Ribbon Cut on Kirkland's New Downtown Transit Center

Sound Transit representatives were joined Friday by Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride, King County Councilmember Jane Hague and a host of local dignitaries as the ribbon was cut on Kirkland’s new downtown Transit Center on Third Street.

Buses and riders will return to the center on Saturday when it officially opens. But the center, replete with new covered benches and bus bays, public artwork, bicycle facilities and sidewalks connecting it to and the , was dedicated under sunny skies on a frigid Friday morning.

Several bus routes will return to the transit center on Saturday when it reopens, and several new ones will be added over the next week. To learn more, see http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/scvchange.html.

The $13.3 million project replaces a 22-year-old facility with an open-air, pedestrian-friendly design that includes six bus bays, five passenger shelters, pedestrian lighting, improved traffic signals, landscaping and bicycle storage. A civic plaza and 71-foot trellis provide a gateway to the park, and a staircase laid with intricately cut granite blocks entitled "Social Intricacy/The Beach" by artist Carolyn Law will serve as a gathering place.

"Kirkland enthusiastically welcomes this new transit center as our new place to be in downtown," said McBride. "It brings great connectivity for transit riders, visitors, and business patrons."

Sound Transit planned the project in cooperation with the , King County Metro, King County Wastewater Treatment Division and King County Library System. This included working with the county to install piping and enhance sewer lines for the planned upgrade of its wastewater treatment pump station, and collaborating with Kirkland Library to design the staircase sculpture that abuts the library building.

Starting in 2010 and continuing through 2011, Metro and Sound Transit are increasing transit service from Kirkland and other Eastside locations on the State Route 520 corridor to provide more alternatives to driving when bridge-tolling begins this spring.

The center is one of Sound Transit's last bus-related capital projects from the Sound Move ballot measure passed by voters in 1996, and will accommodate 587 bus trips a day and serve eight regional and local bus routes.

Look for a full photo gallery of all the festivities here tomorrow.