Pacific Northwesterners tend to either endure or embrace “The Big Dark” as a point of pride, but this winter our long slog of limited daylight will feel just a little brighter for light rail passengers.
In fact, if you’re a regular 1 Line rider, you’ve probably already noticed lighting upgrades at some of Seattle’s downtown stations — they’re hard to miss!
Sound Transit’s facilities team and our partners in the King County light rail facilities division recently completed upgrades at three of our legacy underground stations built in the 1980s: Pioneer Square, Symphony, and our biggest and busiest light rail station, Westlake.
This work included updating the lighting all around the tunnel stations, from train platforms to mezzanines to stairwells and elevator areas.
Crews swapped out older fixtures and bulbs for more energy efficient, longer-lasting LED options that have a brighter feel to make our stations safer and more welcoming. These upgrades will also help Sound Transit save on energy and maintenance costs in the long term. We also installed additional lighting in several locations to improve visibility and safety.
Check out the before and after!
These three stations are just the beginning. We’re prioritizing several downtown projects ahead of our peak travel season and the FIFA World Cup in June, including upgrading outdoor plaza lighting at International District/Chinatown Station, plus dome lighting and improvements to the James St. exit at Pioneer Square Station.
And there’s much more to come! We’re making big investments in maintenance, safety and cleanliness at our stations and onboard our trains and buses.
So if you love a before and after, follow Sound Transit on Instagram and stay tuned to the Platform blog for more updates.