Adler v. Andrew Lewis Secretary of Transportation

The plaintiffs, numerous environmental organizations1 and one private citizen,2 appeal from the district court's judgment dissolving the injunction prohibiting acquisition of right-of-way for the proposed highway expansion by State and Federal defendants.3 This appeal involves yet another phase in the continuing saga concerning a corridor for Interstate Highway 90 (I-90) in the state of Washington between the cities of Seattle and Bellevue. The proposed facility consists of an eight-lane, limited access highway consisting of two three-lane roadways for the use of private motor vehicles and a two-lane center roadway devoted to the use of transit car pools and limited general traffic from Mercer Island. The project is 6.9 miles in length located between I-5 in Seattle and I-405 near Bellevue, and generally follows the alignment of the existing highway facility in the corridor. The new facility will incorporate a new tunnel immediately adjacent to the existing tunnel through Mt. Baker Ridge, require the construction of a new floating bridge adjacent to the existing floating bridge across Lake Washington, and will contain two extensive ""lidded"" sections in Seattle and Mercer Island. Access to and from the facility is provided by several interchanges throughout its length: to Interstate 5, the western terminus of the project, by a major interchange with the center lane ramp terminating at the existing South Dearborn Street, and at another major interchange at the project's eastern terminus, an already completed portion of I-90, tying the facility into Interstate 405, the major north-south highway facility east of Lake Washington.