The Ramps to Nowhere: Going, but not quite gone

Way back in 2013, the state announced that it was removing a beloved relic of an unpopular city plan: The “Ramps to Nowhere” would finally come down. Initially, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) planned to tear the urban ruins down between 2014 and 2016—but a year after the original end date, many segments are still standing.

The ramps were initially built as part of the proposed R.H. Thomson Expressway, a freeway plan from the ‘60s that would have cut through wide swaths of the Washington Park Arboretum and the predominantly-black Central District.

Citizens fighting for preservation revolted against the project, and it was eventually abandoned in 1971—with a couple functional ramps running through the Arboretum, but many remaining there as ghost ramps that would never lead from or to anywhere.

For the next 40 years, the ramps would become a popular spot for exploration and rabble-rousing alike, with generations posing for portraits, swimming around, and climbing on top of—and jumping off—the structures.

Now, the section of Lake Washington surrounding most of the ramps is blocked off as the WSDOT continues to make improvements around a brand-new 520 floating bridge, completed in 2016.

This includes demolishing obsolete ramps, including both ramps that served the old 520 bridge and the ghost ramps.

Many were dismayed when news broke—some because of a sentimental attachment to the ramps, but others, notably ARCH (Seattle Activists Remembered, Celebrated, and Honored), felt that at least part of the ramps needed to stay in place as a tribute to those whose activism kept the proposed expressway at bay.

ARCH’s plan to preserve a segment of the ramps eventually made it to City Council, and in 2016, the Council passed a resolution to hang on to a single crossbeam, propped up by four legs.

Sarah Anne Lloyd

That part is still standing and isn’t slated for demolition until the Montlake phase of the 520 project.

WSDOT has yet to issue a request for proposal (RFP) on the Montlake phase, although it’s coming within the next couple of months. Steve Peer, Media and Construction Communications Manager for the 520 project, tells us that ideally, preserving the crossbeam would be written in. He adds that WSDOT has already gone through permitting processes for plans that include demolishing the segment.

They’d also like to know who will eventually be tasked with maintaining the beam.

"It can be saved,” said Peer. “But we want to know so we can get the plan solidified."

Talks between the city and the state on what the preservation project could eventually look like are ongoing. The Montlake phase is slated to start construction in 2018.

While the beam is safe for now, its siblings to the west have slowly started to come down. The WSDOT construction site on the west edge of the Arboretum overlooks another stretch of Expressway ramp.

This part is currently being demolished as part of the west approach phase of the 520 project—but in the center, you can still see “Gate to Nowhere,” a 2014 art installation by a group called ReCollective.

Sarah Anne Lloyd

To the east is 520’s original westbound offramp, which closed in January 2016—an honorary, if temporary, ramp to nowhere.

The last significant demolition work took place during a series of 520 closures earlier this month, demolishing segments of both the 520 and the Expressway ramp closest to the bridge.

Courtesy of WSDOT

Portions of both ramps that stretched past the lake and onto land in the arboretum, plus the old, loopy Montlake onramp, were demolished as part of earlier work.

A map provided by WSDOT gives a more detailed look at what’s still there: two concrete islands in a small, marshy inlet.

Courtesy of WSDOT

WSDOT expects that both the Expressway ramp to the west and the old 520 ramp will be entirely demolished by the end of this year—everything in orange on WSDOT’s demolition map.

The segment that could be preserved isn’t part the diagram, but it’s visible on the underlying map, tucked away just to the east.

After all the demolition is complete, land where the ramps once stood will be filled back in with plant life and re-integrated into the Arboretum—with or without the support beam towering above.

• 520 ‘ramps to nowhere’ to come down [Seattle Times]
• Memorializing the Seattle freeway that almost was [NextCity]
• The Arboretum’s Ramps to Nowhere [The Stranger]
• SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program [WSDOT]
• 520 bridge closures start tonight, so plan accordingly [CS]