Statement from the Co-chairs of The Northwest Seaport Alliance, Port of Seattle Commission President Peter Steinbrueck and Port of Tacoma Commission President John McCarthy, regarding Mayor Durkan’s announcement on the West Seattle Bridge.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance appreciates Mayor Durkan’s leadership in creating the WSB Community Task Force, and her thoughtful and timely decision to move forward with repairing the West Seattle High Bridge. We are especially grateful for her strong acknowledgement of the importance of considering The Northwest Seaport Alliance’s marine cargo business — especially with respect to Terminal 5 — as well as other maritime businesses in the context of this decision. We also look forward to engaging with our City partners around the long-term “type, size and location” study that is underway. Connected to that work, we expect that the City will minimize any risk of a future unplanned closure and will be coordinating closely with Sound Transit as they move ahead with their own planned Duwamish crossing. 

We also commend the tireless work of the SDOT team and recognize how much they have invested to bring the project to this point. Like so many others, the safe and rapid restoration of vehicle capacity and  traffic mobility to the high bridge is the highest priority for us — the congestion on both the lower swing bridge and West Marginal Way is of great concern as we make final preparations to turn over Terminal 5 to our tenant next year. Maintaining economic and industrial diversity and living wage jobs base will be key to building an equitable recovery. As this project proceeds, we appreciate that the City will continue to prioritize freight access to Terminal 5 via the lower swing bridge to support successful operations, while also mitigating traffic impacts through the West Marginal Way freight corridor.

Photo courtesy of Seattle Department of Transportation.