Alternatives
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) documents the potential impacts and benefits, and ways to avoid or minimize impacts for construction and long-term management of the project alternatives.
After reviewing public comments on the Draft EIS, Enterprise Services made two substantive changes to the long-term management alternatives.
- Before demolition of the 5th Avenue Dam under the Estuary and Hybrid Alternatives, a new 5th Avenue Bridge would be constructed to the south and connected to the roadway on either side of the waterbody. This would avoid long-term closure of the corridor, which was a key concern of project stakeholders.
- The Hybrid Alternative was modified to include a groundwater-fed freshwater reflecting pool rather than a saltwater reflecting pool. With adaptive management, this would improve water quality over a saltwater reflecting pool.
A list of other substantive edits and clarifications made to the Final EIS and supporting discipline reports is provided in the Final EIS Supporting Materials.
EIS Supporting Chapter 2.0 describes how the alternatives were developed, summarizes each alternative in detail, and provides overviews of what would be required to construct each alternative. The project alternatives are summarized below.
The Final EIS identifies the Estuary Alternative as the Preferred Alternative. As documented in the Final EIS, estuary restoration best achieves project goals compared to the other alternatives considered, has the broadest stakeholder support, and provides other benefits to the natural and built environment.
Information on how the preferred alternative was identified is provided on the EIS Process page.
Visual Simulations
In support of the visual resources analysis for the EIS, the project team prepared visual simulations from different locations in the Project Area. Locations for these simulations were selected in areas where the alternatives would be expected to have the highest potential for people to observe changes in visual character because of the project (i.e., public places—parks, public rights-of-way, or the Capitol Campus). These locations were selected because they represent the following:
- Views experienced by a large number of visitors.
- Locations where the changes caused by the project alternatives would be highly visible.
- Locations that will also help the viewer understand the typical changes that would occur elsewhere in the Project Area as a result of the project alternatives.
The locations were also reviewed by the Community Sounding Board and then modified based on that feedback.
