Seattle Forward

SR 520 Bridge Replacement Construction Approved

The SR 520 bridge replacement project took a major step forward this morning when the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Governing Board voted to change the project status from "Conditional Approval for Design Build" to "Conditional Approval." 

The state plans to award a design-build contract for the bridge replacement, including the east and west end bridge landings, later this summer. The PSRC is a regional transportation, growth management and economic development agency made up of elected leaders from King, Snohomish, Kitsap and Pierce counties.  The Governing Board meets monthly and votes on matters recommended by PSRC policy boards; today's approval was based on the recommendation of the Transportation Policy Board.  You can watch the discussion leading up to this morning's vote here.  This topic begins at the 39:36 point in the meeting. (How the vote played out and more detail after the jump . . .)

Mayor McGinn's State of the City

The Mayor addressed the City Council this afternoon and offered his view of the state of the city.  Former Mayor Nickels used to pack the Council chambers with city employees, often leading to the opening of the rear doors for the standing-room-only crowd.  About a third of the seats were vacant for today's mayoral speech; I suspect the Mayor's staff will check the "fill the room" box next time around. 

The Mayor covered a host of issues, including his lists of our civic assets and challenges.

More On SR-520

Lots of folks are commenting on what the final configuration of SR-520 should or should not be, especially here on the west side of Lake Washington.  The Seattle Times and the Tacoma News Tribune weighed in today with strong editorials advocating a "stay the course" approach.  I shared my personal opinions and where the Council stands here.

Most important, this project—in planning and design for nearly 13 years—must continue to move forward, remain on schedule and be completed within budget.  That's important because the bridge is deteriorating and needs to be replaced as soon as possible.  It's also important because of the bridge's importance to our regional commerce.

My colleagues and I are now engaged with state and City transportation officials to review options for the west side of the bridge.  We especially want to determine how to shrink the size of the Montlake interchange, improve transit connectivity, lower the height of the over-the-water bridge across Lake Washington and nudge commuters away from single occupancy vehicles.  I think these objectives can be achieved through this process of regional engagement and dialog. 

Perspective on SR520

Last week, the City Council sent a letter to the Governor and legislative leaders expressing our thoughts about the recommended replacement for SR520, the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge.  Eight Council members signed the letter; Councilmember Nick Licata did not.

In summary, the letter encourages moving forward so the replacement bridge can be completed by 2014 and suggests further design refinements for the across-the-lake bridge and the west side interchanges in Seattle.  The letter was crafted to gain the signatures of as many Council members as possible, a task ably shepherded by Council President Richard Conlin.  Here are my thoughts on the Council's design and engineering