SEATTLE — The City of Seattle took another step toward potentially adding a lid over Interstate 5 on Tuesday.
The Seattle City Council approved a resolution Tuesday that supports the development of a lid being built over I-5, one that advocates say would reunite neighborhoods and increase the amount of open public space.
"This has rippling impacts across our city, reconnecting neighborhoods, creating new park space, and creating potentially new buildings," City Councilmember Dan Strauss said during Tuesday's City Council meeting.
The resolution compels The Office of Planning and Community Development and the Seattle Department Of Transportation to begin working with outside agencies to form partnerships and work on getting lid work put into future projects along I-5.
Two particular stretches of I-5 through Seattle were included in the resolution, with the roadway between NE 45th and NE 50th Streets in the University District and the highway between Yesler Way and South Dearborn Street as potentially being targeted for lid projects.
The city says efforts to build a lid ramped up in 2011, and the Convention Center funded a study in 2018. In 2020, the results of a preliminary feasibility study were released. According to the study, a lid is feasible, though challenging. The study says the more it has to hold up, the more expensive it will be. The study detailed other current lids around the country and examined issues such as seismic safety and environmental effects. It found that hills and on/off ramps may pose some extra challenges.
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