Summary

King County Executive Dow Constantine today commented on the King County Council’s endorsement of a set of principles that clears the way for development of a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) at Metro’s South Kirkland Park-and-Ride.

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King County Executive Dow Constantine today commented on the King County Council's endorsement of a set of principles that clears the way for development of a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) at Metro's South Kirkland Park-and-Ride. Approval by the Council follows similar action taken recently by the cities of Kirkland and Bellevue:

"The expansion of park-and-ride space, combined with approximately 200 units of housing, is a huge step toward improving mobility in the congested SR-520 corridor. I commend the Council and the cities of Kirkland and Bellevue for partnering with us to provide people with more and better transit options.

"As most riders know, the Kirkland park-and-ride currently operates at 100 percent capacity on weekdays. Added capacity means more people will be able to take advantage of expanded bus service, increasing cross-lake capacity while avoiding paying tolls.

"Thanks to today's Council action, we can move to the next steps and select a project developer later this year with the start of construction likely occurring in 2012.

"I am pleased that the South Kirkland TOD is being funded in part through a $6 million Federal Transit Administration Urban Partnership Grant. The county has also received a $1 million state regional mobility grant for the project. The balance of project funding is coming from private sector investment and other contributions, and the multiple sources demonstrate wide interest in completing this project to ease congestion for residents and riders."