Tag Archives: montlake

‘Major construction coming to your neighborhood’ — 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid work includes big projects to move key utilities

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(Image: WSDOT)

When you think about building a bridge you probably think of things like pilings and cable stays — not wiring and underground utilities. The seven-year 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid construction project continues this summer also includes lots of utility work, it turns out.

WSDOT is updating (PDF) neighbors in the areas around Roanoke Park and down along Boyer Ave E of “major construction coming to your neighborhood” —

As part of the SR 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project, WSDOT and Skanska will work with the city of Seattle to relocate utilities in your area. For the next six months, you can expect crews to be working on Boyer Avenue East, in the Boyer hillside and along East Roanoke Street to complete this utility work.

The utilities in question are a big deal including moving a major 12-inch water main and a 26-kilovolt power line.

The work will mean major traffic detours and closures including the Boyer Stairs connecting Montlake to Interlaken Park and Capitol Hill. You can find the traffic and walking details here (PDF).

WSDOT says starting this fall, crews will begin work on the Boyer hillside for the new Portage Bay bridges and sections of the Roanoke Lid. Continue reading →

911 | Groping, keg-tossing suspect busted in Crescent Lounge melee

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See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • Chaotic Crescent assault arrest: Seattle Police arrested a suspect as he attempted to drive away across Capitol Hill after a chaotic melee of groping and damage inside E Olive Way’s Crescent Lounge early Tuesday. Police were called to the 1400-block dive bar just after midnight to a report the nightspot was shuttered as a man had been locked out of the bar after assaulting and groping people in attacks on staff and patrons. SPD says the suspect reportedly “threw a full keg of beer,” groped “several” people, and “hurled a beer bottle at a bartender” during the melee. According to East Precinct radio updates, the suspect was quickly tracked down while fleeing the area in his vehicle and was identified in part thanks to the flip-flops he was wearing at the time of the assault. Police say the suspect appeared to be “clearly impaired” and a field sobriety test was conducted. The suspect also had an open alcoholic beverage in his car, and was driving on a suspended license, SPD says. He was also required by court order to have an ignition interlock device but did not. SPD says the suspect was booked on multiple investigations including three counts of Assault, two counts of Special Allegation – Sexual Motivation, Harassment, Driving Under the Influence, Operating a Motor Vehicle Without an Ignition Interlock Device, and driving with a suspended/revoked license in the 3rd Degree. Police say the chaos didn”t stop with his arrest. According to SPD, the man also managed to assault an officer as he was taken to Harborview under a search warrant for blood evidence. “Hospital staff did not draw his blood due to his unsafe behavior,” SPD reports. No serious injuries were reported at the Crescent.
  • Montlake DUI crash: Police say an SUV flipped multiple times and a suspected DUI driver fled the scene of the crash after a collision Monday afternoon that caused a traffic nightmare at the Montlake Lid 520 interchange:
    At 1543 hours, police responded to a report of a collision where a vehicle flipped multiple times at the intersection of Montlake Blvd E/E Lake Washington Blvd. It was reported a gray SUV traveled at a high rate of speed southbound on Montlake Blvd E in the opposing lanes of traffic, when the driver quickly swerved back into the correct lanes of traffic colliding with a black SUV making an eastbound turn onto E Lake Washington Blvd. The collision caused the gray SUV to flip multiple times and hit a white SUV waiting to make a westbound turn onto 520 eastbound before coming to a stop on the curb located on the southwest side of Montlake Blvd E. Officers arrived quickly and spoke with witnesses who provided information about the suspect driver. The male suspect driver fled from the scene on foot but was located a short distance away. No one was seriously injured from the collision.
    Police say the suspect driver was arrested for hit and run, DUI, and reckless driving and was to be booked into jail once medically cleared at Harborview.
 

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The Montlake Lid’s bus stops are now in service

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A worker helps install benches for the newly opened Metro stops (Image: WSDOT)

(Image: WSDOT)

Another key element of the $455.3 million project to widen 520 and lid the busy freeway through Montlake is now in place. King County Metro is now serving the Montlake Lid’s bus stop center.

