Have you seen the sky bridge in Puyallup yet? The Sounder station has one
A pedestrian sky bridge made an appearance in Puyallup recently, the latest step in Sound Transit’s construction of the city’s Sounder station.
The bridge, which hovers over Fifth Street Northwest, will connect a new parking garage to the existing parking lot of the station. This is part of Sound Transit’s efforts to improve parking and accessibility at the station, which is a stop on the commuter train that runs between Lakewood and Seattle.
Sound Transit began construction at the Puyallup station in November 2020, The News Tribune reported. The two-year project costs $79 million and will add a five-level parking garage and make improvements to sidewalks and crosswalks nearby.
The garage will add 500 parking spaces and is accompanied by an additional 165 surface parking spaces, said Scott Thompson, public information officer for Sound Transit. The station currently has about 300 parking spaces available.
“It’s going to certainly double the parking capacity,” Thompson said.
Although the steel structure for the pedestrian bridge is already in place, people cannot use it until construction is finished, Thompson said. The bridge was installed during the first week of August.
Roads and sidewalks near Fifth Street Northwest have been closed at times during construction. Those closures continue this week from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., according to Sound Transit’s construction alert. Fifth Street Northwest will be closed between Second Avenue Northwest and West Stewart Avenue during those hours through Thursday, Sept. 2.
Roads that have been closed permanently due to construction include Third Avenue Northwest between Fifth and Sixth Streets. Many sidewalks are also closed until early 2022, including Third Avenue between Sixth and Seventh Streets, Sixth Street between Second and Third avenues and Fifth Street between the railroad tracks and Second Avenue.
Thompson said all five floors of the garage have been constructed. Although there is still a lot of work to do, getting the pedestrian bridge over Fifth Street Northwest was “a big milestone,” he said.
“It’s moving along really well,” Thompson said.
Sound Transit plans to finish construction sometime during the first half of 2022, Thompson said.
