Tucked along the roaring edge of I-5, just north of the Ship Canal Bridge, sits an island platform with a Metro bus stop sign with spots for 18 routes. Yet, no buses will stop at this platform today. Or tomorrow. Only two Route 512 trips each week stop here. This platform is the northbound University District Freeway Station at I-5 & NE 45th Street. Once a busy hub where riders braved the highway pollution to catch busses to destinations as far north as Everett, it now sits empty. The stop is a reminder of a different era in Seattle’s transit network, when freeway buses shuttled thousands of people in and out of downtown Seattle every day. Due to the numerous Link extensions and frequent changes in Metro’s network, hints of a previous transit network are scattered around Seattle. (Click on images for full size.)

University District Freeway Station sits empty. (Screenshot from Apple Maps)

Any discussion of transit history in Seattle has to mention the Queen Anne Counterbalance, George Benson Streetcar, and buses running in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT). These three relics are significant and require dedicated articles. Instead, let’s focus on the smaller, forgotten infrastructure.

Ghost Bridges

Overpass on Lake Washington Blvd.

Travelers on Lake Washington Blvd in Leschi may be surprised to encounter a bridge with a low 8 foot, 3 inch clearance. With no roads on either end of the bridge, is it a bridge for ghosts? Instead of ghosts, this bridge was built for the Lake Washington Cable Railway (a.k.a Seattle City Railway) which ran between Pioneer Square and Lake Washington from 1888 to 1940. A wooden trestle spanned about 500 feet from Yesler Way & 32nd Ave to Lake Washington Blvd. The overpass was built in 1912 to support the trestle over the road. While the path of the cable car is now roughly served by Route 27, this bridge remains as a reminder of the City’s transit history.

Two cable cars near the overpass.(UW Library)
The 500ft trestle between 32nd Ave and Lake Washington Blvd. (MOHAI)
A dirt path crosses the bridge today.

Spooky Stops

Along the tree-lined Seward Park Ave S in Rainier Beach sits a colorful bench facing the road. From here, one can sit in the shade and watch cars and bikes pass by. Despite the faded red and yellow markings on the curb, no buses will will be stopping here. This stop, located just south of S Cloverdale Place, used to serve Metro routes 34 and 39. Beginning in the 1940’s, Route 39 ran between downtown Seattle and Rainier Beachh via SODO, Beacon Hill, and Seward Park. Between 1988 and 2004, the route continued south from Rainier Beach to Southcenter. In 2009, Route 39 stopped serving this stop when it was rerouted to terminate at newly opened Othello Station. Route 50 replaced Route 39 in 2012. Route 34 operated as an express version of Route 39 between 2004 and 2012. Instead of traveling through Beacon Hill and SODO, Route 34 took Rainier Ave and Dearborn St between downtown and Columbia City.

The now abandoned bus stop at Seward Park Ave S & S Cloverdale Pl. Notice the faded yellow paint on the closer end of the curb.

Haunted Wires

Keen observers in downtown Seattle might notice overhead trolleybus wires on 1st Ave and 3rd Ave. On 3rd Ave, electric trolleybuses (ETB) from routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 13, 14, 36, and 70 can be seen every few minutes (some of these routes are running non-ETBs due to construction). Meanwhile, the overhead wires on 1st Ave sit unused. Routes 10 and 12 were interlined via 1st Ave until the early 2010’s. These routes ran on 1st Ave between Pine St and Marion St. However, the overhead wires extend as far south as Jackson St, where they connect to the wires used by routes 7, 14, and 36. I have not found any maps or schedules for a route that ran on 1st Ave between Marion St and Jackson St. However, during the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) construction in the late 1980’s, all 3rd Ave buses were moved to 1st Ave. During this time, these wires would have been used by the same ETB routes that run on 3rd Ave today. Perhaps they will be used by another route soon.

In Rainier Beach, an unused ETB wire loop eerily hangs around the northbound Route 7 stop at S Rose Street. Part of this loop is above a now closed cut-through between Wabash Ave S and Rainier Ave S. Despite the bollards in the middle of the road, the cut-through is flanked by a Stop sign and a Do Not Enter Except Buses sign. This loop was the southern terminus for Route 9 between 1987 and 1999. In 1999, Route 9 was extended to terminate on S Henderson St, along with Route 7.

