There goes the neighborhood

So, some on the Bellevue City Council want to run the East Link light rail train through the Mercer Slough Nature Park.

There goes the neighborhood, right?

Not necessarily.

Where is it written that engineers and environmentalists can’t form a partnership to produce an ecologically sound pathway through a nature preserve? Especially where there are such obvious benefits.

But, first things first.

I know this is going to a tough thing to sell to the not only to the environmental community but also to the feds and other government officials. After all, the 320-acre Mercer Slough is the Northwest’s largest urban-wetland park.

Perhaps more daunting is the federal Clean Water Act. To go through such a wetland, Sound Transit would have to show there is no reasonable alternative. It also would have to mitigate any effects to the wetland.

But, what’s reasonable?

The light rail tracks could go down Bellevue Way from the South Bellevue Park and Ride into downtown. That route would clog up a major thoroughfare and turn the light rail line into not much more than a glorified bus.

The line could swing down 112th Avenue, but again, it clogs up a street and disrupts homes and homeowners along the way.

However, both of these ignore a good reason for putting a light rail line smack dab through the middle of the nature preserve: public exposure.

Let’s take a break here. Everyone raise their hands who has actually walked or kayaked into the Mercer Slough Nature Park. Hmmm. I thought so. Not very many hands. Why is that?

Partly, it’s a case of out of sight out of mind. Sure, you can see the south end of the wetland from I-90, but to really get there takes more work. And let’s face it, we’re all in a hurry to get home.

But what if those who commute by light rail could travel through the wetland on their way to work or home? I bet they would come to admire and appreciate Mercer Slough far more than they do now. A variety of water foul make their home in the marshy area. What a joy that would be to see each day. After a new passes on the train would more people search out the paths and bridges that wind through the area? I think so.

And that would be great.

It’s one thing to read about such a natural wetland, something else entirely to experience it. What better way to build up interest than putting it on display each day to riders of light rail.

But, can a light rail line be put through Mercer Slough in an environmentally sound fashion? Local history says yes.

Several years ago, Bellevue wanted to make Lakemont Boulevard a wider road up from I-90. Some environmentalists were aghast. The construction, they said, would produce heavy run-off from the hill into Lake Sammamish, spoiling and damaging the lake.

What actually happened? The road was constructed with no adverse impact to the lake, providing that man and nature can coexist. Why can’t that be true for Mercer Slough?

The light rail line won’t be some freeway with oil, gas fumes and tire debris pouring into a wetland. Light rail trains are electric. The tracks run on elevated concrete pillars, which don’t have much, if any, impact on the things that inhabit a wetland.

Let’s consider all our options before we dismiss anything out of hand.