Bridge ideas to get another look

After distilling dozens of suggestions for the path of a new Evergreen Point Floating Bridge through the Montlake area, the state Department of Transportation said yesterday it will give a handful of ideas further study — a move that surprised and pleased neighborhood advocates who have been pushing for new alternatives.

The ideas include a separate overpass that would ferry traffic between the span and a future light-rail station near Husky Stadium and a lid that would reconnect parts of the Montlake neighborhood currently split by the bridge.

If deemed feasible, the ideas could be included in the project's draft environmental-impact statement now under way.

"It's too compelling to connect the transit systems to not do it," said Montlake neighborhood advocate Jonathan Dubman, who was delighted that the state took the community's proposals seriously.

The state's decision to look at the neighborhood suggestions was presented yesterday to members of the 520 bridge project executive committee, made up of local public officials.

The state says the four-lane span, which opened in 1963, is vulnerable to windstorms and earthquakes and must be replaced for the safety of the 115,000 vehicles that cross it each day.

While a specific design hasn't yet been picked, the committee has leaned toward replacing the bridge with four general-purpose lanes, two car-pool lanes and a bike/pedestrian path.

The Legislature's recent vote to raise the state's gas tax will pump $500 million into the project.

Since winter, Seattle's Montlake neighborhood and others clustered around the bridge's western end have rallied for the state to build a more direct connection between a future 520 span and a planned Sound Transit light-rail station near the University of Washington Medical Center. The residents are also pushing to keep the span's width over Portage Bay as near to its current footprint as possible to avoid blocking views and absorbing more property.

In an update to the executive committee yesterday, DOT project director Maureen Sullivan said the state has decided to study the following ideas:

• Shift traffic from the clogged Montlake Boulevard interchange to the east by building a 115-foot-high overpass that would carry traffic to the planned light-rail station.

• Lower the intersection of Pacific Street and Montlake Boulevard at the UW to improve traffic flow while pedestrians and cyclists use walkways above.

• Eliminate freeway bus stops to trim the freeway's width on the western end.

Not all the ideas the state selected for further study met with enthusiasm. A suggestion for a second Montlake Bridge rather than a separate overpass would only bring more congestion to an already jammed intersection, said Dubman, of Montlake.

Bellevue Mayor Connie Marshall and other Eastside representatives said they were worried that the overpass, arched to enable research vessels to pass beneath, would have too steep a grade to enable light rail or other transit besides buses to reconnect to 520 and cross the lake — an even more essential consideration now that Microsoft is expanding its Redmond campus to accommodate as many as 12,000 more employees, many of whom will commute across the bridge.

Several committee members, including Marshall and Redmond Mayor Rosemarie Ives, said the state must demonstrate that it's trying to integrate the region's future highways, light rail, buses and car-pool lanes if it expects taxpayers to help pay the bills.

Building a new 520 bridge would cost between $1.7 billion and nearly $3 billion, depending on its size. So far, the state would have around $574 million from its full share of the gas tax. The state is counting on another $700 million from tolls.

A coalition of Eastside business leaders has pushed for an eight-lane replacement bridge, saying anything less would fail to ease traffic.

The state is exploring that suggestion as well but has said Interstate 5 lacks the room for the additional traffic that would use a wider bridge.

The state intends to release the draft environmental-impact statement by year's end.

Karen Gaudette: 206-515-5618 or kgaudette@seattletimes.com