No drawbridge in future of 520 span
All that hassle for a passage used by only a half-dozen vessels each year.
So when the bridge eventually is replaced, a midlake opening is one feature the state Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to live without.
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The highway deck would be 70 to 72 feet above the lake instead of the current sloped deck, which ranges from 57 to 64 feet at its highest point.
A similar makeover occurred several years ago during reconstruction of Interstate 90, when a bulge in the original floating bridge was removed, and the I-90 East Channel Bridge between Mercer Island and Bellevue was raised to 65 feet.
The Coast Guard wants to guarantee that a new Evergreen Point bridge would have a section where the tallest boats using the lake still could get through, said Austin Pratt, the Guard's regional bridge administrator. The Coast Guard has final say over bridge heights that affect navigation, but will conduct public hearings before making a decision, he said.
The proposals are causing outrage in Medina, where Mayor Dan Becker held a news conference yesterday to criticize the project and to urge residents of lakefront communities to pack a DOT open house at Medina School this evening.
Raising the height of the bridge, coupled with a proposed reduction in the present 45-foot height on the west end near Foster Island, Becker said, could steer more boat traffic toward the residential Medina shore, making it "the boat waterway of Western Washington."
Construction on a new Highway 520 corridor could start by 2006 if voters approve a regional gas-tax measure to be considered in November or next year. The construction plan could cost up to $9 billion. A six-lane width has the most political support, but some Eastsiders favor eight lanes, up from the current four lanes.
Becker has concerns as well that a proposed series of sound-deadening 500-foot-wide lids, scattered along two miles of Highway 520 east of the lake, would be insufficient.
He also said the state's proposed highway alignment near shore extends too far north and would destroy or damage a dozen homes at Medina's north end needlessly. Lakeshore towns are demanding a signed agreement to limit noise, water pollution and visual effects on the neighborhoods, before environmental-impact studies begin next year.
"They listen to what we're saying, but they don't do what we ask them to do," Becker said.
Medina, as well as Seattle waterfront communities, are demanding a noise limit of 60 decibels, said City Councilman Paul Demitriades. Demitriades said that in some places, the sound reaches 70 decibels, comparable to human shouting.
Towns lining the east bridge-approaches — Medina, Hunts Point, Clyde Hill and Yarrow Point — have insisted on protection similar to that given Mercer Island during the completion of Interstate 90 a decade ago. Atop the largest lid, there is a park with ballfields, while most of the freeway is lower than nearby neighborhoods.
The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge's 39-year-old drawbridge has had problems almost since it was opened. In 1964, waves broke four huge bearings in machinery that opens the bridge. Its condition has deteriorated in the past decade.
On Dec. 22, 1989, an electrical problem caused the drawspan to open unexpectedly during a routine test, causing several cars to crash into the raised concrete. One driver was killed and five people were injured.
Four years later, the bridge was jammed in the open position for four hours. Cost estimates for numerous repairs were unavailable yesterday.
"It's a very expensive piece of equipment that provides very little public benefit," said Les Rubstello, DOT project manager for the bridge replacement.
There is no bridge tender for the drawspan because it opens about 15 times a year, mostly for routine tests to ensure it still works. Some cranes and a few barges — some used for work on the I-90 floating bridge — pass through. One tall sailboat, moored on the south end of Lake Washington, uses the drawspan twice a year, Rubstello said. Drawspan logs said the last passage for a recreational vessel was in October.
Mike Lindblom can be reached at 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com.