Service on the lid began Saturday, Metro says, serving  routes 43 to Capitol Hill, 48 to Central District and Mt Baker, 255 to Kirkland Transit Center and Totem Lake Transit Center, 271 to Bellevue and Issaquah, 542 to Redmond, and 556 to Bellevue and Issaquah:

Metro is excited to offer four new bus stops as part of the state’s major SR 520 Montlake Lid project, offering easier connections for riders traveling between the Central District, East Capitol Hill, Montlake and the Eastside.
Around 13,500 riders use these routes daily. The new space offers three grassy acres and new trail connections to the Arboretum, East Montlake Park and the Montlake neighborhood.

“Reopening service at Montlake is a big step forward for regional transit,” King County Executive Shannon Braddock said in a statement. “These new stops restore vital connections that have been missing since 2019. It’s a win for access, convenience and connectivity across our region.”

Buses haven’t directly served the 520/Montlake Blv interchange since 2019 through years of construction on the expansion and new lid.

The activation of the project’s transit element is another step forward in balancing the sea of motor vehicle traffic that flows across the lid every day. CHS reported here in late 2024 as a new 520 bike/walk bridge opened as a late element of the project, joining the multiple new traffic lanes that opened earlier in the year across the new lid’s reconfiguration of the busy intersection of freeway and city streets.

The 520 replacement effort is now in its third and final phase. CHS reported here on the start of construction on WSDOT’s $1.4 billion Roanoke Lid and Portage Bay Bridge projects currently planned to wrap up in 2031.

 

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Montlake Community Center reopens after 15-month construction project removes ’60 documented barriers to accessibility’

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(Image: Seattle Parks)

A 15-month construction project has finally wrapped up as the city’s parks department has tackled “60 documented barriers to accessibility” around the Montlake Community Center.

The facility has finally reopened after the $1.7 million construction project that started in November 2023. Continue reading →

‘Save our Science’ rallies — with some of the best protest signs so far — bring fight against Trump cuts to Montlake Blvd E

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Montlake Blvd E above 520 isn’t where you might typically see a protest in Seattle but a “Save our Science” demonstration there Wednesday morning caught the city’s attention.

Workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are raising alarms over looming job cuts they say threaten critical scientific research, fisheries sustainability, and the livelihoods of coastal communities. Speaking anonymously out of fear for their jobs, employees at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Alaska Fisheries Science Center are calling attention to the far-reaching consequences of federal funding and staffing reductions.

“Many of us work at NOAA, right here, and a lot of our co-workers are being threatened with their jobs,” one worker said. These employees emphasize their role as public servants, working not just in Washington, D.C., but in communities across the country.

A stock assessment scientist explained the importance of their work: “We set annual catch limits for fisheries on the West Coast and in Alaska to make sure that we can keep catching fish sustainably.” This focus on sustainability is critical to maintaining healthy fish populations and supporting the commercial fishing industry.

Nick Tolimieri, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 8A, represents workers at NOAA’s Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Science Centers. He warns that funding and staffing cuts jeopardize their ability to deliver essential research required by laws like the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the Endangered Species Act. Continue reading →

‘Downscale the Proposed One Seattle Rezoning Plans for Madrona’ — How Hollingsworth’s office is handling neighborhood pushback on Seattle growth plan update

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There are petitions in Madrona and letters from angry realtors.

“We are welcoming any and all feedback,” Anthony Derrick, chief of staff to District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth tells CHS about the ongoing process the council member is leading to forge an update to the city’s comprehensive plan and new zoning across its neighborhoods. “With the law, the city is going to see some massive density changes.”

Wednesday afternoon, the Seattle City Council committee Hollingsworth leads formed to take on the nearly impossible task of reaching compromise on Seattle’s comprehensive plan update will meet.

A report on displacement, a core issue for Hollingsworth who grew up watching her Central District neighborhood struggle with gentrification, is on the agenda. But the important statistics and challenges raised in the presentation on the city’s Anti-Displacement Action Plan (PDF) might get lost.

The second half of Wednesday’s meeting will focus on public engagement around the comprehensive plan update — including the city’s meetings on the update it has been hosting since 2022.

Protests and pushback from a growing chorus of property, business, and homeowners from across the city and District 3 are becoming louder as a key February 5th public forum on the comprehensive plan update proposal approaches.

In Madrona, groups are forming to oppose upzoning in the neighborhood as Seattle leaders say more areas of the city must rise to meet state required changes hoped to address growing housing and affordability challenges.

