Renton: Rainier/Grady Junction TOD Subarea Plan
The Rainier/Grady Junction Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Subarea Plan articulates a forward-looking vision and a comprehensive set of strategies designed to cultivate a vibrant, people-centric neighborhood. This initiative centers around the anticipated expansion of Sound Transit's bus rapid transit (BRT) line and a new transit center, strategically located at the intersection of Rainier Avenue South and South Grady Way. The City of Renton proactively engaged MAKERS Architecture and Urban Design to orchestrate a detailed planning process, laying the groundwork for the inevitable surge in new development around this forthcoming transit hub. The resulting subarea plan is intended to serve as a guiding framework for future growth and public investment in the area, emphasizing integrated mixed-use development, maximized multimodal transportation choices, enhanced pedestrian connectivity, and seamless integration with adjacent communities. The new transit center and BRT service are slated to commence operations in 2026, marking a significant milestone for regional transit.
Building upon the foundational work of the Rainier/Grady Junction Subarea planning, the City of Renton has further commissioned Perteet Engineering to advance conceptual light rail transit (LRT) alignments and station locations within Renton. This subsequent phase is designed for future consideration, contingent upon available funding, and leverages a 2005 white paper while incorporating updated assumptions, notably the existing light rail spine and station in Tukwila. This intricate process involved several intensive work sessions with City staff and transit agency partners, culminating in the creation of a detailed decision matrix. This matrix aided in identifying potential alignments and station locations, ultimately prioritizing two distinct options for deeper analysis. The next critical step involves the formation of a specialized, one-time Advisory Committee, composed of elected officials and seasoned public transportation and transit agency professionals. This committee is tasked with rigorously discussing the merits and drawbacks of the two prioritized alignments and station locations, ultimately recommending either one or both for presentation to the full Renton City Council. Collaborative workshops have been integral to this progress; for instance, a March 2021 workshop with external agencies like Tukwila, Sound Transit, and WSDOT focused on pinpointing preferred LRT station locations through a rigorous scoring exercise, evaluating specific criteria developed from an earlier workshop in March 2021.
Six potential LRT station locations have been identified within Renton by the City and Perteet, three situated within the South Renton study area, in close proximity to the proposed new BRT transit center, and three located in northern Renton near The Landing. A crucial decision matrix facilitates the evaluation of these locations based on five agreed-upon criteria. These include the Walkshed extents, assessing how well the pedestrian zones (one-quarter and one-half mile) from the station cover desirable areas for connections; BRT-LRT connections, examining the seamless integration with the new South Renton Transit Center; Transit-oriented development (TOD) opportunities, considering overlaps with anticipated TOD around the BRT center; Environmental impacts, evaluating the potential effects on sensitive areas like streams and wetlands; and Land use impacts, assessing how the alignment and station might affect adjacent properties, including potential acquisitions and their consistency with sub-area planning. Fundamentally, successful TOD fosters a symbiotic relationship where transit and development mutually support and enhance each other, yielding numerous benefits such as reduced traffic congestion through increased transit ridership, promotion of health and wellness via more walking, fiscal conservatism by lessening the burden on municipalities for infrastructure, enhanced convenience and choice for residents to live, work, shop, and play locally, a more business-friendly environment due to increased foot traffic, and greater connectivity and access to crucial regional destinations, jobs, entertainment, and services.