• 15,000 years ago, the Puget Sound area, east of Seattle was covered in a massive glacier! As the Ice Age receded over a few thousand years, many peoples migrated from the North to this changing region and settled along the rich coastlines, or kept moving southward and inland. Much mystery remains when exactly these movements first began; however, the Americas were undoubtedly a thriving mecca of countless civilizations dating back at least 5,000 years! 

• Puget Sound region was colonized in the 1850’s, most indigenous peoples displaced from Seattle by the 1900’s

• Duwamish River was straightened in the 1920s to make it more usable as a maritime port to export the regions valuable resources like Timber, Coal, Fish, and materials - hence the renaming as the Duwamish Waterway

• South Park was a diverse agricultural hub, rich soils due to river tidelands / deposits over thousands of years!

• Over 1930s Home Owners' Loan Corporation redlined South Park making it difficult for people to buy w/loans…

• WWII brought tremendous industrial growth in manufacturing in the Duwamish Valley (DV), specifically aviation.

• Post-WWII the neighborhood was quickly juxtaposed by industry, displacing farmland (interned Japanese farmers). 

• Around that time, there was a push to make State Route 99 4-lanes from Vancouver, WA all the way to Bellingham!

• With the National Highway System and Interstate-5 being built, SR-99 was rapidly constructed around 1958 to achieve the goal of four lanes, while catering to the newfound Duwamish Industrial Zone.

• Cutting through the neighborhood, creating 22 dead end streets, residents were not given choice or vote on the Hwy.

•  1960’s ushered in a hostile Industrial rezoning of SP; however a “1-square mile of resistance” saved this community.

• Following SR-99, the SP community faced a lack of public services and a myriad of environmental justice issues. 

• All areas where children and seniors gather today (community center, library, skate park, etc.) are located within a 500 yard zone with elevated risk of respiratory illness (asthma), heart disease, and disproportionate harm exposure.

• Residents (incl. Those displace) have had their dreams of change ignored, delayed, dismissed for decades…

• RSP began around 2021 as a question by a few residents: Why is this highway here and why should it remain?

• Cote & Crystal of Cultivate South Park and Madeleine of Placemakers US won a grant to do some preliminary research, which officially launched the project with Seattle Office of Planning & Community Development (OPCD).

• In late 2022, the project applied for and won a larger $600k grant to continue its work as an official Coalition!

• 2023 kicked off engagement alongside a Tech Team (Nelson\Nygaard) to develop 4 Alternative Futures, solicit feedback, identify goals to guide the project, rooted in existing community projects, visions, and the DV Action Plan.

• Mid-2023, Seattle OPCD applied for and won $1.6M FHA Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program to 1) conduct a  SR-99 Potential Futures Technical Analysis 2) develop a Community Vision Plan and 3) Restorative Development Plan.

• In 2024, Kimberly-Horn was selected in a competitive process to lead these efforts, alongside the Coalition.

• Since 2023, our collaborative engagement with DV residents, businesses, industry, and Agencies Having Jurisdiction (WSDOT/SDOT/Government) seeks to transform the SR-99 corridor into a thriving community-centered asset.

• From 2024 to present, we have revised the Potential Futures based on the fatal flaws analysis and further input from community members, agencies having jurisdiction, utility operations, to better represent what is actually possible.

What lies ahead for Reconnect South Park?

• Narrow the four Potential Futures to identify and scope the Community Selected Future!

• Fully develop the Community Vision Plan, which will outline the scope and timeline of this transformation, a vision towards 2050 - the goal year for all changes to be completed!

• Begin Restorative Development Planning that outlines strategies to avoid “business as usual” and extractive investment that would not benefit Residents: How do we keep the wealth in the South Park community, give Land Back to indigenous, and ensure zero displacement with improvements?

• Complete the Mobility Analysis and Implementation Options to better support the Community Vision Plan and the approach to phase in the Community Selected Future as quickly and comfortably as possible.

The focus of this project is a short, redundant, and isolated segment of SR-99 located between the I-5/SR-599 connection in Tukwila and South Park. This route never fulfilled its original purpose and was demoted from a Federal, to a State Highway merely 6 years after its construction. We are seeking an alternative future for the area of land from Cecil Moses Memorial Park to the SPU South Transfer Station, and reconnect the neighborhood spaces between. And yes! Even without the SR-99 you can still get to the airport, because that is Highway 509, which is currently undergoing connectivity improvements to I-5.

