Population, employment and transit use are growing on the Eastside, and this growth will continue through the next 20 years. The project will respond to the needs of the rapidly growing Eastside by completing the HOV system, improving transit time and reliability, enhancing public safety, and other environmental and community benefits.
Salmon swimming in Issaquah Creek.
There are six milestones in this review process:
1. Conduct public and agency scoping. During the public and agency scoping phase, we ask for comments from the public, tribal nations, and federal, state and local agencies on the purpose and need for the project and the environmental topics that we will evaluate during development of the project’s environmental assessment (EA).
2. Collect data and evaluate effects. The next step is to collect data on the existing conditions of the project area. This includes conducting social, cultural, environmental, and engineering studies related to the proposed project.
3. Issue environmental assessment. Following data collection, we will prepare and publish an EA that includes the results of our analysis and identifies ways we can mitigate the environmental effects of the project.
4. Public hearing and 30-day comment period. We will hold a public hearing when we publish the EA to gather comments on the results of our evaluation and proposed mitigation measures.
5. Issue Finding of No Significant Impact or Notice of Intent. If we determine that the project will have no significant impacts, we will prepare a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) document, which will conclude the environmental process. The FONSI will explain the reason for the project decision and will include the mitigation measures that have been incorporated into the project. It will also reflect all applicable comments and responses.
6. The project will be implemented once the environmental process is complete.
The EA will incorporate and build upon other planning efforts and environmental studies related to the SR 520 corridor. WSDOT is partnering with the Federal Highway Administration and Sound Transit to develop the EA for the project.
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