SR 520 is a busy regional corridor that connects key Eastside communities, including Bellevue, Kirkland and Redmond.
The Medina to SR 202: Eastside Transit and HOV Project will respond to the needs of the growing Eastside by enhancing transit and HOV travel time and reliability, improving safety, and supporting current and planned growth east of Lake Washington.
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 prepared and published 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. In Dec. 2009, we held a public hearing to gather comments on the results of our evaluation and proposed mitigation measures.
5. Issue Finding of No Significant Impact or Notice of Intent. In spring 2010, we published the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) document, which concluded the environmental process. The FONSI explains the reasons for the project decision and includes the mitigation measures that have been incorporated into the project.
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 partnered with the Federal Highway Administration and Sound Transit to develop the EA for the project.
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