Lander St Bridge

Updated February 8, 2023

 This project is complete!

The Lander St Bridge opened on October 7, 2020!

After nearly 2 years of construction, and many years of planning, the Lander St Bridge is a reality. The project is a milestone for the Levy to Move Seattle and is a critical safety connection for people walking, biking, and driving in SODO. To commemorate the bridge opening, we collaborated with our project partners to create a celebratory bridge opening video that documents the bridge's history and benefits. 

The Project Cost and Funding section below have been updated to reflect final project cost (February 8, 2023).

If you have questions or concerns about the Lander St Bridge, please contact us at 206-684-ROAD (7623) or 684-Road@seattle.gov.

Arial view of recently completed Lander St Bridge.

The Lander St Bridge enhances mobility and safety for people walking, biking, and driving.


For work completed, check out our construction email update archive and our major milestone project email archive. 

View the time-lapse below to see how far we've come!

Project Overview

Map of S Lander St Bridge

South Lander St is an essential east-west connection in Seattle's SODO neighborhood. Every day, the street serves over 13,000 vehicles, 1,400 pedestrians, 100 bicyclists, and needs to be closed over 100 times per day for train crossings. Prior to the Lander St Bridge, this active train crossing caused frequent traffic delays and posed a potential safety risk, especially for people walking and biking. As the region continues its rapid growth and rail operations in the area expand in the coming years, the S Lander St "bottleneck" put the Pacific Northwest's economic vitality at risk.

To improve local traffic circulation, rail operations, and safety, SDOT built the Lander St Bridge over the railroad tracks on S Lander St between 1st Ave S and 4th Ave S. This crossing provides a roadway unimpeded by rail operations, improve safety, and relieve congestion in Seattle's SODO neighborhood.

Project Cost and Funding

The final cost of this project was $65 million. This was revised from an initial estimate of $140 million due to several cost savings, including redesigning a narrower bridge which reduced the scale of construction and land purchasing costs. This project was funded with contributions from the Levy to Move Seattle, City of Seattle and other project partners, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, the State of Washington, Port of Seattle, and BNSF Railway.

Schedule

We've been working on the Lander St Bridge project since 2016 and after 2 years of construction we're excited to see the bridge open. 

Graphic of timeline, which is written out below
Click to enlarge

2016 - 2017

  • Project design
  • Public outreach, feedback incorporated into design
  • Project bid and awarded
  • Pre-construction outreach

2018

  • Continue pre-construction outreach
  • Utility relocation
  • Temporary signal modifications and traffic revisions
  • Lander road closure through 2020
  • Water main work
  • Bridge work begins

2019

  • Bridge work continues
  • Build approaches to 1st Ave and 4th Ave
  • Build approaches to 3rd Ave

2020

  • Complete bridge work
  • Finishing work: Install lighting, paint bridge, stripe lanes, create parking under bridge, complete landscaping
  • S Lander St Bridge opens to traffic after construction is completed

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this project important?

The S Lander St Bridge will enhance mobility in this critical freight corridor and improve safety for people walking, biking, and driving.

How will the project create more reliable freight movement?

The bridge will create reliable access adjacent to one of the largest port operations in the United States. It will improve safety for the more than 3,000 freight rail cars per day on the tracks, and reduce truck delays, congestion and emissions for more than 13,000 vehicles each day including 1,400 surface freight trucks per day. This project will improve the reliability of the last-mile connections between the interstates and the Port of Seattle and area manufacturing in the Duwamish Manufacturing Industrial Council (MIC), the largest MIC in the state.

How will the bridge benefit people walking and biking?

The new bridge will feature a 14-foot walking/biking path on the north side of the bridge that is physically separated from the road. The bridge approaches will also include new curb ramps that meet current standards for accessibility.

Will this project address safety and access in the SODO neighborhood?

The project will increase safety by separating trains from people walking, biking, and driving and creates an unimpeded access point for emergency responders. The bridge also provides access between regional transit hubs and employment centers.

Materials

State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Review

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) determined that the S Lander St Grade Separation and Railway Safety Project will not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment. As a result, SDOT issued a Determination of Non-significance on May 11, 2017. The DNS, Categorical Exclusion Worksheet, and supporting documents may be examined through the links below.

DNS
Categorical Exclusion Worksheet
Introduction and Project Description
Cultural Resources Assessment
Hazardous Materials Discipline Report
Noise Discipline Report
Visual Impact Assessment
Social Effects and Environmental Justice Discipline Report
Transportation Discipline Report

Transportation

Greg Spotts, Director
Address: 700 5th Ave, Suite 3800, Seattle, WA, 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 34996, Seattle, WA, 98124-4996
Phone: (206) 684-7623
684-Road@seattle.gov

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The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is on a mission to deliver a transportation system that provides safe and affordable access to places and opportunities for everyone as we work to achieve our vision of Seattle as a thriving, equitable community powered by dependable transportation.