The first thing that struck us about the 3.15-mile, $1.6 billion project that is the University Link light rail line is that it will have half of the projected ridership of the 16-mile Central Link line. Kinda makes us think they should have started with the U District - Capitol Hill part first. As it is, the Central Link goes online in 2009, University Link in 2016.

We also marveled at how full the room was, for an open house on the design of the Capitol Hill station. (60% of a design is a process benchmark, meaning "over halfway there" in terms of public input and official review.) The weather was nice last night, too. No reason to be inside, even if David Hewitt of Hewitt Architects was doing a great job of PowerPoint stand-up ("Where's the reverse?").

A Sound Transit spokesperson uncomfortable with public speaking had quavered her way through a presentation on construction mitigation: that's what the vinyl "scenes" on boarded-up windows on the condemned block in question are about (closed-shop windows will get local art, too). We also learned that construction trucks will use Denny and Olive, but that's not until 2010 and we will no doubt forget that fact long before then.

The station design actually revolved around the design of three separate entrances, two larger ones (one where Twice Sold Tales fronts East John and one replacing the ex-Chang's Mongolian Grill) and a smaller one where Vivace is at Nagle Place. There are "green walls" involved (i.e., walls with greenery growing on them, like the Capitol Hill library) and a clerestory to let in natural light and shine from within at night ("like a beacon"). From outside, the entrances are fairly unobtrusive and we hope there will be attention-getting signs because, in fact, you do want people to notice where an entrance is.

We may be mistaken, but we think that Hewitt pointed out exactly one set of bike racks, at the SCCC entrance. They estimate 14,000 boardings per day at the Capitol Hill station. We're not sure room for 20 bikes is going to cut it. (The light rail cars themselves hold 200 people and two bikes.) We also imagine that by 2016, and especially between the U District and Capitol Hill, a bike-ocracy will have emerged. Planning ahead, we'd build in capacity for a few hundred bikes.

There are long tunnel/gangways from two of the entrances to the actual mezzanine of the station. We couldn't stay for the Q&A, so we didn't get to ask Hewitt if they were doing anything special for buskers. Hewitt kept mentioning lots of open space and light for security, but buskers, we feel, are the unheralded but key security device of public transit. And it'd be nice if they felt welcome and were not run over by hurrying travelers.

Down in the bowels of the station, there are huge crossbeams to keep the earth from swallowing everyone up; Hewitt spent a lot of time talking about how they'd shaped the platform space with vaulted ceilings but we can't imagine you'll really notice it. We've been in that kind of space before, and the confusing welter of beams above combined with jostling passengers more or less guarantees you don't spend a lot of time looking up to catch glimpses of innovative architecture.

That's also why we don't particularly care about the fighter-jet art supposed to hang there. Though the story of hiring a Brooklyn artist who Googled "what I love about Seattle" to get insights is provoking in its own way.