page_title: Westlake station (Sound Transit)
section_title: Bus tunnel
hierarchical_section_title: Westlake station (Sound Transit) / History / Bus tunnel
caption_attribution_description: Breda-built dual-mode bus 5096, of Seattle's Metro Transit, westbound at Westlake station in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. The photo was taken on Monday, September 17, 1990, the second day of service in the tunnel (the first being Saturday, Sep. 15) and the first weekday. No. 5096 was in service on route 107. (Metro was not yet part of King County government at that time.)
context_page_description: Westlake is a light rail station that is part of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel in Seattle, Washington, United States. The station is located under Pine Street between 3rd and 6th avenues in Downtown Seattle, near Westlake Center and Westlake Park. It is served by Line 1, part of Sound Transit's Link light rail system, and also connected above ground by buses at several stops, the South Lake Union Streetcar, and the Seattle Center Monorail.
  Westlake station consists of two underground side platforms, connected to the surface by entrances and a mezzanine level served by nearby department stores. It is situated between University Street station to the south, and the former Convention Place station to the north; Convention Place was only served by buses, however, and Capitol Hill station is the next northbound light rail station. The transit tunnel was built in the 1980s by King County Metro and opened for bus-only service on September 15, 1990. The tunnel was closed from 2005 to 2007 for a major renovation to prepare for light rail service, which began on July 18, 2009.
context_section_description: Metro Transit began planning a bus-based transit system through downtown Seattle in the 1970s, including a transit mall, tunnel, or bus terminal in the Westlake area. Metro approved construction of a downtown bus tunnel in 1983, selecting Pine Street and 4th Avenue as the site of one of the stations. The station would be integrated with a planned shopping mall on Pine Street, with underground walkways connecting to nearby department stores.
  The Pine Street segment of the tunnel would be dug cut-and-cover and require a long-term closure of the street between 4th Avenue and 9th Avenue. SCI Contractors of Calgary was awarded the $74.5 million contract for the Pine Street segment, including the construction of Westlake and Convention Place stations, in February 1987. On April 27, 1987, Pine Street was closed to non-bus traffic, and construction of Westlake station's 400 pilings and outer walls began. Excavation of the tunnel on Pine Street was completed in late August, allowing for concrete pouring to begin. Pine Street was briefly re-opened for the Christmas shopping season, from November 2 to January 4, at the request of downtown merchants; the excavated tunnel was backfilled and given a temporary surface for automobile traffic. A pair of tunnel boring machines arrived at Westlake station in the spring of 1988 after completing the 3rd Avenue segment of the bus tunnel; the machines were partially salvaged, leaving the outer shells in place to form part of the tunnel walls. Pine Street was re-opened to traffic on November 1, 1988, coinciding with the opening of Westlake Center and Westlake Park. Excavation and concrete pouring in Westlake station were completed in December 1988, leaving major work on the mezzanine level left to finish.
  Westlake station, along with Pioneer Square station, was at the center of a controversy during its construction due to the use of granite from South Africa, then under a Metro boycott against Apartheid rule. After the granite's origins were discovered, the materials were returned and Metro's executive director resigned as a result of the incident. Metro also had to return shipments of terra cotta tiles that were delivered warped, in the wrong size, and in the wrong color; the planned terra cotta ceiling for the station was instead replaced with a travertine limestone. During construction in early 1989, approximately 20 workers were sickened by fumes and foul air inside the station. Air quality tests conducted in the tunnel could not identify the cause of the bad air, leading Metro to install scrubbers to help control diesel exhaust from equipment.
  The Westlake station mezzanine was opened on August 11, 1989, as part of a public preview of the tunnel. The station's design was praised by local politicians and visitors, with Seattle City Councilman George Benson noting that it had "an element of class that is new to Seattle". The mezzanine remained open for several weeks, allowing for access between the basement levels of downtown retailers, but closed until November for additional construction. Additional fire sprinklers were installed in Westlake station to accommodate parties and receptions, as the station's mezzanine became sought as an events venue. Tunnel construction was completed in June 1990, and bus service began on September 15, 1990. Between 1990 and 2004, all service in the tunnel was operated by custom-built dual-mode buses, which operated on diesel fuel outside the tunnel and electrically as trolleybuses (via overhead wires) inside the tunnel.
caption: A dual-mode bus on route 107 at Westlake station just after the station opened, in 1990
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