MARYSVILLE — Nearly five months after its official groundbreaking, Marysville’s fourth park and ride station is open for service Nov. 30 at the intersection of Cedar Avenue and Grove Street.
Among the routes serving the Cedar Avenue and Grove Street park and ride station are 177 to Boeing in Everett, 421 to downtown Seattle and 821 to the University District.
Community Transit Public Information Officer Martin Munguia explained that the Cedar and Grove park and ride has been completed within its original schedule and budget.
“We were a bit nervous about the schedule, due to the rain,” Munguia laughed. “We got all the blacktop laid, though.”
The approximately two-acre Cedar and Grove lot was selected as the best of 20 possible sites for the park and ride, due to its location one block west of State Avenue, where four local routes operate frequent service, and its flat terrain, which made it easier to develop.
“With the current economy, there’s been a bit of a drop in bus ridership, but there’s still a strong demand for bus service in both Marysville and North Snohomish County as a whole,” Munguia said. “Before, people might not have used the bus because they weren’t near enough to a bus stop to get there without driving, but now, they’ll be able to take the bus and save money on parking.”
The park and ride station includes 213 parking spaces, with additional parking for motorcycles and bicycles, and room for up to three buses. It features a boarding area with a large shelter, as well as bright lighting, landscaping and security cameras throughout the lot. Riders can catch connections to locations including Quil Ceda Village, Smokey Point, Everett, Lake Stevens and Lynnwood, and the station is removed from the freeway, to cut down on freeway congestion and pollution. Its construction has utilized reusable and recycled materials, trees have been planted on site, and storm water will percolate through the ground on site, with an on-site garden set aside for storm water overflow.
Federal funding covers 80 percent of the station’s $4 million total cost, or $3.2 million.
The photographs in the slideshow above were taken once a week during the construction project.