The future of SR-99 involves numerous stakeholders and the fate of this section is under study. While the goal of many South Park residents is highway removal to restore neighborhood connectivity, Washington State approved this feasibility study by Reconnect South Park that will consider several potential futures such as rerouting, redesigning, and re-envisioning. This feasibility study will inform a community vision plan and ultimate decision making by the many Agencies Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) over this highway corridor...

In short, traffic patterns will change and travel habits adjust. Preliminary studies indicate that traffic volumes in this section of SR-99 wouldn’t overwhelm neighboring SR-509, I-5, or other existing freight corridors (full report coming soon). The technical study identifies effects from each Potential Future - beneficial and adverse…

The community vision plan will specifically address these concerns and present strategies to enable net-benefit to SP and Gt communities. Improving the well-being of Duwamish Valley residents is our primary goal. It is your engagement that will direct, frame and create this important vision of what should be done to realize freeway transformation.

Our team is comprised of fellow neighbors and regional advocates, including representatives from local organizations, community organizers, writers, film-makers, design professionals, engineers, affordable housing experts, and beyond; all who have committed to collecting the puzzle pieces to assemble a vision guided by your input. The team is divided into two roles: Community Convener and Technical Advisory groups. Read about us here!

Additionally, RSP is supported by the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD), realizing the bigger picture through interagency collaboration between local, state, and national leaders. You can read up on their involvement, progress, and project background on the OPCD RSP Page!

Cultivate South Park and Coté Soerens initiated the original RSP study, and were critical in questioning what if, becoming the “chief believer” of an alternate future for the SR-99 corridor. We celebrate her contributions to the South Park community, and could not have arrived at this moment without her advocacy.

Great question, with a somewhat complicated* answer…Reconnect South Park began through volunteered time, garnering community interest, and eventual support by Justice40 and the City of Seattle - which in September 2022, the Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) requested proposals for two separate, but related bodies of work on the potential removal or restructuring of SR-99 through South Park: 1) the development of a Community Vision Plan by neighborhood-based organizations active in the Duwamish Valley, and 2) technical analysis of current conditions and the potential impacts of multiple alternative configurations by consultant teams with expertise in urban planning, environmental analysis, and related disciplines. In March 2023, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation awarded the City of Seattle funding for future phases of Reconnect South Park via the new Reconnecting Communities Program, which will likely become available sometime in 2024. For OPCD Information, contact project manager Cayce James, cayce.james@seattle.gov.

*Community-based, and non-profit organizations apply for grants and solicit for donations to fulfill their missions, and are commonly required to be registered as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization under the IRS. While many of our coalition members fall under this category, the team agreed to utilize a fiscal sponsor, Watershed Community Development based in Georgetown, to apply for and receive grants, equitize funding, and ensure accountability of the member organizations. We are always looking for additional funding and support mechanisms; if you have suggestions let us know!

These concerns are front and center to our team, and is the reason why RSP is a community-led vision plan. In working with the larger community, the plan will include measures that safeguard long-time residents and provide opportunities along the way to ensure that this will not happen. We are also excited that the city received federal funding to look further into this issue with the South Park community and will seek to put together a community driven Equitable Development Plan, an anti-displacement development strategy. Please get involved and help us hold accountability as the project progresses!

There are many other projects being planned and implemented in and around the South Park neighborhood specifically addressing these issues of pollution, crime, housing, economic opportunity, and sea-level rise infrastructure. Our team believes that the RSP Vision Plan will help further identify various solutions for these inter-related issues, while bringing together Duwamish Valley neighbors. It is our hope that visioning alternative futures will add to a collective positive impact, overcoming the environmental injustices, and fragmentation that has too long divided the neighborhood in two.

This project is overseen by the City of Seattle Office of Planning & Community Development (OPCD). Click here to visit OPCD’s website which has additional information on project status, funding, and timelines…

Additionally, the RSP coalition is always looking to improve communications through central newsletters, this website, and outreach engagements throughout South Park and adjacent neighborhoods. We invite you sign up for newsletters to remain informed, email us if you have questions, participate in the meetings, and recognize that this visioning plan requires your engagement to maintain. Involvement is key and we look forward to your active participation! It is your community and your vision that will Reconnect South Park.

There has never been any connection, financial or otherwise, between the Reconnect South Park project and any religious organization or institution. Since applying for, and receiving the RSP Community Envisioning grant award from Seattle OPCD, neither Coté, nor any of the alleged affiliated church groups have contributed or received funds, been granted special access, nor decision-making in this process. Our coalition reflects the diversity of cultures, beliefs, and perspectives which exist in the Duwamish Valley, and we take the stance that ALL community members have an equal say in contributing to this visioning process.