Ghost Ramps
SR 520 features a set of ghost ramps in the marshlands of Washington Park Arboretum. They are often referred to as "ramps to nowhere". However, there are 2 ramps currently used for the Westbound 520 off ramp connection to the Washington Park Arboretum while the other serves as an on ramp only 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."
Read more about this topic: Washington State Route 520
Famous quotes containing the word ghost:
““The work is done,” grown old he thought,
“According to my boyish plan;
Let the fools rage, I swerved in nought,
Something to perfection brought;”
But louder sang that ghost “What then?””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)