Ellington

At the September Board of Regents meeting, the regents and the UW administration debated the proposed design of a Montlake Boulevard pedestrian overpass, which would connect the UW campus with the Sound Transit station under construction just south of Husky Stadium.

The discussion comes almost two years after the UW Board of Regents, comprised of different members at the time, approved one design for a pedestrian bridge as the link between campus and the planned light-rail station.

During an update of the project presented at the meeting, UW administration officials and Regent Sally Jewell were in favor of following through with the construction of the bridge, while other regents raised concerns with the design.

Many of the regents were opposed to the planned size of the structure, which would not only require a large bridge to be constructed, but also a two-story Sound Transit station. Should a tunnel or crosswalk be built, only a single-story station would be needed.

Former governor, senator and UW regent, Dan Evans lobbied against the overpass and two-story station, calling it a “Chinese wall,” which he believes will disrupt the aesthetics of the new Husky Stadium. Evans also heads the UW’s Husky Stadium Advisory Committee, and he said the UW shouldn’t sacrifice the appearance for what he believes will be “a few score bicyclists,” who will use the overpass.

Regent Stanley Barer indicated that the pedestrian overpass was “a mistake.”

“We have indicated an ability to live with this, but I think we made a mistake,” Barer said. “… and if we really think it’s wrong, we shouldn’t do it.”

The UW, City of Seattle, Sound Transit, Seattle Department of Transportation and Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) are all collaborating on this project.

WSDOT, the primary financier of the overpass, supports the structure because it connects bicycle traffic from SR-520 to the Burke-Gilman Trail and the UW campus, said UW Director of State Relations Margaret Shepherd. The state organization objects to a tunnel because it would be substantially more expensive than an overpass, and bikers and pedestrians would have to take an escalator or elevator down to the tunnel rather than walking directly to and from the station as with the overpass, Shepherd added.

Although they recognized the aesthetic drawback to the bridge, administration officials and Regent Jewell indicated that the current plan should be carried out.

Jewell said that too much time and money has already been invested into the overpass plan.

“I would be reluctant as an individual regent at … sort of what feels like the eleventh hour [to] throw a monkey wrench into the work and say ‘back to the drawing board and redesign your structure’ that they have millions of dollars invested into,” she said.

Outgoing President Mark Emmert said that the overpass debate is not new, but also that the UW had previously decided that the overpass would be the best option.

“Please know that we have had a lot of these conversations,” Emmert said. “We have with our colleagues in Sound Transit … negotiated a hell of a deal … and we represented the university very aggressively in those conversations, and I think it’s a pretty fair partnership that we wouldn’t want to mess up.”

The five parties are currently finalizing plans for the overpass and intend on completing a funding agreement by the end of this year. If all goes as planned according to the project’s timeline, the regents will agree to the overpass plans in January 2011, though as they continue refining the model, final approval might be delayed.

Reach reporter William Dow at news@dailyuw.com.

*Correction: The graphic illustration that accompanied the print version of this article (page 3) is incorrect. The illustration does not depict the proposed pedestrian bridge; it depicts the proposed SR 520 crossing of Montlake that was considered and rejected by the Washington State Department of Transportation in 2006.