UPDATE (August 15, 2024): WSDOT announced that they are restoring the Harvard Connection to the Roanoke Lid project. This reversal is a welcome decision and is largely thanks to grassroots advocacy from people like you!

If you feel compelled, we encourage you to send a thank-you note to the WSDOT SR 520 Project Team (SR520Bridge@wsdot.wa.gov), Rep. Nicole Macri (Nicole.Macri@leg.wa.gov), and Sen. Jamie Pedersen (Jamie.Pedersen@leg.wa.gov).

We are keeping this action alert live but holding all letters rather than sending them immediately. Feel free to fill out the form. In the unlikely event that WSDOT changes their decision in the future, we will release the letters and make sure that your voice is heard.

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The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is planning to delete a key bike and pedestrian connection from the future Roanoke Lid over SR 520 between Capitol Hill and Eastlake. Tell WSDOT that removing this community-supported connection to the SR 520 Trail is unacceptable.

The Harvard Connection, the dashed yellow path pictured in the image above, would offer a vital lower-incline and safer connection towards Capitol Hill for users of all ages and abilities via a tunnel under 10th Ave E and a gently sloping path from the Roanoke Lid up to E Miller St.

Cutting the Harvard Connection would only save about 1% ($10-15 million) of the car-centric megaproject’s $1.4 billion budget. WSDOT has justified their shortsighted decision by asserting that the path wouldn’t provide a meaningful connection. This is not accurate: it would provide a valuable alternative for southbound trips from the Roanoke Lid with gentler (6%) grades and lower traffic stress than navigating the busy intersection of 10th Ave E and E Roanoke St and the block south of it, which has a 10% slope.

With the future Roanoke Lid likely to become a community destination for events and other activities, the Harvard Connection would offer accessibility not only for bicyclists but also pedestrians using wheelchairs and other mobility devices. Removing it would leave parkgoers without an alternative to the prohibitively steep slopes on 10th Ave E, Federal Ave E, and 11th Ave E

TELL STATE AND CITY TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS AND ELECTED LEADERS: Please restore the Harvard Connection and keep your promise to people bicycling, rolling, and walking on the future Roanoke Lid over SR 520.

Thank you for your advocacy!

This Action Alert is sponsored by Central Seattle Greenways, a member of the Seattle Neighborhood Greenways Coalition and in partnership with Disability Rights Washington.