Assessment needed to address key concerns
While it’s easy to ridicule the long process of reaching a final decision on the 520 bridge, it’s still just as important to get it right — especially given the massive price tag and the huge seven-year construction impact on our region [“Town-halled to death on Highway 520,” Opinion, Feb. 26]. Aside from the light-rail issue and poorly conceived interchange at Montlake, there are at least two other key flaws to the current proposal that must be addressed.
The current plan only allows one HOV lane to connect directly from 520 to I-5 and it reverses just like the I-5 express lanes do currently. The current plan would enable continuous HOV only for Eastside commuters coming to Seattle in the morning and heading back to the Eastside in the evening. This means that the worst traffic segment — evening westbound commuters — would still face a clogged commute as these new HOV lanes merge back with general-purpose lanes as they do currently.
The second and infuriating issue to Seattle residents — in Capitol Hill, Eastlake, Portage Bay and Roanoke Park — is the issue of lids. These are documented in the Environmental Impact Statement as key mitigations for noise, pollution and pedestrian safety. However, the EIS states very clearly that these lids are the lowest priority and would be deferred in the event of insufficient funding.
Since there is already insufficient funding — more than $2 billion — it seems pretty obvious that these lids would be deferred or cut completely since there is no law or language that mandates that they be built. If they are going to be used to justify the environmental impact of the new roadway then they must be guaranteed and codified.
The “just-build-it” mentality is fine as long as we get it right. The city may be late to the table in terms of taking a firm stand on some of these poor design issues. But better now than hacking together yet another solution in the series of poorly implemented transit options — especially one that is likely to exceed $5 billion when all is said and done.
— Steve Silverberg, Seattle