Madison Park
The Madison Park Community Council (MPCC) was resuscitated in 1973-1974 from its 20-year hiatus because of the many local folks being previously involved in the early ‘70s, with efforts to terminate the R.H. Thompson freeway, which would have taken about a quarter of the arboretum and almost destroyed the rest. This effort had the effect of awakening us to our government’s transportation planning ideas. Over the last four decades, MPCC has been very successful in controlling and even improving transportation within our boundaries, but far less successful on our borders.
As this new year gets going, it is worthwhile to review what has happened on our periphery, what is happening now and what we expect to happen.
There is a lot of lip service paid in government circles to expanding transportation choices, but we, in Madison Park, have had our options steadily but surely eroded despite MPCC’s best efforts to stem the tide.
To the west, we helped terminate the R.H. Thompson freeway but were rewarded by being denied access via the already-built ramp to westbound state Route 520 — this ramp is being demolished after 50 years of just sitting there unused.
To the northwest, the current final plans — comments may be sent to SR520Westside@wsdot.wa.gov through the deadline of Feb. 13 — leave us with no access eastbound to Bellevue without heading into the Montlake mess and trying to cross Montlake Boulevard itself. The intersection there is already over capacity, so adding our traffic from the existing, but to be demolished, on- and off-ramps cannot possibly work.
To the north, next to McGilvra Street, we used to have a marina, but our officials forced it out of business; it was a small but nevertheless existing transportation option to take a boat over to the University of Washington.
To the northeast, we had the ferry to Kirkland from the foot of Madison Street — the ferry runs were terminated when the SR 520 bridge was built.
Heading directly east, one can still swim, but crossing the ropes in summer will incur the wrath of the lifeguards.
To the southeast, concurrent with the expansion of the Interstate 90 floating bridge, the freeway on- and off-ramps in Leschi were closed; now the residents to the south of us drive through our neighborhood to access SR 520 instead of I-90.
Due south, construction is about to begin on throttling down the roadway capacity of 23rd Avenue East from four lanes to two.
To the southwest, most of us are already aware that the capacity of Broadway has been reduced to accommodate a new tramway and bike lanes, making the approach to the front of Swedish Medical Center very difficult, yet the city hasn’t been able to even get the trams, and almost no bicycles use Broadway along that stretch because it is pretty hilly, and it is much flatter to ride along 12th Avenue.
The sole bright-ish spot is the upcoming plan to run bus rapid transit (BRT) from the Colman Dock down Madison Street to 28th Avenue and thence down Martin Luther King Jr. Way — the current Route 28 — so if you want to take the bus and live on the west edge of our “island,” you may be in luck!
Finally, directly west, and with the R.H. Thompson freeway fight well behind us, the MPCC has campaigned for years to establish a safe north-south bicycle trail through the arboretum. On Jan. 28, Seattle Parks and Recreation unveiled its final plan for a multi-use trail. You will be amazed to learn that the trail passes behind the little stone guardhouse at the south end of the arboretum, and, as a consequence, has at least a 5-percent grade. Cyclists, of course, will continue to take the easier but definitely hazardous option of riding with the cars on the main road.
This steady foreclosure of our transportation choices means that, in the future, we all may be shopping more locally than we would perhaps prefer.
In other news, the MPCC board, at its regular monthly meeting on Jan. 5, voted to proceed with the first steps in cleaning up the street end of East Prospect, immediately north of the Seattle Tennis Club, and when we get the immediate neighbors’ acquiescence, we will ask for volunteers to help with the work.
A chance meeting with Deborah Brown, arborist and tree specialist with Seattle Parks, has prompted Parks to perform a risk assessment on the three trees immediately south of and adjacent to the bathhouse; they are looking less than healthy at this point.
With respect to the general tree canopy, the Seattle Department of Transportation has commenced a study of how and where trees are blocking access along sidewalks. MPCC has been asked for input into the subject in a general sense, but the study itself is focused on the Madrona, Rainier Beach and Lake City neighborhoods at this time.
We will continue our quest to find the funds to finalize the tree replanting, as necessary in the sidewalks in our business district.
— Maurice Cooper, president