Pierce Transit’s Stream BRT project was designed to provide bus rapid transit service along a 14.4-mile corridor spanning from downtown Tacoma to Spanaway in unincorporated Pierce County. The BRT corridor would have served multiple activity centers including the Theater District in downtown Tacoma, the Tacoma campus of the University of Washington, Pacific Lutheran University, the Tacoma Dome, and Parkland Transit Center.
PIVOT created three station concepts inspired by influential elements found in the area. The selected design, called “Suspension,” had a sleek, sturdy, innovative, and grounded design tying the stations to local bridges, area architecture, and the massive gantry cranes found in regional shipping ports. The butterfly roof sported a strong structural beam with integrated wayfinding and held a wooden underbelly that would have added warmth to the users’ experience.
Led by WSP, the Stream project involved planning and design of BRT elements including 31 platforms, exclusive transit lanes, business access transit (BAT) lanes, and transit signal prioritization. After preliminary engineering, the transit agency opted to move forward with an enhanced bus route rather than a BRT system.
