The cost of progress

By Theresa Goffredo

Herald Writer

EVERETT — When former Everett Mayor Bill Moore railed against the Burlington Northern Railroad in the 1980s, the former military commander would threaten to park a tank on top of the tracks to block the trains.

This week, current Mayor Ed Hansen said Moore was probably smiling down from the heavens as he watched city leaders open the Pacific Avenue overpass to traffic.

Now, motorists no longer have to waste thousands of hours a year waiting for the 38 Burlington Northern &Santa Fe trains that pass through town each day. Moore would be pleased, Hansen said.

And Moore’s not the only one. Commuters and public transit enthusiasts are gleefully welcoming Everett’s newest overpass over the railroad tracks, referring to it as a gateway between I-5, downtown and the soon-to-open Everett Station.

The overpass and Everett Station also mark the multimillion-dollar investments the city has made in Everett’s east side, where leaders hope future redevelopment will turn an industrial area into a neighborhood with cafes, high-density housing and an education center.

Though the overall impact of the overpass may lessen traffic headaches and rejuvenate the neighborhood, the yearlong, $15.3 million construction project came with some sacrifices. The biggest were made by business owners whose storefronts line the surface streets around the overpass and who suffered while the closure of Pacific Street for construction choked off traffic to their shops.

Carpet and flooring store End of the Roll, owned by Bill and Terri Missler, might be the poster child for those suffering businesses.

The Missler’s business rests in the shadow of the overpass, so close that Bill Missler joked drivers will be able to fling pop cans from their car windows onto the roof of his business.

Bill Missler

And because End of the Roll, at 2303 Pacific Ave., is so close to the overpass, it’s now more difficult for customers to find it.

"When UPS calls to ask where you are, you know you’re in trouble," Missler quipped.

Missler still has his sense of humor. But because of the project, he has been forced to lay off one employee and has watched a booming customer trade drop off to almost nothing.

"That first week of construction, we made $20, and that was on a return," Missler said.

He said his business has survived by referrals, and because the landlord helped by lowering the rent.

The Misslers are in no way giving up. They’ve begun to include maps in all their newspaper display ads directing customers to their showroom. They are also hoping for more prominent signage so potential customers can see their store from the overpass.

"Before, customers could see us by just driving by, and now they are going over us. If we don’t have the signage, then we’re in no better shape than when the road was closed," Missler said. "One way or another, we’ll make it through this. We’ll just tell people they’ll like what they see when they get here, and leave a happy customer."

Dennis Irving, general manager of Performance Radiator, 2121 Pacific Ave., said to survive during construction he had to switch his focus from retail to wholesale.

"Because of construction, many folks didn’t bother to come down here, and during commuter times in heavy congestion, people were more interested in going from Point A to Point B, and getting to our store wasn’t worth the trouble," Irving said.

But Irving is also optimistic about life after construction.

"We refuse to participate in any recession," Irving said.

Charles Pearson, owner of PBBA Martial Arts, also suffered economic casualties from a lack of foot traffic. Now, Pearson has found that to get more students to his school at 3109 McDougall Ave., he’s had to quadruple the amount he spends on advertising.

Pearson, whose school went from 300 to 250 students during the construction, looks forward to the city’s plan to improve the environment east of Broadway.

"With nice lights and an effort to look upscale here, that definitely can’t hurt," Pearson said.

City leaders and Sound Transit officials know of the sacrifices the businesses have made, and thanked business owners during the overpass dedication last week.

Lee Somerstein, media relations specialist for Sound Transit, said business owners were among the main motivators behind getting the overpass opened ahead of schedule.

"It was a real key to get it open as soon as possible, because we knew the business owners were taking it in the shorts while this thing was being built," Somerstein said.

The bridge was a cooperative effort between the city, which managed the construction, and Sound Transit, which used tax money to pay for the bridge.

Besides being done quickly, the project also cost less than expected. Originally budgeted for $20 million, the overpass was finished with $4.7 million left over. The reason? There was only one change order, which cost just a few hundred dollars, an amount so small that Paul Kaftanski, the city’s executive administrator, forgot what it was for.

That leftover money will be put into the Everett Station project for such additions as the passenger platform and the south parking lot for the Sounder commuter train.

City leaders listed other benefits from the Pacific Avenue overpass: