A Vision to Replace the West Seattle Bridge

PAST + PRESENT

While Duwamish Crossings is a speculative project, we first want to acknowledge that we are on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish people past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.*

From time immemorial, the Duwamish Valley was home to several villages of the Duwamish Tribe. The river was a meandering provider of fish and shellfish, surrounded by marshlands and tide flats. Longhouses lined the river. After the European settlers arrived at Elliott Bay in the 1850s, the Duwamish people, along with neighboring tribes, signed the Treaty on Elliott Bay, exchanging their land for hunting and fishing rights and reservations.**

In 1895, a plan was outlined to straighten the Duwamish River to increase industrial development in the valley and control floods. The valley quickly became an industrial hub and consequently was declared a Superfund site by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2001.

Now in 2020, we are in the midst of the COVID pandemic and the West Seattle Bridge is closed. What’s next for the Duwamish River?

*For more information about land acknowledgement, please visit here
**The treaty has yet to be honored.

our vision: bring nature back to the river

The closure of the West Seattle Bridge amplified the lack of connections we have across the river and with the river. It transferred more noise and air pollution to the South Park and Georgetown communities that were already battling inequities and challenges of being encompassed by industrial zones. Its timely closure in the midst of a global pandemic questions our dependency on cars and contributes to our growing urgency to combat climate change.

Our proposal is twofold -

1. Return a part of the river back to its original shape and restore its surrounding areas back to park and nature reserves

2. Provide three multi-modal crossings that better connect travelers to the river or their destinations by car, bike, and foot.

   • West Seattle Connector (Urban Air Filter): A new Columbian Way/West Seattle Bridge crossing that reconnects East Duwamish and West Duwamish Greenbelts.

   • Oxbow Crossing: A new crossing connecting the two sides of the river from East Marginal Way on the east to near the regionally-significant historical sites Duwamish Longhouse and Herring’s House Park on the west. 

   • Georgetown Crossing: A new crossing at the 1st Avenue South over to Highland Park Way.

ABOUT TIME

Get to know the past, present and future of the Duwamish River through Urban Hikes that link together parks, bridges, and points of historical and future interest.  Imagine how the industrialized and dredged course of the River can be re-imagined as an alternative future with ecological crossings and newly restored marshlands and waterfront.  Visualize the river returned to it's natural course with multi-modal pathways for people and nature.