Seattle U-District group gets $1.5 million for further study of proposed I-5 covering

The movement to lid I-5 has been gaining steam in Seattle.

This week, the federal government awarded $1.5 million to a University District group that wants to cover the freeway between NE 45th and 50th streets.

Don Blakeney is with the U-District Partnership, which was awarded the money. He said lidding I-5 would help address some of his neighborhood’s challenges.

“We’re feeling the pressure," he said. "You know, once they up-zoned the neighborhood, we really saw a quick rise in land value, which really makes it hard to buy land for affordable housing. So, we're looking for ways to solve for that.”

A freeway lid would create new land.

University of Washington students have already produced drawings showing what a U-District freeway lid could look like.

Most of their designs include lots of open space, including meadows, paths, and low buildings like community centers. Taller apartment buildings are generally shown clustered on the edges, or over reconfigured offramps, where there’s firm soil below.

The U-District grant comes on the heels of another $2 million federal grant awarded last year to a group that would lid I-5 through Seattle’s downtown core.

That lid could run from Thomas Street in the South Lake Union area to Main Street in the Chinatown International District.

The CID was once divided by I-5, so the blessing of residents there will be politically important if the downtown Seattle lid is to stretch that far.

At a gathering of Lid I-5 enthusiasts this week, Ben Franz told the crowd to listen closely to affected communities and embed the project in their needs early on.

"You can't do something to a community," he said. "You can only do something with them."

Also this week, Vancouver, Washington, was awarded $30 million to lid I-5 through its downtown, in order to better link the downtown core to the historic Fort Vancouver.