I-90 changes win approval of politicians

By Greg Lamm
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Political leaders across the region yesterday formally endorsed a plan five years in the making that calls for squeezing two new bus and car-pool lanes onto the Interstate 90 bridge and pursuing light rail or another form of rapid transit for the center roadway.

The I-90 plan — approved by a Sound Transit executive committee — would add lanes for bus and car-pool riders making "reverse commutes" to the Eastside in the morning and Seattle in the evening. Center express lanes would continue to serve buses, car pools and Mercer Island traffic. Officials also plan to pursue future high-capacity transit for the center section.

The project would not widen the roadway. Instead, the lanes would be narrowed to make room for the new lanes. The I-90 bridge now carries traffic on eight lanes that are each 12 feet wide.

Officials plan to replace them with 10 lanes, with six of them remaining 12 feet wide and four of them reduced to 11 feet. Shoulders also would be tightened, and the bridge's pedestrian and cycling lane would have screening to guard against flying debris.

It will take years of studies and approvals before the bridge is outfitted with the new lanes.

Sound Transit officials also say they would have to tap into grants or other funding sources to raise tens of millions of dollars to pay for the project. And it would take years more and at least a billion dollars of spending before commuters in trains or rapid-transit buses zip east and west between Seattle and the Eastside.

But Sound Transit Board Chairman Ron Sims said yesterday's agreement signals a "sea change" in political attitudes on the Eastside about high-capacity transit crossing Lake Washington.

Before there may have been more support in Bellevue or on Mercer Island for spending money to just add more lane capacity for cars, Sims said. But today those leaders are saying yes to more mass transit, he said.

"It provides more momentum to do this now than ever before," said Sims, King County's executive.

In July political leaders from Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island, King County and local transportation agencies signaled their support for the project.

Their compromise came after five years of discussions that often resulted in gridlock as regional officials debated the best way to relieve congestion on the I-90 floating bridge.

But politics in recent weeks threatened to unravel the compromise as it headed for final approval.

First, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, a member of the Sound Transit Board, threatened to pull his support for the I-90 plan unless U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue, stopped opposing a $500 million federal grant for Sound Transit's plan for a light-rail line in Seattle.

Mercer Island officials also raised opposition to the I-90 plan because any plan to add high-capacity rapid transit threatened to end a perk allowing all traffic coming from Mercer Island to use the bridge's center express lanes.

The perk was part of a 1976 agreement between Mercer Island officials and other cities and agencies that paved the way for the bridge to be built.

In October the Federal Transit Administration freed Sound Transit's $500 million grant. Nickels did not attend yesterday's executive committee meeting.

But Sims said he hopes the issue doesn't flare up next week when the full Sound Transit Board takes up the I-90 plan.

"It's time to engage in adult behavior," Sims said.

Meanwhile, Richard Conrad, Mercer Island city manager, told the transit agency's executive board yesterday that the City Council also endorses the plan, although it still had concerns about how it will affect island traffic.

Because I-90 is the only route off the island, Conrad said island motorists would have to be compensated with better transit service and more parking space for transit park-and-ride commuters.

"We know I-90 is the key east-west highway for King County and the state, and it's our lifeline," Conrad said. "We are committed to do this together in a way it benefits our residents and the region as a whole."

Sims said Sound Transit is addressing much of what Mercer Island officials want. Ultimately, Sims said Mercer Island would like to have a rapid-transit station.

"Everybody knows if you put a station on Mercer Island it will be very popular," Sims said.

Greg Lamm: 206-464-8541 or glamm@seattletimes.com

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