Washington Park | |
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Coordinates | 47°38′11″N122°17′45″W / 47.6364162°N 122.2958146°W |
Created | 1934 |
Etymology | George Washington |
Operated by |
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Status | Open all year |
Parking | Available |
Website | depts.washington.edu |
Washington Park is a public park in Seattle, Washington, United States, most of which is taken up by the Washington Park Arboretum, a joint project of the University of Washington, the Seattle Parks and Recreation, and the nonprofit Arboretum Foundation. Washington Park also includes a playfield and the Seattle Japanese Garden in its southwest corner. To the north is Union Bay; to the west are Montlake and Madison Valley; to the south is the Washington Park neighborhood; and to the east is the Broadmoor Golf Club.
Lake Washington Boulevard E. runs north and south through the park, parallel to the creek. A secondary road, for most of its length named Arboretum Drive E. and for a short northern stretch named E. Foster Island Road, runs along the Arboretum's eastern edge. E. Interlaken Boulevard and Boyer Avenue E. run northwest out of the park to Montlake and beyond. State Route 520 cuts through Foster Island and the Union Bay wetlands at the park's northern end, interchanging with Lake Washington Boulevard just outside the arboretum entrance. A footpath winds underneath the freeway overpasses and over boardwalks, along the Lake Washington ship canal, and into the gardens of the Arboretum. [1]
The Arboretum is well known for Azalea Way in the springtime, a stretch of the park which offers a unique tapestry of azaleas of many colors. The area is a popular site for strolling and is utilized by photographers and artists. The manicured Azalea Way stands out in stark contrast with the Arboretum's wild and heavily canopied areas.
The land occupied by the Washington Park Arboretum has been developed and is owned by the city, but the Arboretum is operated primarily by the University of Washington.
Arboretum Creek is approximately 4,000 feet (1,200 m) long, entirely within the park. Its average channel width is 4 feet (1.2 m) and its average channel depth is 2 feet (0.61 m). The creek's source is a spring-fed stream in the Alder Creek Natural Area, three publicly owned properties on 26th Ave East between East Helen and Prospect streets. The stream feeds the koi pond in Washington Park's Japanese Garden, near Washington Park Playfield at the park's southern end. It also receives runoff from Rhododendron Glen and the Woodland Garden, as well as sub-surface drainage from the neighboring course of the Broadmoor Golf Club. It empties into Lake Washington via Willow Bay, itself a minor arm of Union Bay, having passed through numerous culverts under Lake Washington Boulevard.
Washington Park was developed on land that had been logged by the Puget Mill Company for sixty years. In 1920, the parcel was split in two. The eastern 200 acres (0.8 km2) were developed as the Broadmoor Golf Club by a group of businessmen that included E. G. Ames, general manager of Puget Mill. The western 230 were given to the city, who developed a park and arboretum on the site. On the basis of the agreement approved by the University of Washington (Board of Regents) and the City of Seattle (City Council/Mayor), The Washington Park Arboretum was established in 1934. [2]
State Route 520 has a set of ghost ramps in the marshlands the arboretum. They are often referred to as "ramps to nowhere". However, one ramp is currently used for the on ramp to SR 520 Eastbound. The others are unused. They were originally part of a plan to build the R. H. Thomson Expressway which would have cut through the arboretum and down through Seattle towards the I-90/I-5 interchange. Citizens rallied a freeway revolt against the plan on May 4, 1969. Construction near the Arboretum later continued but citizen protest eventually won out and the plan was dropped in 1971.
The freeway revolt that stopped the R. H. Thomson Expressway had its origins in opposition to SR 520 itself. Architect Victor Steinbrueck, writing in 1962, objected to the "naked brutality of unimaginative structures such as this proposed crossing of Portage Bay, which eliminates fifty houseboats while casting its shadow and noise across this tranquil boat haven." [3]
In 2013 the Washington State Department of Transportation announced plans to dismantle the ghost ramps. [4] To commemorate the ramps and protest their demolition, a local art collective created an installation, Gate to Nowhere, on one of the ramps in 2014. [5] [6] The piece consists of a layer of reflective acrylic wrapping a pair of support columns. [7]
In the spring of 2016, some of the SR 520 ghost ramps have begun to be dismantled to make way for the construction of a new causeway linking the new floating bridge to the mainland.
