Convention Place was the northern end of the Seattle Transit tunnel and home to only buses, 18 King County Metro Routes, and one Sound Transit Route, many of which terminate at the station. The stop was located in an open cut just after the tunnel ends. The station was perminately closed on July 21, 2018 to allow for a very large expansion of the Washington State Convention Center that also caused restricted access to the bus tunnel. The logistics of where buses would now terminate and have drier layover times on city streets (that used to layover in the station area) was an immensley complicated planning process. Buses were kicked out of the entire transit tunnel with the tunnel becoming exclusively used by Link Light Rail trains on March 23, 2019.
It consists of three platforms for buses entering the tunnels and just one for those leaving the tunnel. Each has a single staircase/up escalator and elevator up to the main entrance plaza along 9 Avenue between Pine and Olive Street. North of the platforms is a huge bus layover area. All of the bus lanes are covered by now unused trolley wire (dual-mode buses used the tunnel under wire from its opening in 1990 to 2005) and some never used light rail track is also still intact. The stop also has a completely different King County Metro-style of signage, that the rest of the tunnel originally had.
All photos taken on 12 October, 2011
Westlake