Reshaping Pigeon Point

The preferred route of the West Seattle Link Extension as presented to the Seattle Design Commission, by Sound Transit.

On July 18, the Seattle Design Commission met with Sound Transit to review its proposed design (pdf) for the West Seattle Link Extensions high bridge over the Duwamish and its landing at Pigeon Point. Although the cable-stayed bridge might end up being the most visually impressive component of the project, Sound Transit also expects to radically reshape Pigeon Point during construction of the light rail extension.

Sound Transit expects Link's landing at Pigeon Point to require digging deep into the steep hill side and dense canopy, potentially impacting a wetland and federally-protected heron colonies. Sound Transit identified these potential environmental impacts in the West Seattle-Ballard Link Extension Draft EIS, published in 2022. Since then, critics of the project have latched on these issues as reasons to reconsider the light rail extension altogether.

A map of habitats in the project area. The red dots are locations of known heron nests, with the permanent 300-ft buffer outlined in red. Property owned by Seattle Parks and Recreation is outlined in blue dash. Existing paved trains are shown in gray.

In the meantime, Sound Transit has been meeting with a variety of advocacy groups, government agencies, and community organizations to determine how best to manage these potential issues while achieving the goals of the voter-approved project. Sound Transit reports they met or had briefings with the following groups as part of their engagement regarding Pigeon Point:

• The Pigeon Point Neighborhood Association, Duwamish Alive Coalition and Delridge Neighborhood Development Association
• West Seattle Bike Connections
• Tribes, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS)
• Community organizations including Birds Connects Seattle, Heron Habitat Helpers, and the Urban Raptor Center
• Property owners and tenants in one-on-one meetings

As the preferred alignment has gone through preliminary engineering, Sound Transit has developed plans for restoration of construction zones after heavy civil construction is finished. Where the route lands on the east side of Pigeon Point, the agency expects to plant greenery and open the land to the public as green open green space, referencing similar under-bridge areas beneath the Aurora Bridge in Fremont and open spaces beneath Skytrain guideway in Richmond, BC.

Conceptual restoration plans beneath the western landing of Duwamish Crossing. The Heron colonies are indicated as grey circles on the plan in the upper left corner.

Construction is also expected to have impacts to the bicycle network at the west end of the Spokane Street drawbridge, which Sound Transit will mitigate by creating new bike connections. The agency is planning to make these new pathways permanent after construction is finished, resulting in small but significant additions to the network there.

Sound Transit's concepts for bike connections in Pigeon Point area during and after construction.

The preferred alignment for the Link extension includes a retained cut" along the face of Pigeon Point, which Sound Transit expects will require significant excavation and regrading of the hillside to protect the route from unstable glacial soils. The agency has the obvious responsibility of restoring greenery to the hillside, but Sound Transit saw an opportunity make intentional improvements to the Point. Considering the current steep slopes and dense canopy as a baseline, the agency looked a few concepts for how to rebuild Pigeon Point after Link has landed.

GALLERY: Sound Transit's Pigeon Point Restoration Concepts

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Concepts under consideration included horizontal terraces and a single large wall, but these were discarded in favor a more active concept inspired by the miles of trails within the Duwamish Greenbelt. In developing the Trail Hillside" concept, Sound Transit sought to create new connections between the hilltop of Pigeon Point and the pathways at the base of the hill.

GALLERY: SOUND TRANSIT's TrAIL HILLSIDE CONCEPT

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East Cross-SectionCentral Cross-SectionWest Cross-Section

In the cross-sections, the existing topography is shown as a grey dashed line with the most significant regrading apparent in the central B" section and the western C" section. Sound Transit staff noted that the multi-layered retaining walls are necessary due to the instability of the soils around Pigeon Point, and so they sought to create overlapping terraces which would engender a dynamic environment balancing access for people as well as animals, without feeling too artificial.

Next Steps and Alternatives

Sound Transit is studying a handful of alternative routes for the West Seattle Link Extension, but all except one (involving crossing the Duwamish on the north side of the West Seattle Bridge) include carving a retained cut into Pigeon Point. With preliminary engineering and design well under way for the Preferred Alignment, it is likely something very similar to the conceptual design proposed here will end up being the future of Pigeon Point.

The Final EIS is expected to be completed later this year, with the Sound Transit Board expected to select the final route soon afterwards. Design work will continue through 2026, and construction is slated to begin in 2027. If all goes according to plan, service between Alaska Junction and SODO would begin in 2032.