Lid over Montlake Blvd. proposed for new 520 bridge

State transportation managers want to build a lid over Montlake Boulevard next to Husky Stadium as part of the Highway 520 bridge project.

A 200-foot segment of the street would be lowered, said program Director Julie Meredith. Then football fans, light-rail riders, bicyclists and others could cross the lid into what's known as the "triangle" at Northeast Pacific Street, continuing either to upper campus or to the University of Washington Medical Center and points west.

The plan could solve a puzzle about how to integrate the campus with the future Link station at Husky Stadium, to open in 2016.

Gov. Chris Gregoire released the plans as part of an announcement Thursday afternoon at the UW, near the shore of Lake Washington.

"Today is a day that's been 13 years in the making," she said, thanking transportation leaders for listening to public suggestions over the years and especially this spring, about ways to reduce the giant project's effects on neighborhoods.

Department of Transportation leaders say their lid would work with or without a proposed UW bridge that would cross Northeast Pacific Place to connect the triangle with the upper campus.

Theresa Doherty, UW assistant vice president, said of the stadium-area lid: "We've just recently seen it. We are interested in learning more about it."

The latest design also includes some changes to allow future light rail on the bridge, but Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said they don't go far enough.

"There is more work that needs to be done in that area," he said later Thursday. McGinn didn't suggest specific changes but said his administration will study the details soon and keep promoting rail.

McGinn also disagrees with the state law and consensus to build six road lanes on the bridge. Asked if he faced an uphill climb politically, McGinn said elected officials will respond if the people demand changes — a fact he says the DOT just proved by reworking its designs in the Arboretum area.

"This is a 75- to 100-year project and we have to do it right," he said.

Sound Transit's time and money are currently tied up in a voter-approved rail route on Interstate 90, from the Chinatown International District to downtown Bellevue and Overlake. "The bridge will be ready for light rail. Light rail is not ready for 520," said Gregoire.

Washington state is about $2 billion short of the entire $4.65 billion needed for crossing the lake from Seattle to the Eastside. Construction begins next year on the floating pontoons and Eastside approaches, while final design is worked out on the Seattle shore.

The designs announced Thursday are "a stake in the ground" that will help the state finish its environmental-impact statement and arrive at more accurate cost estimates, Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said.

Doherty said all the UW's main issues have been addressed, in what she called "a very good plan."

State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, called the plan "a few small steps forward." He said more work is needed to protect neighborhoods, improve transit and create a finance plan that includes I-90 tolling.

In other changes:

• The Portage Bay section would be six lanes, but one shoulder would be used as a peak-time exit lane from westbound 520 to northbound Interstate 5.

• The speed limit would drop from 60 mph to 45 mph through the Seattle section, where a 6-foot-wide landscaped median would separate the westbound and eastbound lanes. That would create more of an "urban boulevard" setting, and reduce noise five decibels, said Meredith.

• Instead of a lid over the I-5 junction, the state wants a larger lid to the east — all the way from Montlake Boulevard East to the waterfront. The lid would include several new bike trails, as well as bus lanes and stops.

• Bridge heights would be 20 feet above the lake, compared with 11 or 12 feet on I-90 today.

• There would be no direct onramps from the Washington Park Arboretum to Highway 520. Traffic would need to take other routes, or continue to the primary Montlake Interchange.

• A second Montlake Cut drawbridge is proposed, costing about $81 million, to make more room for transit lanes, sidewalks and bikeways.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631