July 9, 2020

Seattle plans upgrades for Freeway Park, but wants help staying within its $10M budget

The city of Seattle plans to start construction in mid-2022 on improvements to the iconic Freeway Park above Interstate 5 between Sixth and Ninth avenues, at 700 Seneca St.

It is holding an online open house through Aug. 5 where people can rate proposed improvements based on input from community groups, the public and city staff. The website is at http://www.freewaypark.infocommunity.org.

Photo by Aaron Leitz [enlarge]

Canyon Fountain in Freeway Park. The city wants to make improvements such as new lighting and signage, and making restrooms available.

Seattle Parks and Recreation received $10 million in funding for the project as part of the public benefit package associated with the Washington State Convention Center expansion. Of that, $750,000 is for activation within the park to be managed by the Freeway Park Association, and $9.25 million is for capital improvements (including approximately $6 million for construction).

The 5.2-acre park opened in 1976. Designed by Lawrence Halprin and Angela Danadjieva, with assistance from Peterson Landscape Architects, it was the first park built over an interstate highway, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The city said the park needs significant infrastructure updates and other improvements to support daily use, maintenance and public programming.

Here are its priorities:

• New lighting, directional or informational signage and drainage and irrigation repairs throughout the park and planting and accessibility improvements in some areas.

• Improvements at four park entrances: Pigott Corridor (Ninth Avenue), Eighth Avenue, Hubbell Place and Seneca Street, and Sixth Avenue and Seneca Street.

• Visually open and accessible entrances, expanded lawns and improvements that support play at the Upper Lawns area.

• Restrooms.

• Play-safe fountains.

• Improvements to support increased programming and services in Seneca Plaza.

There's a catch: The city doesn't have the money to do it all, said Katie Bang, a senior capital projects coordinator at Seattle Parks and Recreation. So it is asking for the public input. “We really want to understand what the public sees as the most important,” she said.

Bang said the city is allowed to spend up to $1 million of the benefit package money on improvements to areas that are considered part of but are not technically Freeway Park, such as Pigott Corridor across from Horizon House, and part of Seneca Plaza. Improvements needed at those private properties include irrigation, accessibility and lighting, she said.

Bang said the city may or may not use the money for that purpose, depending on its priorities. It is also hoping to get other funding, including grants, for the work and improvements in the park.

Since the park opened, office buildings and the convention center have sprouted around it and trees have become overgrown in it, lessening the park's connection to I-5 and the rest of the city, said Bang, noting, “It's just denser now.''

The overgrowth, inadequate lighting and limited navigational and entrance and exit signs have made some people shy away from the park, she said. The improvements are intended to entice them back in and make them want to stay.

“There is this amazing piece of open space in the middle of the city and we want to have people use that,” she said.

Walker Macy is the landscape architect and lead design consultant on the project.

The design phase is expected to be complete with all necessary permits, approvals and construction bid documents by June 2021.

The initial scope of the improvements is based on the Finding Freeway Park concept plan, produced by the Freeway Park Association. The design team analyzed the park's condition and original design and developed ideas to improve the park, and the city presented initial recommendations at open houses in 2019.

The city said the project will meet the Secretary of Interior's Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes and will be reviewed by the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation, as well as the Seattle Design Commission.