Bumpy Road Ahead For Any I-605 Plan -- Idea For Eastside Loop That Would Link To Everett Gets Another Look

EASTSIDE

The concept of a major new north-south freeway on the Eastside has been resurrected by the Legislature, but some experts doubt the so-called Interstate 605 will ever be built.

The Legislature has appropriated $500,000 to study whether state Highway 18 should be extended north to Everett, creating a new bypass around the Seattle metropolitan area.

"Sooner or later, we're going to need another corridor," said state Sen. Jim Horn, R-Mercer Island.

Horn said he doesn't have a specific route in mind, but the project would be cheaper if it partly followed existing roads such as state Highway 202 toward Redmond or state Highway 203 toward Monroe.

Proposals for a new Eastside freeway have been floated unsuccessfully since the 1960s. But I-605 - along with a new freeway through Seattle and a third Lake Washington bridge - was torpedoed by local opposition and transportation policies that emphasized present highways and mass transit.

"It raises its ugly head and dies and comes back in several years," said Peter Hurley of Alt-Trans, a Seattle-based group that advocates transit and nonmotorized transportation. "It seems only good for several hundred thousand dollars in consultant studies."

Horn said the pendulum may be swinging back to freeways as residents and businesses become increasingly frustrated with traffic.

A litmus test will be the statewide vote Nov. 3 on whether the state should draw on reserves and borrow money for $2.4 billion worth of transportation projects.

Money to build I-605 would come in a later round of funding, Horn said.

In the meantime, consultants will be hired to study whether a new freeway in the area is justified. The study will be merged with others under way on how to upgrade Interstate 405 and state Highway 520.

Connie Niva, a former Everett city councilwoman now on the state Transportation Commission, said I-605 "deserves having a look" because I-405 is no longer an effective bypass around Seattle.

Congestion has become critical, she said, but "it remains to be seen how much the public wants to foot the bill."

It's also unclear whether a new freeway could be built through East King County, where local governments are attempting to preserve farms and open space, and activist residents battle everything from cellular antenna towers to speed limits on county roads.

"It'll start a hornet's nest, I'm sure," said Metropolitan King County Council Chairwoman Louise Miller, R-Woodinville.

Miller said she wouldn't support I-605 because potential routes are being used for other purposes. She also questioned whether it would hurt efforts to get more people to ride buses and trains.

Others said I-605 would actually create more congestion by encouraging growth and development in the isolated eastern parts of the county.

"605 is an attempt to allow Weyerhaeuser to put urban development on their tree farms adjacent to the Snoqualmie Valley, that's what this is all about," said King County Councilman Brian Derdowski, whose political career began when he defeated then-County Councilman Bill Reams, who supported a north-south arterial east of Lake Sammamish.

Derdowski, an Issaquah Republican, said I-605 would allow Weyerhaeuser to put in large housing developments in the Cascade foothills. But Hannah Coan, a spokeswoman for the company's real-estate subsidiary, said it's not pushing for the freeway.

"No, Weyerhaeuser's not actively working on the issue at this time," she said.

Even if the money and political will to build I-605 are found, land uses in the area would make it nearly impossible to weave existing roads into a new freeway, said Don Ding, a King County road planner.

"My guess right now is it's not going to work," Ding said.