Duwamish River

John is standing on the First Avenue Bridge that crosses the Duwamish River.  We took a Sunday drive last weekend in the new car and walked across the fancy bridge that just opened a few months ago. This is a main traffic route between downtown and south Seattle neighborhoods, and it caused major inconvenience for several years during bridge construction.

This bridge opens frequently for large boats during the day, snarling up the heavy traffic. In Seattle, maritime law actually pre-dates most other laws, giving boats the right-of-way.  There's a cute little South Park Marina below in the murky water, surrounded by disadvantaged neighborhoods and industry dominated by Boeing. 

With the binoculars, John was showing me the building he works in on the other side of the water. This seems about as close as family members can get, since no visitors are allowed inside the Boeing guarded gates, no exceptions.

I probably won't see where John actually works until the afternoon he retires, when apparently wives get special dispensation to enter with their husbands, and then get looked over for the first time by his co-workers, who have been hearing about you for years. Ha! You would think it was the CIA, instead of an airplane company.   

 Brave kayaking on the Duwamish

The EPA placed the Duwamish on the Superfund National Priorities List in 2001.  More than a century of industrial waste has filled the river with over 40 toxic chemicals. Boeing is a good corporate citizen and leading the clean-up of a five mile stretch of water. Of course they played a big part in creating the mess in the first place click here.  During WWII, the giant B-17 plant was right on the Duwamish,  and they didn't have time to worry about pollution in those days.

Tons of contaminated sediment is being dredged and replaced with clean sand.  Tugboats are hauling out huge barges full of dirty stuff, and I see them sometimes passing under the West Seattle bridge. The sediment is then "packaged" and transported by rail to an EPA approved landfill.  Yes, this is very expensive.

Believe it or not, salmon still spawn in the Duwamish, so dredging work can only take place during specific times of the year when juvenile salmon are not migrating.  Boeing is also restoring the shoreline as a fish and wildlife habitat, bringing in thousands of native plants. If done correctly, cleanup may generate new jobs and revitalize the South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods. On the other hand, gentrification forces out the poor folks who live there now.  You can't have it both ways.

We won't be around to see it, but I told John in 50 years the banks of Duwamish will probably look like this model High Point neighborhood in West Seattle.  Lined with townhouses, condos and miles of "nature" trails.  Another urban village for Seattle with expensive waterfront property.