Seattle Monorail Station Reconfiguration Feasibility Study + Improvements
Seattle, WA
The Seattle Monorail connects Westlake Center and Seattle Center, shuttling residents, commuters and tourists between two terminal stations located in major business/civic campuses in Downtown Seattle and the original site of the 1962 World’ Fair. The monorail stations, now over 50 years old, were identified as needing reconfiguration to best meet today’s usage demands.
VIA Architecture was selected by Seattle Monorail Services and Seattle Center to evaluate and develop improvements to the Monorail that will increase capacity, improve accessibility, and better connect it with the regional transit network, downtown transportation infrastructure, and other downtown resources. The results and recommendations of the original study identified ridership goals achievable for different levels of investment in the existing system and demonstrated that, at a relatively low investment, the Monorail can provide an effective connection from Seattle Center to high capacity regional transit services more than 11 years before the proposed Sound Transit 3 line will connect there.
VIA then provided final design for an economical approach to maximize rider capacity while refreshing the look, feel, and comfort of the stations. Upgrades will brighten up finishes, provide more advanced security systems and streamline the platform. With new fare operations and more room on the Westlake platform, capacity will double from the existing condition, potentially carrying up to 4000-6000 people in each direction per hour.
