As one of the last steps in the process, a decision between two design options for the pathway to the UW light rail station must be made as Sound Transit (ST), the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and the UW transportation office begin to finalize construction plans.

“We’re at the point where we are seeing the designs [for routes to the station] a little more flushed out, and we can start doing more [assessment] of cost and feasibility,” said Bruce Gray, spokesperson for Sound Transit. “The station itself is at 100-percent design.”

An alternative design for access routes to the station, called the Rainier Vista Concept Plan, was presented at a Sound Transit meeting last week. Officials hope the new plan will improve safety and pedestrian mobility around the station.

Previously, there had been plans to construct an approximately 600-foot-long pedestrian bridge, which would connect the station entrance to the main campus by crossing over Northeast Pacific Place and Montlake Boulevard.

However, the city of Seattle has asked for an alternative to the pedestrian bridge, as there is a strong desire to keep pedestrians at street level to liven up the street and aid commerce, said Richard Chapman, associate vice president for Capital Projects, which is the organization in charge of the Rainier Vista design, in an e-mail.

“The City of Seattle has an ordinance opposing pedestrian bridges,” he wrote. “When the SDOT approved Sound Transit’s plan for the pedestrian bridge, it was with the understanding that SDOT, ST and [the] UW would work together to see if a mutually acceptable alternate to the pedestrian bridge could be found.”

Another logistical concern raised with the pedestrian bridge is how it would interact with the Burke-Gilman Trail. The bridge would touch down just north of the Burke-Gilman Trail, and the proximity of the two pathways may cause congestion of walkers and bikers in the area, Gray said.

“We estimate about 25,000 [riders] boarding the station each day,” he said. “The issue that people are still trying to get their heads around is how you make sure that the people coming down off of that bridge aren’t going to flood the Burke-Gilman Trail.”

Instead of a pedestrian bridge, the new Rainier Vista design entails a street crossing in the middle of the east side of the Pacific and Montlake triangle and a land bridge built to connect the triangle to the UW campus without a street crossing, according to the independent Seattle Transit Blog.

Additionally, the plan includes traffic signals in the midblock crosswalk that will be synchronized with the traffic lights at the intersections immediately to the north and south of the crosswalk. It would also create an opportunity for additional bus layover space and/or bus stops along a 1000 foot bus layover lane on the Triangle garage side of the lowered Pacific Place Rd, the cost of which is not included in the current estimates, Chapman said.

Along with the issue of congestion in the Burke-Gilman Trail, some believe that the Rainier Vista plan addresses other logistical concerns with movement around the station.

“The new design would offer much better pedestrian access to the hospital, as well as increasing crossing safety by placing the crossing adjacent to the station,” said Martin H. Duke, who writes for the independent Seattle Transit Blog.

Moreover, the new design would enhance the aesthetics of the Rainier Vista from both the upper campus and Montlake Boulevard.

In a June 2008 report entitled “Rainier Vista Concept Plan,” it is written: “Once over the bridge, which feels just like a continuous part of the Vista landscape, you approach a series of low water gardens, alive with color and plants and providing places to sit and rest.”

Before a decision is made between the two station-access options, the organizations involved with the UW light rail station are evaluating the costs and benefits of the new plan.

The pedestrian bridge alone would cost approximately $6.7 million, while the Rainier Vista Plan would cost almost triple that amount at an estimated $18.7 million.

Chapman said that the decision will likely be in favor of the new design.

“Currently the leadership of the city, ST and the university have been very supportive,” he wrote. “We are cautiously optimistic that the plan will be fully funded early next year and completed by the end of 2011.”

While the access route to the station will not be decided upon until March 2010 at the latest, the design of the UW station itself has been finalized.

Utility work for the UW station will begin to take place as soon as next Monday, when the power line that runs north of the Burke-Gilman Trail will be connected to the station site.

Reach contributing writer Joanna Nolasco at development@dailyuw.com.