall of Us.” As the University of Washington light rail station is being built, our mobile photo booth is traveling all over the Puget Sound area collecting snapshots of the people represented. We captured them shouting, laughing, making silly faces and striking crazy poses. 

This collection of more than 1,500 people and 800 photos may feature your neighbor, your classmate, your co-worker, your doctor, your barista, your teammate, your professor, your accountant or even your best friend. You’ll see babies and grandparents, families and friends, tourists and students. More than 275 panels make up the Great Wall of Us – totaling 4,400 square feet of art.

Permanent Installations

Local artist and UW graduate Leo Saul Berk has been commissioned to create a unique work of art integrated into the structure of the University of Washington Station. His concept is to create an underground planetarium by cutting an artist-designed hatch pattern into the back-lit metal walls of the station interior. The hatch pattern represents the artist’s interpretation of the different geologic layers encountered as the station was excavated.