It’s time to repair Seattle’s freeway overpasses. On Saturday, somebody jumped from a downtown overpass onto Interstate 5, a repeat of incidents in 2023, 2022 and 2021. Lime scooters have been tossed from overpasses onto vehicles under, as occurred on the Northeast forty fifth Avenue I-5 overpass in 2023 and close to the Conference Heart in 2021. In 2023, rocks and concrete have been reported thrown from overpasses 21 occasions.
This concern has been solved in Portland, and that metropolis hasn’t finished it by totally staffing its police division or fixing the psychological well being disaster. It was solved by putting in fencing on the skin of freeway overpasses, shielding folks on the overpass from the visitors under. The statewide program is a sustained effort that encloses a number of overpasses annually, and now each one in Portland is fenced off.
Boundaries on the perimeters of bridges additionally increase the width of sidewalks to the good thing about pedestrians, creating what’s referred to as “shy distance.” Individuals can house themselves from visitors on the overpass by strolling subsequent to the skin railings whereas nonetheless being shielded from the steep drop to visitors down under. The advantages are particularly noticeable when the climate is unhealthy or for weak populations like households with youngsters, or the aged.
Cyclists additionally profit from fences as they’ll use sidewalks on overpasses safely, notably when going uphill at slower speeds or when it’s windy. Cyclists journey up excessive and are prone to falling off sidewalks if there is no such thing as a fencing. There isn’t a room on most overpasses so as to add bike lanes, so fencing is usually the one means to enhance overpasses for cyclists.
Fencing is quick and low cost so as to add. Development takes just a few days as fencing merely bolts onto the skin of the overpass. No research are required as fencing creates no unfavorable impacts on bridge constructions, companies, residents, or visitors. The price of putting in fencing on an overpass in Oregon is lower than $1 million, which is about 1% to 2% of the price of a brand new pedestrian-only overpass, or between 2 and three toes of sunshine rail growth.
The Aurora Bridge was lastly fenced off in 2011, stopping any extra folks from leaping or falling into the waterway and parking heaps under. At the very least 230 folks had jumped to their deaths on the bridge since 1932. Moreover, Seattle Metropolis Council has demanded the Seattle Division of Transportation lastly ship on guarantees made within the Levy to Transfer Seattle to enhance the Northeast forty fifth Avenue overpass. After SDOT refused to reconfigure the bridge, that has come to imply fencing.
You’d suppose Washington’s Legislature or Seattle Metropolis Council could be keen to construct on these successes and replica Oregon’s program. Sadly, our political economic system favors research of huge, new concepts over fixing what now we have. Everybody pays consideration to a multibillion-dollar undertaking like high-speed rail or lidding the freeway. A budget, simple repair of including fencing is being ignored.
Hopefully, the renewal of the Levy to Transfer Seattle or cash from the Local weather Dedication Act could be directed to extra fencing on Seattle overpasses. Not solely will fencing assist make overpasses protected and heal the rift triggered when I-5 was constructed, however fixing what now we have is one of the best ways to unravel local weather change. The richest 10% on Earth trigger greater than 30 occasions the greenhouse-gas emissions of the poorest 50%. It’s not as a result of the poor dwell in a utopian future full of carbon-intensive megaprojects. It’s as a result of they repair what they’ve and get round on their very own two toes.
