SHORELINE, Wash. — The North 148th Street Non-Motorized Bridge has been years in the making. Planning for it started in 2019. The City of Shoreline realized they must address their growing and changing population.
The bridge, slated to be finished in 2026, will stretch across I-5 at N 148th Street, allowing people living in the area to have easy, walkable access to the new Shoreline South/148th Station for light rail and bus transit.
"This is where the rubber meets the road," Representative Pramila Jayapal said. The congresswoman is credited for securing millions of dollars for this project.
"I was able to bring home $34 million in community-based project funding," Rep. Jayapal said. "That's the $4 million plus $10 million in federal dollars helping to fund this project."
"This is a really critical piece of our infrastructure," Tricia Juhnke, Public Works Director for the City of Shoreline, said. "It's going to connect these communities from this side of the freeway to this side of the freeway and really create opportunities for people to let go of their cars."
Over 4,000 new multifamily homes and apartments are planned for the area. Eight hundred of them will be affordable housing. Representative Jayapal calls projects like this one, smart solutions to the problems facing the 7th District
"Connecting neighborhoods, taking on climate change, getting more people out of their cars into light rail, pedestrian access, bike access," she said.
Democrats will face opposition over the next two years trying to pass legislation to get more funding for similar projects. Jayapal, however, believes legislation like the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will continue doing good work during the next two years of gridlock
"Through all of the bills we have passed the last two years, we're starting to make the kinds of investment that allow communities to grow and thrive, not just survive," she said.
Watch: KING 5's extended interview with Rep. Pramila Jayapal