The Rose St wire loop remains over a closed cut-through street.

When trick-or-treating tonight, or next time you are walking around your neighborhood, keep an eye out for remnants of Seattle’s transit history. Happy Halloween from the Seattle Transit Blog!

25 Replies to “Friday Roundtable: Ghost Bridges, Spooky Stops, and Haunted Wires”

  1. The 1st Ave wire is used today by a few deadheading buses traveling between Atlantic Base and Virginia Street terminals.

    There’s plenty of unused wire around the system, though. The wire for the old 3 and 4 terminals in Queen Anne is still there. There’s a ghost turnback on Cherry and Yesler between 1st and 2nd. There’s a live turnback in Pioneer Square off Jackson. There’s wire on 9th Ave in First Hill that’s only used for snow routes today. And a few others.

  2. In the days before Link, I used to sometimes use the I-5/45th St. freeway stop for express service between the U-district and downtown. During certain times of day, it was much quicker than the 71/72/73, which took forever to get through the U-district, and were often forced into an Eastlake routing, due to either the I-5 express lanes running the wrong direction, or Metro running the buses in “local” mode because they were too cheap to operate the 70 on evenings and Sundays.

  3. I feel that I must point out that ST runs two special 512 trips from Downtown Seattle to Everett just after midnight Sunday night/ Monday morning that use the northbound 45th street freeway station.

      1. Thank you both for the correction. I’ve updated the post to mention the two 512 trips each week. Those two trips are likely to make up for Link service ending earlier on Sunday nights.

  4. At least according to GTFS data, I believe the 45th St Freeway stop is still used for exactly 2 bus trip per *week*: late night ST 512 trips to Everett early Monday morning (or Sunday night) at 12:27 AM and 12:57 AM. I believe that makes it the least used bus stop with some service across the whole system! I’ve always wanted to try riding it but never got around to it.

    It’s also an error to say that it won’t get more service in the foreseeable future, in fact, service was just announced! ST’s new overnight Link shadow buses are planned to serve this freeway station instead of the actual Link station. Though I personally have some gripes with this routing choice, that does mean we will get better use out of this existing infrastructure.

    1. ST’s new night owl service is still just a proposal. It needs to be approved by the Board and it may be changed before the board approves it.

  5. If the NE 45th Freeway Station gets re-opened for the proposed ST Expess 512 night owl route, it would be in service of getting riders downtown faster. But who really wants to go somewhere downtown during graveyard hours? Is there a way to have a pull-off stop downtown, maybe serving King St Station and the Greyhound station, and then hop back on the freeway to get to airport?

    If the NO 512 is to terminate downtown, can it at least serve places where something is open, like the U-District and Capitol Hill?

    Of course, then, what is the point, if the three busiest graveyard-hour destinations don’t directly connect with each other? They could conceivably be connected by the extended NO 574, with the 574 laying over somewhere safe around UW.

    The point of night owl service ought not to be to connect ghost stations, but to serve riders who need to travel to and from places that are open for business 24/7.

    Or to put it another way, night owl service ought not just be bones thrown to transit advocates wanting improved bus connectivity before 2027.

    The ST Board need not be in a hurry to extend World Cup service levels deep into 2027, while dooming Federal Way Station to be a ghost of what it could have been with an updated all-day transit network that enables 10-minute headway between Federal Way and Tacoma.

    I hope Claudia Balducci gets the opportunity to continue asking the right questions, and to appoint board members who live and understand the rider experience (without creating routes just to benefit themselves or their family).

    2. Trying to enumerate specific destinations that people are trying to go to at specific times is almost always a recipe for failure because real trips are scattered and there no one single “user journey” that dominates.

      The only exception is planning around special events that draw huge crowds, but you have to get to crowd levels on the order of what you see at Mariners or Seahawks games before that line of thinking becomes worth it.

  6. Is the old Fort Lawton trolley station/bus shelter in Discovery Park still there? I remember running across it by accident in 2009. It looked like it had been freshly repainted.

    It was probably last served by a transit route in the early 1970s, when the base was still active.

    Google Street View shows it here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/23b5ktu2RYdVGMDP7

    1. Yes! It is still there and in good condition!! I believe it might have been repainted in recent years.
      I didn’t know the history of that, but when I saw your comment, I knew what you were talking about before clicking that link.

