The first phase of construction on Community Transit’s Swift Green Line is taking place this week as contractors begin work on the Seaway Transit Center across from the main gate to the Boeing Everett, Wash. plant.

When the transit center opens in mid-2018, it will serve as a hub for Paine Field-area bus service. The facility will also be the northern terminal for the Swift Green Line when it begins operation in early 2019.

The Swift Green Line will connect the Boeing/Paine Field aerospace manufacturing area in Everett with the Canyon Park technology center in Bothell. With fewer stops and buses every 10 minutes, the Swift Green Line will provide an incentive for workers and shoppers in Bothell, Mill Creek and south Everett to choose transit instead of driving their cars.

Transit center construction is set to begin this week with installation of safety fencing around the property, initial ground clearing and preparation. Excavation on the site will begin in the next 2 to 3 weeks to build a storm water retention vault. Contractors will also begin work to widen and add turn lanes on 75th Street SW at the transit center and nearby Snohomish PUD substation.

Interwest Construction of Burlington received the contract to build the transit center.

“After a couple of years of planning for the Swift Green Line, now is when we start to turn dirt on the project,” said Community Transit CEO Emmett Heath. “Fencing will go up, signs will be placed and people will see that the investment in this line has begun.”

The $11 million Seaway Transit Center project is fully funded by a $6.8 million Washington State Department of Transportation Regional Mobility Grant, $2.9 million in federal funding and $1.7 million in Community Transit funding. This week, Congress is expected to pass a 2017 federal budget that will include funding to complete the remainder of the Swift Green Line project.

When fully operational, the Seaway Transit Center:

• Can serve as a transfer hub for Community Transit, Everett Transit and King County Metro Transit buses, as well as for private shuttles that can carry passengers to their worksite destinations.

• Will have two Swift bays and five additional bus bays.

• Will have future capacity for up to 13 bus bays.