HISTORY LESSON: Ever heard of the R. H. Thomson Expressway?.... The bridges to nowhere in the Montlake/Arboretum neighborhoods, are starting to come down, the cause of this weekends 520 closure. Weve all seen them and probably wondered whatever happened to these unfinished ramps and where they were going. Back in the 60s, while I-5 was still under construction, planners already knew I-5 wouldnt be able to hold the capacity of Seattle traffic. The R.H. Thomson Expressway was the answer. Planned to take over the Empire Way corridor (now known as M.L.King Jr Way) running from current I-5/Boeing Access Rd, along MLK, through South Seattle, Central District, Madison Park, the Arboretum, with an interchange at 520, through a tunnel under Union Bay, across what is now U Village and a SR 522 that wouldve run from U Village up the current 25th Ave NE corridor and meet the current SR 522 at Lake City Way(SR 522)/Revanna Ave NE. Plans were for a six lane freeway to carry 70,000 vehicles a day by 1985. While this project never got passed the partial building of the ramps at 520 for good reasons, Im sure this project wouldve been good in present day, as our traffic issues may have been greatly reduced. But back in the 70s a large group of neighbors in South Seattle and the Central District stood up and blocked the project from starting. Saving thousands of houses though the Central District as the expressway wouldve taken up the entire block running north/south between MLK Jr Way and 27th Ave E. Neighbors also wanted to save the Washington Park Arboretum. Neighbors filled the streets protesting, filled city council meetings and Montlake residents filed lawsuits. Eventually in 1972, lawmakers placed the project on a special election, and it was voted down and the project killed. And thats how we ended up with the bridges to nowhere. Please check out the pictures below, most are explained in the caption of each picture. The last photo, shows the vertical supports of one of the ramps, wrapped in a shinny chrome, will stay as a reminder of what once stood here.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 00:14:10 +0000
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