    2. Apologies for the huge URL. Unfortunately that’s what Google Street View gave me when I attempted to get a link to the image.

      1. I was able to see the streetview by pasting the link to the browser. That shelter is much longer and taller than normal bus stop shelter, but I didn’t realize that was for public transit. I thought the area was gated without public access when the base was still active.
        It was such a walk to get there today, I wish 33 could extend on the weekend. From 33’s current final stop, there is some kinda of summer-only beach shuttle funded by ARC.

      2. The 1920 Seattle rapid transit map
        https://transitmap.net/seattle-1920/
        also shows then-extant trolley lines, including the one into the base.

        I think there was at one time a curved shelter similar to the one in the street view at the return loop. I remember coming across it at some point.

        At the time, the best way to get freight into many areas was “trolley freight” over the streetcar lines, and considering the hills involved it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the materials used to build the structures and facilities up there arrived behind small electric locomotives.

      3. What’s this about a subway downtown and rapid transit on Westlake and Eastlake? Are you sure this was built and not just a proposal? There was a Bogue subway plan in 1912 that didn’t get enough votes for approval. What does it mean by rapid transit? How is it different from the other streetcars?

  7. I used the I-5/45th St. stops all the dang time when I lived in eastern Wallingford around 2010 and 2011. It had a funny pattern of service… pretty much everything except peak-hour service to downtown Seattle (since the 510/511 and later 512 took the express lanes during peak hours). At that time I worked in Snohomish County and usually took the 511 (later 512) as the first step in my journey to work. And since essentially all my trips downtown were off-peak I’d use it to go downtown, also.

    If I had to go downtown during peak hours it was the 26X … or some other route, maybe the 355 (???), that made a stop along 45th on top of the freeway (where there used to be a 44 stop for transfers to the I-5/45th buses) before diving down to the express lanes at 42nd and running through downtown south-to-north.

    1. Yep, the 355, or as it was originally, the “5 Blue Streak”. It got on the main lanes at 85th, exited at 45th and crossed over to 8th NE then down to 42nd as you said. In the afternoon it got off the reversible lane at 42nd, went up 7th NE and stopped at the island platform pictured, then back on the main lanes to 85th. The off-peak runs used the main lanes south of 45th; it was the only route to use the bus pad just south of 45th on 5th NE regularly.

      That simply would not work today; the main lanes are almost unusable. It would be much faster to use Aurora south of 85th, but of course it wouldn’t provide the same level of University District access.

      1. I used the wrong terminology. Not “off-peak”, but rather “reverse direction”. Anyway, the direction that the reversible lanes were not serving.

  8. For a few years in rhe 2010s I rode the long lost 511 between downtown and ash way once a week to a vision appointment. Often a choke point, but when things worked right 8it was pretty great. Just another connectivity method sacrificed to linkloke bus service from downtown to UWMC. The progress rhat came from link has indeed resulted in rhe loss of some productive and/or popular services.

  10. I love reading about Seattle transit history. I still see some old yellow/red bus stop street paint on routes I used to remember seeing as a kid back in the 80’s but they are becoming fewer and far between. A few years ago, I remember seeing the street paint in Laurelhurst on the old route 30 and some interesting spots at NB 1st Ave at Northgate Way and the corner of 1st Ave NE and N 117th St. I was there the other day and I don’t see them anymore. However, One more ghost stop (or turnaround) you can still see is where the pavement breaks on NE 55th St on the cemetery side and 35th Ave NE: https://maps.app.goo.gl/m6YJmpc9HDbJMkbP8

  11. I wonder if the pilings are still visible for the trolley that went out to sea. The Mount Vernon-Bellingham interurban did that due to the fact that the GN rail line took all the viable right-of-way along the shore.

    1. There is a pedestrian walkway out into Chuckanut Bay that is clearly an old railroad trestle. It may be that Interurban or it may be have been Milwaukee access to Fairhaven. They car-ferried from Seattle to Port Townsend and Bellingham to reach isolated trackage.

  12. There is also the old trolley shelter on the Northend of Dexter. It’s on the westside of the road where Dexter, Westlake, Nickerson and Fremont all meet right before the Fremont bridge

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