The site in 2012. A conveyor belt brought dirt out of the newly bored tunnels, and that green excavator lifted dirt onto trucks. Concrete segments of the tunnel walls—it took 6,700 total—are stacked to the right.

The site in 2012. A conveyor belt brought dirt out of the newly bored tunnels, and that green excavator lifted dirt onto trucks. Concrete segments of the tunnel walls—it took 6,700 total—are stacked to the right. TIMOTHY RYSDYKE

The newly completed Capitol Hill light rail station doesn’t look like much from the street, but it’s huge, extending eight stories underground.

The north entrance of the station, at the corner of Broadway and John, leads to a 68-foot-long escalator, which takes you down to a landing, which leads to another 70-foot-long escalator down to the platform. Unlike the light rail stations under downtown, in the repurposed bus tunnel, where platforms are narrow strips along opposing walls, the platform in the Capitol Hill station is in the middle of everything, with trains on each side.

“Space constraints,” Sound Transit spokesperson Bruce Gray said when I asked why. He was referring to the size of the pit that had to be dug into the ground to build the station. “You don’t need as wide of a station box with a center-platform station. It also makes it easier to access the platform from above. Everybody goes to the same place.”…

Christopher Frizzelle was The Stranger's print editor, and first joined the staff in 2003. He was the editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2016, and edited the story by Eli Sanders that won a 2012 Pulitzer...