The Madrona neighborhood, they argue, should be treated differently than the rest of the city when it comes to efforts to increase density. Continue reading →

How long to lid I-5 between Capitol Hill and downtown? Years and years and years — but the plan is being shaped now

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(Image: Lid I-5)

A view from the new lid over 520 in Montlake (Image: Lid I-5)

Last month, the new SR-520 bike and pedestrian bridge opened to counterbalance the flow of motor vehicles traveling across the new Montlake Lid. Longstanding hopes to cover freeways in other parts of the city are also taking shape. Between Capitol Hill and downtown, the Lid I-5 group has been working on its initiative long enough that its years-old utility pole flyers have become part of the area’s gritty urban landscape. The effort has a $2.2 million boost to work with in 2025.

John Feit has been part of the group pursuing the lidding of I-5 through downtown to cap noise and pollution, and to reconnect neighborhoods while filing gaping holes in the city—like the affordable housing supply. Now, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the city $2 million and the state legislature added another $200,000 in planning grants. Lid I-5 and other proponents of Seattle lids are pushing forward.

“We’re going to use that recent money to come up with an urban design vision, which means understanding what the people of Seattle would like to see with the lid accomplished,” Feit told CHS.

A rendering of a Lid I-5 concept that includes park space and new buildings (Image: Lid I-5)

Continue reading →

Don’t let new 520 bike/walk bridge get lost in the Montlake Lid’s sea of cars — Opening celebration Saturday

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The bridge crosses 520 just east of the new lid (Image: Washington State Department of Transportation)

Saturday, the Washington State Department of Transportation is inviting you to “walk/roll” across the ready-to-open bike and pedestrian bridge crossing the newly expanded SR-520 just east of the pretty much completed Montlake lid.

It’s understandable if you weren’t aware of a ready-to-open bike and pedestrian bridge crossing the newly expanded 520 just east of the pretty much completed Montlake lid. The $455.3 million Montlake Project to expand the freeway and lid it is a pretty car-forward project as it finally reaches completion after years of construction. The snarl of criss-crossing traffic lanes interconnecting with 24th Ave on the lid is bigger and busier than ever.

The pedestrian/bicyclist bridge just east of the new lid will provide some counterbalance to that motor vehicle snarl. It provides a north-south connection across the freeway for walkers and rollers only and connects to the SR 520 Trail, Bill Dawson Trail, or along Lake Washington Boulevard via the Montlake Lid. Continue reading →

Good vibrations? WSDOT says construction underway for seven-year 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid project

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Design concept for a new bridge over Portage Bay

Just as the Montlake Lid project is laying down its final layers of landscaping bark, the Washington Department of Transportation says construction began this week for SR-520’s Roanoke Lid and Portage Bay Bridge project:

Beginning the week of Nov. 4, crews will start piledriving in Portage Bay to build the temporary work trestle and future westbound Portage Bay bridge. A work trestle is essentially a temporary platform that crews need to build so they can construct the permanent bridge. This will be the first of six piledriving “seasons” allowed on this project. Each season lasts from September through April. This first season – from November 2024 through April 2025 – will be the most significant season of impact piledriving work. The following seasons will have less piledriving – and some seasons may not drive piles at all.

The bridge work is a long process. The state says crews will use two methods to install or “drive” the piles. The first method uses a vibratory hammer to “vibrate” the piles into the bottom of the bay. The second method uses an impact hammer to strike the piles like a hammer into the base of the bay: Continue reading →

With G humming on Madison, SDOT completes work on Route 48 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor Project, the 23rd Ave RapidRide route that never was

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(Image: SDOT)

RapidRide G has settled in after a bumpy but much-anticipated start with service that probably falls somewhere below the loftiest goals of completely reinventing public transit along the Madison corridor. While the new G line and the changes and cuts to dozens of adjoining bus lines got the headlines, another important Central Seattle transit corridor also has been upgraded.

At one point, Seattle planned to make Route 48 and the 23rd Ave/24th Ave corridor a RapidRide route, too.

Years later, the Seattle Department of Transportation has completed work in the final weeks of summer on the Route 48 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor Project.

Construction began in March to support more reliable trips for people riding the Route 48 between Mount Baker, the Central District and the University of Washington across the backside of Capitol Hill. Continue reading →