The work on the Watt/I-80 light rail and bus station is almost complete, with final opening due within a month. The west side was open, but is now closed again for final work. The east side is complete and open. The station is a major connecting point between Blue Line light rail and five bus routes (1, 15, 26, 84, 93).

Capital Transit Alliance was offered a tour of the station on Wednesday, August 26, with Principal Engineer Jenny Niello hosting. The project looks great, an immense improvement over the dark, urine-stained, trash filled stairwells of the old station.

The issues not resolved by the project include:

• There is no public restroom at the station. It is likely that the elevators will continue to be used as bathrooms.
• Wayfinding signs are not present. This includes wayfinding from the light rail terminus to the east side stair, during construction. For permanent wayfinding at the top of the stairs on the east side, there is nothing. One bus stop is north (26, 84), but the bus stop sign is hardly visible from the top of stairs. Two bus stops are to the south. For the first (1, 15), the sign is partly obscured by the bus shelter. For the second (93), the bus stop sign is not visible at all. There should be wayfinding signs at the top of the stairs that not only indicate which stops are to the right (north) and left (south), but a map showing the destinations of the five bus routes. As always, SacRT seems to be making the assumption that only regular riders, who know the stops and destinations, would be using this station. Nothing for new or inexperienced users.
• The east side top of stairs and bus stops are very hot in the afternoon summer sun. For the three bus stops at 6:00 PM, there was not shade from the afternoon sun. There must be some additional shade available here. Roof? Canopy?