Sound Transit hearing: Wednesday, Kane Hall

As Sound Transit moves toward the
Nov. 18 target date for a vote by its board on a preferred route for its Link Light Rail system, the UW is working with transit officials and with the City of Seattle to resolve a variety of issues that will affect the university community.

Sound Transit board members will conduct a public hearing on the preferred route from 6 to 9 p.m., Wednesday,
Nov. 10, 110 Kane Hall.

"The university is committed to mass transit," says Bridgett Chandler, assistant vice president for regional affairs. "We developed the nationally acclaimed
U-PASS program to reduce congestion around the Seattle campus, and we have been involved in discussions regarding light rail for about a decade."

For the past 18 months, an advisory group, appointed by Executive Vice President Weldon Ihrig, has been identifying impacts and proposing solutions to Sound Transit. "There are a number of issues that have arisen in the Sound Transit proposals that give us cause for concern," Chandler says. "They fall into two categories: disruptions and dislocations caused by the construction process, and siting issues that could have more long-term effects on campus operations. We are working with the City of Seattle and Sound Transit to find solutions to these problems."

Chandler points out that the UW needs to be a good steward of the resources with which it is entrusted. "While we support light rail, we must also ensure that our missions of teaching, research and service are not compromised, either during construction or on a permanent basis. The UW will lose the use of approximately five acres for the five- to six-year construction period, and perhaps a third that much land will be permanently lost to development (or landscaped open space). While we support the goals of light rail, our first obligation is to protect our mission. Both are in the public interest, and we can do both. It will require responsiveness from Sound Transit to the issues we've identified.

"The UW is a large and complex institution with very particular needs and requirements. We are working with Sound Transit to help develop light rail and at the same time not affect the university's central mission. It is not an easy task."

Toward that end, the UW, Sound Transit and the city have recently begun a series of facilitated "partnering" sessions to identify the paths to resolution for outstanding issues.

Some siting issues will affect construction impacts. For example, the university, along with businesses in the University District and area churches, had suggested that an underground light-rail line running west of 15th Avenue Northeast, with station entrances on the west side of the street would result in stations that were closer to the business district and on private property, offering greater opportunities for economic development. In addition, west side stations would minimize impacts on campus construction, especially of the new law school building, the Burke Museum and life sciences buildings.

However, Sound Transit's staff analysis suggested that the impacts of building farther west would be severe. Sound Transit claimed that the proposed staging area would necessitate demolition of all businesses north of the University Book Store and south of Northeast 45th Street on University Way Northeast. In addition, the Malloy Apartments, located on 15th Avenue Northeast, just south of Alumni House, would have to be vacated for four yearsand possibly would need to be razed.

"It was never anyone's intention to propose an alternative that caused harm to University District businesses or to residents of the Malloy," Chandler says. "The university believes the Sound Transit analysis presented the worst-case scenario. We believe that the impacts would not have been as severe as they have suggested, and alternatives that were put forward by the community and UW to lessen construction impacts were not included in the analysis."

Reaction to the reported impacts caused many who had previously supported having stations in the community to withdraw that support in favor of siting all the stations on UW property. "UW's efforts are now focused on responding to Sound Transit's request that the four station entrances be sited on campus. We have been working with Sound Transit, and will continue to work with them, to craft the best possible alternative for station siting, taking into consideration the needs of the entire community," Chandler says.

Other matters of concern include the effects on research, both during construction and afterwardspecifically from vibration, which can disrupt sensitive research equipment. A concrete "floating slab" to absorb vibration is now being proposed in Sound Transit's estimated budget.

Traffic congestion during construction is likely to be severe. Sound Transit estimates that removing construction spoils and bringing in concrete and equipment could result in hundreds of round trips by trucks each day. The university has proposed that spoils from construction be barged out to Lake Union, rather than transported by trucks (the proposed route is north on 15th Avenue Northeast and left on Northeast 45^th Street). In addition to being cheaper than trucking, barging would minimize the impacts on the university neighborhood, one of the most congested corridors in the state, Chandler says. "The noise and dust from so many trucks concerns us, and adding the vibrations from trucks creates huge impacts for scientists who research and teach and care for patients in our community. So much truck traffic also would increase the wear and tear on the district's streets."

Sound Transit is working to secure the necessary permits in order to use barges, but concerns over fish habitat will not make that an easy permit to obtain.

Security is a major concern for the university community. Because of the depth of the stations, Sound Transit proposes elevator-only access. This introduces unique security concerns, and details of a security plan are eagerly awaited.

Sound Transit has publicly stated its goal of extending the light-rail line to Northgate during the first phase of construction, but if hoped-for funding fails to materialize, traffic in the University District is likely to become worse, as people try to find parking close to what would be the northern terminus of the rail system. This potential impact has not been addressed in Sound Transit's analysis.

"We continue to believe that light rail is going to be beneficial to the entire community," Chandler says, "and we are committed to having it done so that benefits are maximized and impacts minimized, not just for the university but for our neighbors as well. We are partners with the city and with Sound Transit in helping to build the best system possible."

For more information, contact Chandler at 221-4233 or bc@u.washington.edu. The Sound Transit Web site, which contains detailed information about the project, as well as scheduled meetings and events, is http://www.soundtransit.org/. ¶