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Tuesday, November 7, 2006

City panel endorses new 520 bridge
Proposed Lake Washington span now goes to full council

By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL
P-I REPORTER

A Seattle City Council committee filed a resolution Monday declaring the Pacific Street Interchange the city's preferred alternative to replace the aging Evergreen Point Bridge.

The resolution lays out project elements along with steps to mitigate the impact of the alternative's six-lane footprint across Lake Washington and parts of the Washington Park Arboretum.

Those elements range from narrowing the bridge's width while including HOV and bike lanes, freight and safety vehicle access, and tolling strategies on the bridge and/or Lake Washington Boulevard ramps.

If approved by the full council, the resolution will be sent to the multi-jurisdictional SR 520 Executive Committee for further deliberation. That committee will then submit a final recommendation to the state.

Eastside cities also designated the Pacific Interchange as their preferred alternative.

The Pacific Interchange is similar to other six-lane options in the state Department of Transportation's draft Environmental Impact Statement, but a bridge, potentially up to 110 feet high in some places, across Union Bay to the University of Washington is unique to this plan.

"The arboretum is clearly at the forefront of everyone's thinking, which is why we're trying to be really strong in saying we need an agreed-upon mitigation package," said Seattle City Councilman Richard Conlin, co-chairman of the council's SR 520 Committee.

The city's resolution also requests:

  • Extended lids over state Route 520 at North Capitol Hill and Montlake and "no net loss of publicly held (city- or state-owned) parkland or open space as a result of the project. The resolution also calls for a "continuous greenbelt" linking the lid at Montlake to the arboretum.

  • Restore and replace all wetlands removed or destroyed as a result of construction.

  • Replace arboretum properties lost to the 520 project with land "contiguous to the existing arboretum or within the immediate vicinity," and fund the arboretum's master plan.

  • Pursue the "lowest possible height" for the Union Bay Bridge while recognizing U.S. Coast Guard concerns.

  • Pursue the use of quiet pavement to reduce noise impacts and "fund graffiti removal on sound walls."

  • Consider "the aesthetic impact" from both above and below the 520 structure.

  • Ensure that the design will accommodate light rail across the 520 Bridge to connect directly to Sound Transit's North Link Husky Stadium station.

    Conlin said the full council will not vote until the city receives a commitment from the governor's office regarding the requested mitigations.

    "It's not so much the money, as the commitment that these things won't be engineered out, that they will be included in the bridge design process," Conlin said.

    He added that the Mayor's Office currently is discussing the mitigations with Gov. Chris Gregoire.

    MORE ONLINE

    To access state Route 520 Resolution No. 30931, go to:

    seattle.gov/council/legdb.htm

    and click on "Resolution."

    Webtowns
    More headlines and info from Montlake.

    P-I reporter Debera Carlton Harrell can be reached at 206-448-8326 or deberaharrell@seattlepi.com.
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