News from King County Transportation
Release date:
Oct. 7, 2005
South
Park Bridge environmental study
ready for public review
The
environmental review of alternatives for rehabilitating or replacing the
South Park Bridge in South Seattle is now available for review, and will be
the subject of a public meeting early next month.
The
King County Road Services
Division has been working on plans to preserve the crossing over the
Duwamish River for several years. The condition of the 75-year-old span
between Seattle and Tukwila on 14th/16th Avenue has severely deteriorated, and was made worse
during the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake. King County is proceeding with an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process that will allow a decision to
be made regarding the future of the bridge. The crossing is used by an
average of 20,000 vehicles a day, and has a moveable span that opens to
accommodate large marine vessels on the river.
The draft
EIS is online in a .pdf format. A
Spanish-language website is also available. Print copies are also
located at the Downtown Seattle Public Library, the Delridge Library, High
Point Library, White Center Library, and the offices of the Environmental
Coalition of South Seattle at 8201 10th Ave. S.
The county
will hold a public hearing on the draft EIS on:
Thursday, Nov. 3
5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Concord Elementary School
gymnasium
723 S.
Concord St., Seattle
This
meeting will be a drop-in, open house format, and comments and testimony
will be taken throughout the full three hours of this meeting. A
Spanish-language interpreter also will be available to assist those who wish
ask questions or provide testimony in Spanish.
The
estimated costs for a bridge replacement or rehabilitation range from $74
million to $90 million. Five alternatives are currently being studied as
part of the EIS process:
-
Rehabilitation of the existing drawbridge;
-
Construction of a new bascule drawbridge;
-
Construction of a mid-level fixed-span bridge (approximately 65 feet
high);
-
Construction of a high-level fixed-span bridge (approximately 100 feet
high);
-
Consideration of a "no-build" alternative (required by federal
guidelines).
All
comments are due no later than Nov. 21. After considering all comments on
the draft EIS from the public and various agencies, the county will choose a
preferred alternative
for repairing or
replacing the bridge by the end of this year.
Written
comments should be submitted to: Jim Sussex, King County Department of
Transportation, Road Services Division, MS KSC-TR-0231, 201 South Jackson
St., Seattle, WA 98104-3856. They can also be emailed to:
jim.Sussex@metrokc.gov.
Printed
copies of the draft EIS (including a CD-ROM of the Technical Appendices) can
be purchased at the King County Map and Records Center, King County
Department of Transportation, Road Services Division, 201 South Jackson St.,
Suite 0106, Seattle, WA 98104-3855, for $15 (plus $5, if shipped).
More
information and maps of the project area are available online, or by calling
Marnie McGrath, DOT community relations, at 206-684-1154 (voice), or
TTY relay 711. An Executive
Summary of the draft EIS report is available in Spanish, both online and in
print format. To request information or leave comments in Spanish, call
206-684-1955. To request information or leave comments in Vietnamese, call
206-205-9185. |
