EDMONDS – A new, improved plan for Edmonds Crossing will be unveiled at an upcoming open house.
Those who attend the meeting scheduled for 5:30 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 22 at City Hall, 121 Fifth Ave. N., will have the opportunity to learn about the changes that have been made in the multimodal ferry-train-bus terminal plan proposed for the Unocal property near Point Edwards.
Officials from the city of Edmonds, the state Department of Transportation (DOT), the state ferry system and Federal Highway Administration – with input from a lengthy list of other interested agencies – have spent almost five years tweaking the plan since the release of the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) in early 1998. More than 200 comments on the DEIS were received from residents, government agencies and Native American tribes.
“I feel like we’ve made a lot of headway,” said Marsha Tolan, EIS coordinator for the DOT.
The project at its full capacity – estimated to cost $160 million – would include a three-slip ferry dock; an eight-lane holding area; a terminal building; a railroad platform; a bus stop and bus loading area; a parking garage; a short-term parking area; a covered pedestrian walkway, and improvements to Willow Creek to aid fish passage.
Building the facility enough to be operational would cost about $95 million, leaving out the terminal building the the third ferry slip, said Stephen Clifton, Edmonds community services director. So far, the project has received about $6 million in funding, Clifton said, but it is proposed for inclusion in a regional transportation plan that will likely be sent to voters this fall.
The biggest change from the original plan is a relocation of the ferry dock. Instead of replacing the former Unocal pier, which bisects Marina Beach Park, it would follow the boundary between the northern edge of the park and the Port of Edmonds, much of which is currently defined by a large jetty. The ferry dock would jut due west into Puget Sound at the end of the jetty.
A newsletter on the project lists eight results of the changes, five of them environmental advantages, including:
• The new ferry dock alignment would take it out of fisheries management Area 10 and put it into Area 9, which has been closed to fishing for several years and is likely to stay closed, according to the newsletter.
“Tribal fishers and state and federal resource agencies were concerned that the ferry traffic to the proposed Point Edwards pier might dispalce some salmon fishing activity, which in turn might result in some economic loss,” the newsletter states.
• The realigned ferry dock would cover less water, making for less shading and in turn a better habitat for salmon. Too much shade could reduce sunlight for eelgrass and microalgae and divert salmon into deeper water where more predators are located, according to the newsletter.
• Running the dock along the northern edge of the park and removing the Unocal pier will free up more room within the park and enhance views of the Sound and Olympic Mountains.
• Moving the dock north will allow Willow Creek, which will be opened to daylight except where it passes under the railroad tracks or a roadway, to be diverted to the south and shortened, enhancing fish passage.
• A dedicated busway from the center along the eastern edge of the railroad tracks to Dayton Street has been discarded to eliminate impacts to the Edmonds Marsh. Shuttle buses to downtown Edmonds will use Admiral Way and regional commuter buses will use the main entrance at Highway 104.
The shorter ferry dock and holding lanes will still provide storage for 835 vehicles, approximately four boat loads, and will provide grade separation between ferry traffic and trains. No operations at the Port of Edmonds Marina would be affected. A new signal at the Highway 104 entrance would require all traffic to turn left or right into or out of the transit center; no traffic would be able to cross into or out of the neighborhoods east of the highway.
The final EIS could be completed this summer if the Signatory Agency Committee, a collection of state and federal agencies that review major capital projects, gives the go-ahead in March to proceed, Clifton said.
If funding is approved next fall as part of the regional transportation package, construction could begin as soon as 2006 and be completed as soon as 2009, Clifton said. If the package is not approved, then funding is up in the air and so is the timetable, he said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
