U District is the southernmost intermediate stop on the Northgate Link tunnel, an extension that opened on October 2, 2021, and is located underground. The line is fully underground between this station and Downtown Seattle. The station consists of a single island platform for the two-track line located in a concrete box 95 feet beneath the surface. This island platform has high ceilings with an inconsistent height but lots of bare concrete columns holding up the ceiling above, it is not an open vault like so many modern subway stations.
Along the wall of the Angle Lake-bound track is one of my favorite STart installations. It is called Fragment Brooklyn by Annie Han & Daniel Mihalyo. This consists of various windows, just like you find on a city street, all with illuminated screens behind them showing daylight, plus fire escape ladders, and air conditioning units, these look down on the platform. It makes the station feel like you could be along a move set or outside in the surrounding neighborhood.
For exits there is a very similar layout to the extension’s sister station at Roosevelt. Elevators towards each end of the platform lead directly up to two different entrance houses at street-level. The southern elevator leads to the NE corner of Brooklyn Avenue NE and NE 43rd Street. The northern elevator leads up to the east side of Brooklyn Avenue NE just south of NE 45 Street (there is no 44th Street, putting both entrances on the same block) and just south of the Neptune Theater. Preserving this theater is probably why the entrance isn’t at the corner. The two entrance houses look extremely similar with small awnings, silver mess walls, and U District engraved in a portion of the outside silver mesh walls. The 43rd Street entrance house is bigger since it on the corner, includes a short staircase at street level (since it is along a bit of a hill) plus an enclosed bike room, the 45th Street entrance has just a few bike racks.
For passengers who don’t want to use the elevators, a combined bank of two escalators next to a staircase leads down to an upper mezzanine area where both exits join. This mezzanine isn’t full width but allows a few views down to the Southbound platform and Fragment Brooklyn from a railing along the western side. The eastern side of the mezzanine has a bright orange wall with grey polka dots. After entering this mezzanine, two banks of two escalators lead off the mezzanine lead down to each platform towards the ends of the platform. There is also a staircase that winds its way down through the vaulted ceiling with a few intermediate landings to the middle of the platform.
To help with wayfinding and differentiate the two exits — and provide a playful architectural touch — each exit is given its own distinctive color: 43rd Street’s is a teal color, 45th Street a bright orange. This accent color is extended to walls in the station house, a line in the awning of the station house, and most notably in the sides of a continuous line of light fixtures that illuminate the escalators and even down on the platforms. Both colors are present along the platforms (one on each side) before a different color is above the lower escalator bank, providing a continues connection (crossing and weaving around each other in a few places) before there is one dominate color up to each exit, this dominant color also fully encloses the entrances to the upper bank of stairs/escalators up to each exit. Surpisngly the lower landings of the platform elevators are simply silver sheeting and not the themed ‘color’ of the exit landing nearly 95 feet above. The respective light color just ends above the lower elevator landing. I find this to be a neat and useful way to help with wayfinding for a station with two exits.
Photos 1-65 taken on October 11, 2022;
Roosevelt
University of Washington
