The Sound Transit Board of Directors unanimously decided to improve pedestrian access and car parking at the Sounder train stations in Sumner and Puyallup.

“We have waited a long time for this,” said Sound Transit Board member and Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow. “Sumner was out of parking three weeks after the station opened. Sound Transit and Sumner have put a lot of work into finding solutions. It’s exciting to finally move forward on fixing the overpass, providing more parking and making it easier to walk and bike to the Sumner station.”

The Sumner station will see improvements to the current parking spaces, as well as a new garage that will have an additional 400 parking spaces. The agency is considering leasing temporary parking spaces to current station users at the Washington Tractor site during the garage’s construction.

The station will also have sidewalk improvements, and a pedestrian and bicyclist bridge will be built over the railroad tracks. An Americans with Disabilities Act curb ramp is also planned to be installed, along with improvements to traffic signals and better pedestrian access from state Route 410.

The planned improvements will go under environmental review and preliminary design through 2016, and construction is so far planned to be finished by 2020.