Tag Archives: I-5

Forum celebrates 50 years of Freeway Park, hopes for expanded lid over I-5

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A forum celebrating the 50th anniversary of Seattle’s landmark Freeway Park will take place Tuesday night at Town Hall Seattle. The event will also include connections to the future of the park’s place in a possible expanded lid over I-5 between downtown and Capitol Hill.

Jointly organized by Lid I-5, the Seattle Parks Foundation, and the Freeway Park Association, the event marks a half-century since the groundbreaking urban green space first opened above Interstate 5 on July 4, 1976. A civic panel will explore the park’s architectural legacy, urban reconnectivity between downtown, First Hill, and Capitol Hill, ongoing capital improvements, and its influence on future freeway-lidding initiatives.

Featured participants include state Sen. Jamie Pedersen, Seattle Parks Foundation CEO Rebecca Bear, landscape architect Lara Rose, civic leader Maggie Walker, Freeway Park Association director Riisa Conklin, and Lid I-5 co-chair Scott Bonjukian. Continue reading →

Police: 14-year-old killed in crash on stairs through I-5 Colonnade park was riding ‘E-Motorbike’

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The Seattle Police Department has released its preliminary report on the July death of a young rider who crashed on the stairs near the Colonnade bike area below I-5 between Capitol Hill and Eastlake.

Çınar Doğan, 14, died of multiple blunt force injuries in the July 7th crash

The SPD report provides new details on how the crash occurred. It also details the type of e-bike Doğan was riding when he fell. Continue reading →

North Capitol Hill’s 2026 of transportation challenges continues with restart of ‘Revive I-5,’ long closure of Harvard Ave E onramp

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The “Revive I-5” project is back in motion and has shifted to repair and resurface the right side northbound lanes of the highway across the Ship Canal Bridge. Long-term area closures include the Harvard Ave onramp — a key route for drivers leaving Capitol Hill to the north.

The resumption follows a weekend-long shutdown of northbound Interstate 5 through Seattle to reconfigure construction barriers. Mainline lanes officially reopened early Monday morning, but commuters immediately met a restricted corridor. Northbound I-5 is now reduced to two open left lanes across the Ship Canal Bridge, a chokepoint that will remain in place through the end of 2026 as crews repair and resurface the bridge deck.

For neighborhood commuters in Capitol Hill and Eastlake, the biggest new traffic puzzle is the total closure of the Harvard Ave E on-ramp to northbound I-5. To establish a work zone for contractor crews and heavy equipment, WSDOT has shuttered the neighborhood collector ramp entirely.

The northbound lanes on the east side of Eastlake Ave E are also closed between E Allison and Harvard Ave E for construction staging. Northbound traffic is being detoured east onto E Allison and then directly north up Harvard before routing back to Eastlake Ave near the bridge approach.

State traffic engineers confirmed the Harvard Ave ramp will not reopen to local traffic until mid-October with the rest of the northbound I-5 work hoped to be completed by the end of the year. Continue reading →

Young rider who died in I-5 Colonnade stairs crash identified

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(Image: CHS)

The King County Medical Examiner has identified the Seattle teenager who died Tuesday night in a crash on the stairs through the Colonnade bike park below I-5.

Çınar Doğan died of multiple blunt force injuries in the crash, according to the report.

Doğan was 14.

The teen died Tuesday in the just after 6 PM crash in the park just off Lakeview Blvd between Capitol Hill and Eastlake. Police say he was riding a “motorized electric bicycle” down stairs when he lost control. The young rider was wearing a bike helmet but suffered “severe head and body injuries,” police said. Other details of the crash have not been released. Continue reading →

Young rider dies in crash at I-5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Skills Park — UPDATE: ‘motorized electric bicycle’

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An area of the overhauled mountain bike park (Image: City of Seattle)

A teen rider died Tuesday night in a crash at the I-5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Skills Park.

Seattle Fire and Seattle Police were called to the bike riding area below I-5 between Capitol Hill and Eastlake just after 6 PM to a reported crash involving an approximately 14-year-old male. According to emergency radio updates, CPR was underway as crews arrived to render aid.

UPDATE: According to SPD, the teen was riding an electric motorcycle at the time of the crash. Police say the victim was wearing a helmet. UPDATEx2: A police report on the incident describes the bike as a “motorized electric bicycle.”
Continue reading →

Be ready for weekend traffic snarls during full closure of northbound I-5

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(Image: WSDOT)

Capitol Hill drivers and transit riders should brace for significant delays this weekend.

The Washington State Department of Transportation has announced a full closure of northbound Interstate 5 through the heart of Seattle, stretching from I-90 past the Ship Canal to NE 45th.

The closure is needed to transition the construction zone on the Ship Canal Bridge after weeks of “Revive I-5” work on the left two northbound lanes. In July, work on the right two northbound lanes will begin. Continue reading →

Seattle’s only East Design Board review of 2025… continues

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(Image: PUBLIC47 Architects)

Changes to the design under the review process include an effort to make the Boylston Ave E facing lobby more “pedestrian friendly” (Image: PUBLIC47 Architects)

In July, CHS reported on a rarity across the city’s core neighborhoods including areas stretching across Capitol Hill, First Hill — the only meeting of the year so far for the East Design Review Board as it convened over approval of plans for an eight-story project above Eastlake.

Now in the final days of 2025 and with the housing affordability crisis in the city as sharp as ever, this 2727 Boylston Ave E project appears to have hung on to its dubious distinction.

Wednesday, the review board is set to convene to sign off on what CHS has found is the only project to come in front of the volunteer group this year.

“The reality is that very few ground-up projects currently pencil,” Mike Yukevich of developer Eastlake Real Estate Partners says. Continue reading →

Man dies in fall from I-5 overpass

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A man fell to his death Friday morning on I-5 south below the Convention Center.

Seattle Fire says it responded to the reported fall from the I-5 overpass from Capitol Hill just after 11 AM in an incident in the southbound lanes of I-5. Continue reading →

Suspicious death investigated at encampments below Capitol Hill I-5 overpass — UPDATE

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The Seattle Police Department says there were “suspicious circumstances” after a person was found dead last week near encampments under the Pike and Pine overpasses of I-5 below Plymouth Pillars Park.

A man who told police he was coming to visit. friend at the encampment area above I-5 reported the body around 12:30 PM Wednesday.

Seattle Fire was called to the scene and confirmed the death. “Upon closer inspection, there were signs of suspicious circumstances,” police investigating the scene reported. Continue reading →

On a weekend to ponder covering I-5, a call to support Seattle’s original ‘lid,’ Freeway Park

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The roar of I-5 was a little more subdued this weekend with northbound lanes through the city shut for Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance.

The community group advocating for permanently quieting the freeway — and adding a cap covered with parkland, housing, and development — gathered nearby to illustrate the opportunity.

The Lid I-5 group is also asking the public to support needed work in the original I-5 lid between First Hill, Capitol Hill, and downtown — Freeway Park.

Saturday, the group gathered off Boren in Pillars Park above I-5 to mark the weekend’s northbound closure and spread the word about progress being made in plans likely to stretch out for decades to cover the freeway through Seattle. Continue reading →