The potential impact of plans to reconstruct and expand State Route 520 and replace the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge in the early 2010s have raised concerns among Arboretum staff and park users. [8] As the members of the Arboretum community noted in their collective letter to the Washington State Department of Transportation, "Native plants, wetlands, and wildlife ... would be affected not only by the taking of land but by the looming shadows created by roadways in various proposals". [9] Among the alternative proposals is the "Arboretum Bypass Plan," building the new elevated highway over Union Bay on a more northerly route than the current one. [10]
The Seattle Japanese Garden is a 3.5 acre (14,000 m2) Japanese garden in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The Garden is located in the Southern end of the Washington Park Arboretum on Lake Washington Boulevard East. The Garden is one of the oldest Japanese Gardens in North America, and is regarded as one of the most authentic Japanese Gardens in the United States. [11]
The Montlake Cut is the easternmost section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which passes through the city of Seattle, linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound. It opened in 1916 after 56 years of conversation and construction to create the manmade canal.
Union Bay is a body of water located in Seattle, Washington. Part of Lake Washington, it is bounded by the Laurelhurst neighborhood to the north and the Montlake and Madison Park neighborhoods to the south. The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which carries State Route 520, crosses over a portion of the bay.
Portage Bay is a body of water, often thought of as the eastern arm of Lake Union, that forms a part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle, Washington.
Montlake is a wealthy residential neighborhood in central Seattle, Washington. It is located along the Montlake Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, bounded to the north by Portage Bay, to the east by the Washington Park Arboretum, and to the south and west by Interlaken Park. Capitol Hill is on its south and west sides, and the University of Washington campus lies across the Montlake Cut to the north. State Route 520 runs through the northern tip of Montlake, isolating four blocks from the rest of the neighborhood. The (unofficial) City Clerk's map of Montlake considers it to extend further west, past Interlake Park, extending to Broadway Avenue E. and, between Lynn Street and State Route 520, all the way to Interstate 5.
State Route 520 (SR 520) is a state highway and freeway in the Seattle metropolitan area, part of the U.S. state of Washington. It runs 13 miles (21 km) from Seattle in the west to Redmond in the east. The freeway connects Seattle to the Eastside region of King County via the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge on Lake Washington. SR 520 intersects several state highways, including Interstate 5 (I-5) in Seattle, I-405 in Bellevue, and SR 202 in Redmond.
State Route 513 (SR 513) is a 3.35-mile-long (5.39 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Washington, located entirely within the city of Seattle in King County. The highway travels north as Montlake Boulevard from an interchange with SR 520 and over the Montlake Bridge to the University of Washington campus in the University District. SR 513 continues past University Village before it turns northeast onto Sand Point Way and ends at the entrance to Magnuson Park in the Sand Point neighborhood.
Broadmoor is an 85 acre gated residential community with a 115 acre golf course in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is bounded on the west by the Washington Park Arboretum, on the south by E. Madison Street, beyond which is the Washington Park neighborhood, on the east by 37th Avenue E., beyond which is the Madison Park neighborhood, and on the north by Union Bay marshland. It was founded on September 10, 1924.
East Montlake Park is a park in the Montlake neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA. The park is bounded on the north by the Montlake Cut, on the east by Union Bay, on the south by Washington State Route 520, and on the west by East Park Drive E.
The Seattle Japanese Garden is a 3.5 acre Japanese garden in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle. The garden is located in the southern end of the Washington Park Arboretum on Lake Washington Boulevard East. The garden is one of the oldest Japanese gardens in North America, and is regarded as one of the most authentic Japanese gardens in the United States.
