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Seattle Parks and Recreation and Freeway Park Association encourage community to participate in the future of Freeway Park

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) and Freeway Park Association invite the community to participate in the Freeway Park Improvement project. Please visit the website www.seattle.gov/parks/restorefreewaypark to review project information and take a short survey. Your feedback is important and will be incorporated into the design for the future repairing, restoring and enhancing of Freeway Park. The survey closes November 27 at 5 p.m.

SPR and the Freeway Park Association would like to thank everyone who attended the Open House in October and we encourage those who missed the event to watch it on the Seattle Channel (http://seattlechannel.org/videos?videoid=x108063). The program features the presentation of the project by Walker Macy followed by a lively moderated panel discussion with Randy Gregg, Portland Parks Foundation Executive Director; Alison Hirsch, USC School of Architecture Director of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism; Kenneth Helphand, University of Oregon Professor Emeritus in Landscape Architecture; Charles A. Birnbaum, President + CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and Iain Robertson, Associate Professor and Adjunct Faculty, University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

Designed by Lawrence Halprin and constructed in 1976, Freeway Park (700 Seneca St.) was the first park to ever be built over an interstate highway. The park is a respite from the city’s urban environment and is a result of community activism, forward-thinking, and Seattle’s civic process.

SPR has $10 million in funding from the Washington State Convention Center Expansion Project as part of the public benefit package associated with the Convention Center expansion. The funding will repair, restore and enhance Freeway Park. Of the $10 million, $750,000 is for activation within the park and $9,250,000 is dedicated to capital improvements which includes actual construction (approximately $6 million), as well as design and project management, permitting, sales tax and contingencies. The initial scope of the capital improvements is based on the Finding Freeway Park concept plan, produced by the Freeway Park Association, and identifies infrastructure upgrades, lighting, wayfinding and possibly a new restroom. The design phase is expected to be complete with all necessary permits/approvals and construction bid documents by June 2021.

For additional questions about the project please contact David Graves, Seattle Parks and Recreation, at 206-684-7048 or David.Graves@seattle.gov  or visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/current-projects/freeway-park-improvements.

In 2019, Freeway Park Association celebrated 25 years as community stewards of Freeway Park. To learn about all they do and to get involved please visit https://www.freewayparkassociation.org/.