page_title: Roosevelt station (Sound Transit)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Roosevelt station (Sound Transit) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Roosevelt station, a future Link light rail station in Seattle, seen under construction in February 2018.
context_page_description: Roosevelt is a future light rail station located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is situated in the Roosevelt neighborhood in North Seattle and is being built as part of the Northgate extension of the Link light rail system, operated by Sound Transit and scheduled to open in 2021. The underground station will consist of a single island platform connected to the surface via a mezzanine and two entrances along 12th Avenue Northeast at Northeast 65th and 67th streets.
  Construction on the Northgate extension was approved by voters in a 2008 ballot measure and began in 2012. Two tunnel boring machines used to build the light rail tunnels arrived at Roosevelt station in 2015, on their way between Northgate and the University District.
context_section_description: Proposals for rapid transit service through the Roosevelt neighborhood date back to the early 20th century, when the area was near the northern city limits of Seattle. In 1911, Virgil Bogue proposed an extensive rapid transit system, including an underground subway following 10th Avenue Northeast from Northeast 85th Street south towards Latona (the present-day University District) and Downtown Seattle. The proposal was rejected by voters the following year, but an un-adopted 1926 plan from the Planning Commission included rapid transit service to Ravenna Park and the University District.  The Forward Thrust plan of the late 1960s proposed building a four-line rapid transit network using $385 million in local funding to augment a larger federal contribution. One of the proposed lines, traveling between Downtown Seattle and Lake City, included a station adjacent to Roosevelt High School at Brooklyn Avenue NE and NE 65th Street. The plan was put before voters on two occasions, in February 1968 and May 1970, and failed to gain the needed supermajority to pass.
  In the 1990s, the formation of a regional transit authority (RTA) brought light rail planning to the Seattle region. In 1995, the transit authority proposed a regional light rail system to be built by 2010, including an at-grade or underground light rail line through Roosevelt with a station in the neighborhood. The RTA proposal was rejected by voters in March 1995, citing its $6.7 billion price. A smaller, $3.9 billion plan was approved in November 1996, only funding light rail from the University District to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport; an extension north to Northgate via Roosevelt was deferred until additional funding could be secured. In 1997, the RTA (since re-branded as Sound Transit) began exploring alignment options for the Northgate segment, with residents voicing their opposition to at-grade or elevated alignments in favor of an underground route. Following several rounds of public hearings in 2000, the Sound Transit Board narrowed down the routing options to a tunnel under 12th Avenue and an elevated alignment along Interstate 5 to the west of Roosevelt's commercial district, each with a station at Northeast 65th Street. Community and business groups in Roosevelt favored an underground alignment, while then Seattle mayor Greg Nickels supported the elevated station, which was less costly and closer to the Green Lake neighborhood. On January 28, 2005, the Sound Transit Board unanimously approved an underground alignment with a station along 12th Avenue NE between NE 65th and 67th streets, citing a smaller-than-expected difference in cost compared to the elevated option.
  Funding for the Northgate extension of Link light rail, then known as "North Link", was included in the 2007 Roads and Transit ballot measure, which was put before voters in November 2007. The combined $18 billion proposal was rejected, with environmentalist groups disavowing it over the roadworks portion that sought to expand regional freeways. A second, transit-only measure known as "Sound Transit 2" was approved by voters in November 2008, securing funding for a light rail extension to Northgate and further north to Lynnwood.
  The North Link project was approved by the Sound Transit Board in June 2012, setting a $2.1 billion budget and expected completion date of 2021. The contract for tunneling and station construction was awarded to JCM Northlink LLC (a joint venture of Jay Dee, Coluccio, and Michels) for $462 million in 2013. Demolition of a QFC supermarket on the site began in May 2012, while buildings on 12th Avenue NE, including the Standard Records building, and townhouses on NE 66th Street were also demolished later in the year. Sound Transit broke ground on the Northgate Link Extension project on August 17, 2012, at a ceremony on the future site of Roosevelt station. The majority of design work for Roosevelt station was completed in 2014 and 2015.
  Tunnel boring machines for the project were launched from the north end near Northgate station in July and November 2014. The two
caption: Station construction in February 2018
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