Montlake Playfield is a 27-acre park and playfield on Portage Bay in the Montlake neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA.
Madison Park is a neighborhood in east central Seattle, Washington, USA, named after the city park at the foot of E. Madison Street on the Lake Washington shore. It is bounded on the east by Lake Washington; on the south by the intersection of Lake Washington Boulevard E. and 39th Avenue E., beyond which is Denny-Blaine; on the west by Lake Washington Boulevard E.; and on the north by Union Bay. Washington Park and the private Broadmoor community and golf course are subunits within Madison Park. The neighborhood's main thoroughfares are E. Madison Street and McGilvra Boulevard E..
Interstate 405 (I-405) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway serving the Seattle region of Washington, United States. It bypasses Seattle east of Lake Washington, traveling through the Eastside area of King and Snohomish counties, providing an alternate route to I-5. The 30-mile (48 km) freeway serves the cities of Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, and Bothell. I-405 terminates at I-5 in Tukwila and Lynnwood, and also intersects several major highways, including SR 167, I-90, SR 520, and SR 522.
McCurdy Park was a 1.5-acre (6,100 m2) park in the Montlake neighborhood of the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington. Formerly home to the Museum of History and Industry, it was effectively bounded on the west by the museum and East Montlake Park, on the south by State Route 520, on the east by the Washington Park Arboretum, and on the north by Union Bay marshland. However, there was no obvious demarcation between McCurdy Park, East Montlake Park, and the Arboretum.
An unused highway is a highway or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed, but went unused or was later closed. An unused roadway or ramp may often be referred to as an abandoned road, ghost road, highway to nowhere, stub ramp, ghost ramp, ski jump, stub street, stub-out, or simply stub.
Lake Washington Boulevard is a scenic, approximately 8-mile (13 km), road through Seattle, Washington, that hugs Lake Washington for much of the route. There are views of the lake, small sections of rainforest, meadows, and views of the Cascade mountains. At its northern end, Lake Washington Boulevard originates as East Lake Washington Boulevard at Montlake Boulevard East, soon becomes Lake Washington Boulevard East, and runs through the length of the Washington Park Arboretum. The road begins at S. Juneau Street in Seward Park, running thence along the lake to Colman Park, just south of Interstate 90. From here north to E. Alder Street in Leschi, the lakeside road is named Lakeside Avenue, and Lake Washington Boulevard diverts to a winding route through Colman, Frink, and Leschi Parks. At E. Alder, the boulevard once again runs along the lake through Madrona Park to just north of Madrona Drive, where private residences occupy the shore. At E. Denny-Blaine Place, the road heads northwest, through Lakeview Park and the grounds of The Bush School, to the south entrance of the Arboretum at E. Madison Street. It continues through the Arboretum. Just north of E. Roanoke Street, the boulevard turns due west and changes from Lake Washington Boulevard E. to E. Lake Washington Boulevard, following the city's street name designation system. The boulevard ends at the Montlake overpass of 520, where E. Montlake Place E. becomes Montlake Boulevard E.
Interstate 5 (I-5) is an Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States that serves as the region's primary north–south route. It spans 277 miles (446 km) across the state of Washington, from the Oregon state border at Vancouver, through the Puget Sound region, to the Canadian border at Blaine. Within the Seattle metropolitan area, the freeway connects the cities of Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett.
The Bay Freeway, also referred to as the Mercer Street Connection, was a proposed elevated freeway in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The 0.7-mile-long (1.1 km) freeway would have run parallel to a section of Mercer Street between Interstate 5 (I-5) and Aurora Avenue North at the Seattle Center.
The Montlake Historic District is a part of Montlake, located northeast of the downtown district in Seattle, Washington that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since October 15, 2015. It primarily contains residential property; however there are some other types of buildings within the district such as the Northwest Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Seattle Yacht Club.