Six years of impasse followed. Concerns among the affected municipalities were focused on the final scale and alignment of I-90. The impasse inspired the creation of unique groups to find areas of agreement among the municipalities, hear community concerns, and offer design recommendations. In 1972, FHWA convened a board of review to arbitrate disputes between the city of Seattle and WSDOT. It consisted of members appointed by the city of Seattle and WSDOT. At the suggestions of WSDOT, Citizen Advisory Committees were created for Seattle and the suburban communities. Composed of community representatives appointed by their respective city councils, the role of the committees was to hear community concerns and to provide local input to WSDOT. Representatives for the Judkins Park, South Atlantic Street, and Mount Baker neighborhoods sat on the Citizen Advisory Committee for Seattle.

In 1974, a groups was created to develop an overall solution to the I-90 impasse. The Governor appointed a 10-member, I-90 Commission consisting of State, county, and local officials from all the affected municipalities. Although the I-90 Commission failed to agree on the alignment or the capacity of I-90, the airing of community concerns ultimately led to the design of acceptable mitigation measures.

The idea of lids was discussed throughout the project, but there was no agreement on their use, even among community members. Originally, the Judkins Park and South Atlantic Street neighborhoods did not want a park over the lid, fearing that the space would attract crime. Later, the neighborhoods wanted a part. Also, the community groups at one time had not wanted an access ramp from I-90 into the community, but changed their position after the highway was redesigned.

The issue of noise and safety impacts of I-90 on an adjacent, common, local elementary school was also a critical concern for the three neighborhoods. The I-90 alignment require the acquisition of a smaller sliver of land (less than 1 acre) from the Coleman Elementary School playground. The neighborhoods, however, voiced concerns for the safety of school children because during construction they would have to cross a temporary, pedestrian-bridge structure over the active freeway to get to school. The long-term, daytime noise impact on the school children was also a strong concern of parents and educators.

When the draft EIS was completed in 1976, extensive negative comments were received, and serious differences of opinion emerged among the major local participants on the I-90 Commission, including Seattle, two suburban communities, and King County. The Governor appointed a two-person mediation team to identify areas of agreement among the parties--an approach that finally bore fruit.

In 1977, the affected municipalities signed a memorandum of agreement reducing the proposed configuration of the freeway from 12 to 8 lanes. The agreed-upon configurations of the lid over the freeway in the Judkins Park and South Atlantic Street neighborhoods was fixed at a length of 2,100 feet across the width of the highway. In addition to providing physical access across the freeway, the lid would serve as mitigation to reduce noise and aesthetic impacts from the proximity of the freeway and enhance the landscape of the affected neighborhoods. In 1979, the Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the EIS was adequate and lifted the injunction prohibiting I-90 construction. Work began that year.