This week the Mayor and City Council sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation urging that the city be given a FASTLANE grant for the Lander Street Overpass. This should be music to the ears of Sonics fans.
This project has been on the books in Seattle for several years but has never been funded — and that has been a sore spot with the Port of Seattle since it is a major freight thoroughfare that is blocked at a train crossing for several minutes every hour.
As I pointed out last week, the Lander Street crossing is a significant contributor to traffic jams around sporting events at CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field, and the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed SODO Arena also identified it as a choke point for arena traffic. Getting an overpass built there would clear traffic at events much more quickly, and also would provide significant benefits for the Port of Seattle and other local freight traffic around the clock even when there are no events. I am guessing that the Port would stop fighting the SODO Arena proposal if the Lander Street overpass became a reality.