News is trickling out from City’s consultant, as reported by Mike Lindblom in the Seattle Times, Erica C. Barnett at Publicola and Scott Gutierrez at the P-I. The Seattle City Council’s 520 issue page has more details, context, and meeting announcements. The Executive Summary gives a few clues as to what we might see tomorrow by 3 p.m. (April 1, no kidding!)
Pivotal design and operational elements or “Pivotal Issues” are identified as:
1. Second Bridge over Montlake Cut
2. Lake Washington Boulevard Ramps
3. Montlake Interchange Design
4. Portage Bay Viaduct Width and Operation
5. Montlake Freeway Flyer Stop
6. Montlake Triangle
7. Noise Reduction
8. Height of the Floating Bridge Deck
9. Width of the SR 520 Corridor
Within the body of the report each of these issues is dissected in detail, alternatives are described and compared against Option A+, and the tradeoffs of the alternative are discussed. These are not intended to be recommendations, but decision-making tools for the Council.
Two “balanced” packages of system level improvements made of design and operational elements discussed in the pivotal issues were designed to achieve Council desired outcomes while attempting to maintain Council’s assumptions. The two balanced packages are evaluated against three other packages, each designed to “emphasize” only one element of the desired outcomes for the purpose of highlighting the trade-offs between desired outcomes.
The emphasis packages and balanced packages are also compared to the “no-build” alternative, the current 6-Lane Alternative Design Option A+, and a design option from the original DEIS, the Pacific Interchange. As with the pivotal issues the intent of these system level packages is to point out trade-offs and improvements to Option A+ while assessing the ability of a package to stay within the Council’s assumptions.
Thus we may expect to see two “packages” tomorrow reflecting the Council’s priorities. Tomorrow, we will presumably be hearing specifics about both the Council and the Mayor’s priorities, which overlap those of the Council, but are not exactly the same. Next week, City Council will be reviewing the report and there will be an opportunity for public comment. Mark your calendars!
Monday, April 5 at 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
(During Council Briefing Session)
The Seattle City Council will be reviewing the SR 520 Draft Consultant Report.
This meeting will be held in the Seattle City Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of the Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Avenue.
The briefing agenda will be as follows:
9:30 am – 11:30 am Review of Seattle City Council’s SR 520 Draft Consultant Report
11:30 am – 12 p.m. Review of Mayor of Seattle’s SR 520 Draft Consultant Report
Thursday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m. Public Comment
Seattle City Council’s SR 520 Draft Consultant Report.
This meeting will held in the Seattle City Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of the Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Avenue.
Sign in for public comment will begin at 5:00pm.
The public comment meeting agenda will be as follows:
5:30 p.m. – Presentation by the Consultants summarizing the Seattle City Council’s SR 520 Draft Consultant Report
6:15 p.m. – Public comment