The station is connected to the Montlake neighborhood by the Montlake Bridge, which carries Montlake Boulevard towards a junction with State Route 520, a major east–west freeway connecting Seattle to the Eastside suburbs. The station is one mile (1.6 km) south of the University Village shopping center and two miles (3.2 km) southwest of Seattle Children's Hospital. The University of Washington has long-term plans to redevelop its parking lots along Montlake Boulevard into additional office and classroom space, forming the new "East Campus" area. The University of Washington moved from its downtown campus to the north side of Portage Bay in 1895, later expanding during the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition of 1909 that was hosted at the site. In 1911, urban planner Virgil Bogue's rejected comprehensive plan for Seattle envisioned a citywide subway system, including a line serving the east side of the university campus and connected to Ravenna and eastern Capitol Hill. The Forward Thrust Committee's planned regional rapid transit system, which was rejected by voters in 19, included a subway station at the University Hospital near Husky Stadium, from where trains would continue south through Capitol Hill to Downtown Seattle. A 1986 regional transit plan from the Puget Sound Council of Governments proposed a light rail line through the University District, including a station at the University Hospital, continuing through Eastlake to Downtown Seattle. In the 1990s, a regional transit authority-later Sound Transit-was formed to build a light rail system for the Seattle metropolitan area. The University District was named as a major destination for the system and given two stations at NE Pacific Street and NE 45th Street on the western side of the university campus, which would be connected to Downtown Seattle via a tunnel under Capitol Hill.
The $6.7 billion proposal, including a light rail line continuing north from the University District to Northgate and Lynnwood, was rejected by voters in 1995 and replaced with a smaller plan. In November 1996, voters approved a condensed $3.9-billion regional transit plan that included a shorter light rail line from the University District to Downtown Seattle and SeaTac. A surface alignment through Eastlake was also proposed in the event boring a tunnel through Capitol Hill and under Portage Bay would be too expensive. Sound Transit finalized its preferred alignment for the light rail project, which included stations at NE Pacific Street and NE 45th Street, in 1999.
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