From the May 2 – May 8, 2002 issue

News

Freeway Freakout

Eastlake Neighbors Concerned Over Proposed I-5 Expansion

by Amy Jenniges

Colleen McGrath lives about as close to I-5 as you can get--her front yard is a stone's throw from the concrete freeway retaining wall. But the roar of traffic doesn't bother her too much when she's inside her two-story 1912 home. "The house has good double-paned windows," she says. "The only time I hear it is in my front yard."

McGrath and I-5 have been neighbors since 1998, when she bought her home on Boylston Avenue in the Eastlake neighborhood. She lives there with her three dogs, works only two blocks away, and thinks the place is ideal. She's already made several improvements to the place--she updated the kitchen and bathroom, added tile floors, and rebuilt an arbor in the back yard. "When I bought it, I thought I would never move again," she says. But McGrath just found out she may not have the chance to grow old in her home. In a few years, I-5 might expand and engulf her property, forcing her to give up her home and move away.

At an April 18 community workshop, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) officials discussed moving the SR 520 onramp to the outside edge of I-5 (it currently deposits vehicles to the inside, left lanes), which would severely impact Eastlake homes that border the interstate. To reposition the ramp, the state would need to shift two lanes to the right, and either narrow I-5's lanes, which requires a federal waiver, or acquire 15 properties on Boylston to accommodate full-sized lanes. Though neighbors aren't too worried about the ramp move itself--it would clear up traffic congestion--the idea of tearing down homes caused a neighborhood outcry.

Jonathan Dubman, a community activist from Montlake, has been following developments in the state study of 520 and I-5 for years, but even he was surprised to hear about the potential plans for the 15 properties on Boylston. "All of a sudden there was this plan that a lot of people are going to have some strong opinions about," Dubman says, "and no one who owns property or lives in one of these places was even [at the meeting]."

Dubman quickly notified other community activists, like Chris Leman, an Eastlake resident. Leman says project officials made no effort to contact Eastlake homeowners about the April 18 meeting or educate them about the potential effects of moving the onramp.

"They did a terrible job of publicizing [the meeting]," says Leman, who is now rushing to get information out to his neighbors. "Nor have they made an effort to count how many people would lose their homes. Expanding I-5 in our neighborhood is just a horrible thing to do."

McGrath agrees. "My home has survived numerous earthquakes and the construction of I-5. I am only hoping that it will survive efforts by WSDOT to expand I-5."

But Les Rubstello, manager of the Trans Lake Washington Project, a division of WSDOT, downplayed the neighbors' concerns.

"I think it's very unlikely that we'd ask the community to accept that kind of an impact," Rubstello says. "All we were doing [at the meeting] was floating an idea to the community. We got a mixed reaction. Some thought it was interesting to pursue, and some were opposed. I don't think we will pursue it--anytime we take homes it creates frustration." The neighbors weren't expressly notified, Rubstello explained, because it was such an early proposal.

Moreover, Rubstello is confident that the project can get a federal waiver to narrow I-5's lanes, so the ramp can shift without displacing any homes. McGrath, however, is prepared to put up a fight for her home, if the state doesn't get the waiver. "They're going to have to bulldoze me out," she says.

amy@thestranger.com