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| Governor Jay Inslee brought donuts to the 148th street light rail station groundbreaking event. Photo by Oliver Moffat |
By Oliver Moffat
Elected officials gathered at the Shoreline South Light Rail Station on Monday morning to celebrate the recent start of construction on the 145th roundabouts and the non-motorized bridge over I-5.
Governor Jay Inslee shouted to be heard over the roar of construction and midday I-5 traffic as he thanked workers while handing out donuts.
On a busy day, the 145th construction zone can have as many as thirty workers on site.
“I want to thank the workers that put this together. These projects are transportation projects, these are housing projects. And these are job projects,” said Shoreline Mayor Chris Roberts.
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| Construction is underway on 145th street at I-5 where the old signalized intersections will be replaced with roundabouts - photo by Oliver Moffat |
Representative Pramila Jayapal highlighted her work to secure $4 million for the non-motorized bridge, $20 million for the completion of the 145th street corridor project, and a request for $4 million to fund Shoreline’s Trail Along the Rail.
“This is what it looks like when government puts its thumb on the scale for equity, for justice, for the environment, for business,” said Jayapal.
Currently, 145th west of I-5 is closed for construction until this fall. Pedestrians and bikes can currently use the north sidewalk of 145th but a detour on 147th is planned.
The 145th roundabout project is expected to be complete in late 2025.
The non-motorized bridge is expected to open in the spring of 2026.
Why are we calling this a "non-motorized bridge" when it is really just a pedestrian/bike bridge? We rely on the "media" to translate jargon, not to spout it back out at us. But I suppose that is all the author is interested in.
ReplyDeleteLet me know when they announce drivers' training for roundabouts. (Do we assume anyone driving a European car knows what to do?)
ReplyDeletePlease tell me there will be cameras at these intersections so we can watch the chaos unfold on YouTube - I foresee a channel as popular as the Russian dash cams.
No new bridge for traffic.
ReplyDeleteNo good reason for roundabouts.
No public input solicited during design.
Nobody could hear Inslee over the roar of traffic because I-5's surface is original concrete from 1965. Our bone-jarring roads prematurely wear out our suspensions and our ears, but these two don't seem very interested in doing anything about it.
In reply to Anonymous at 10:27 PM: A new motor vehicle bridge is unnecessary precisely because of the roundabouts. They remove the "waves" caused by traffic lights, allowing for continuous flow of motor vehicles. There have been numerous opportunities for public input since the study was published in 2016, including two well-publicized open houses in 2020 and 2022.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous 10:09 am:
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning, the double roundabouts were presented as the one solution for this intersection, as dictated from on high by WSDOT. No other designs were generated and given equal consideration to the roundabouts. The planners were afraid of what the public might say.
The "open house" in 2020 was entirely virtual in 2020 because of COVID, and the 2022 event was mostly concerned with informing people of the timing of construction. The critical point is that at no time was there substantive public process or any legitimate attempt to collect community opinion before the decision was made.
This is only the latest example of our increasingly insular government going through the motions of public process, but without a snowball's chance that any other option might be considered.
We'll see just how well the roundabouts perform once they're subjected to an afternoon commute. Expect the interchange with 5th NE to back up traffic to NB I-5, without any ability to ameliorate the situation through traffic light timing.