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Community Reconstruction: Seattle, Washington |
Introduction
The I-90 project in Seattle, WA, was the final segment of that intercontinental highway to be completed. This last section of I-90, which runs from Bellevue to Seattle, was finished in 1993, marking the end of almost 40 years of dissention. Because discussions about completing the I-90 project were filled with protracted controversy, newspapers compared it to the Loch Ness monster raising its head from the depths of Lake Washington (to the excitement or angst of some of the involved parties) only to sing again in the uncertain waters of public process.
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The length of the discussion, however, provided the opportunity for all the parties involved to carefully examine the social impacts of the project. As a result of extensive community involvement, the completion of I-90 was accompanied by targeted mitigation measures to address community impacts. The major element of mitigation was the creation of a 2,100-foot lid across the width of the eight-lane freeway. This lid reconnected the community severed in the 1940s by the construction of U.S. 10. The history of the I-90 project is long. I-90 in Seattle was conceived in 1945 and accepted as part of the National System of Interstate Highways in August 1947. The Interstate was to follow the alignment of U.S. 10, a non-divided, four-lane facility, built in the early 1940s that essentially severed the Seattle community. By the 1960s, after Seattle and its suburbs had experienced rapid population growth during the post-war period, State Route 90 (SR 90--formerly U.S. 10) needed significant expansion. Engineering studies for upgrading the four-lane highway to Interstate standards had begun in 1957. By 1960, reversible lanes were implemented on SR 90 as a temporary measure to relieve worsening traffic congestion along the corridor. |
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Although the need to reduce congestion was clear, choosing from the various options to do so created deep contention among the municipalities involved. The final I-90 alignment and lane configuration was decided in 1977 after 5 years of active negotiation and mediation on the part of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Governor of Washington, the city of Seattle, and King County. Because of the potential for extensive noise, dust, and visual impacts, as well as the segmentation of communities, mitigation of community impacts was a key issue throughout this period.
The major element of mitigation finally agreed to for Seattle was the construction of a "lid," or platform deck, to reconnect the community severed by the original roadway in the 1940s. Another important mitigation in the Seattle community was the reduction in the proposed number of lanes for I-90. The freeway design was reduced to 8 lanes from the 12-lane configuration originally proposed in 1966. Other mitigation measures included a new elementary school and landscaping of the lid for active and passive recreation. An extensive network of bicycle trails was created on the lid and along the I-90 bridge across Lake Washington for recreational purposes and to provide an alternative mode of travel for commuters to Seattle. Due to a lack of available detours across Lake Washington, SR 90 could not be closed to traffic during construction of I-90 and the lid, and the project took almost 14 years to complete.