The U District Partnership Awarded $1.5M Grant to Explore Lidding I-5, Reconnecting Northeast Seattle Communities

January 15, 2025

The U District Partnership is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded $1.5 million as a recipient of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program. The funding will allow The U District Partnership and the Lid I-5 North Coalition to explore the feasibility of lidding Interstate 5 between NE 45th and 50th Streets in Northeast Seattle. 

For over half a century, the neighborhoods of Wallingford, the U District, Ravenna, and Roosevelt have all been bifurcated and separated by major federal highway infrastructure. The Lid I-5 North feasibility study will look at ways to re-knit these communities together, while providing important additional assets like affordable housing, open space, and better inter-community access for people walking, biking, and otherwise rolling.

This is the second Reconnecting Communities grant to be awarded to a Seattle project–the first of which was the Lid I-5 project in downtown Seattle.

The U District Partnership’s Reclaiming Space, Restoring Communities: A Lid Study for Northeast Seattle project is one of four in Washington State to receive this year’s funding. Other funded projects in Washington include Spokane Transit Authority’s Division Street Bus Rapid Transit project ($2M), the City of Vancouver’s Construction of Community Connector Lid over Interstate 5 ($30M), and the Hoh Tribe project to Improve Connectivity and Safety in the Hoh Highlands ($216,000) which are bisected by Highway 101.

The project builds on the success of other lid initiatives in Seattle and around the country. The U District Partnership and the Lid I-5 North Coalition thank the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, and our federal delegation for this incredible opportunity. We look forward to engaging the community in envisioning a vibrant future for Northeast Seattle.

View the press release here.

To learn more about the project and to get involved, visit lidi5north.org.