Tacoma, Washington, Adds 20,000 Trees to its Highways

TACOMA, Wash. - Major freeway reconstruction projects could bring Tacoma more than just bigger, smoother highways.

They could transform the sides of the freeways from miles of scrubland and weeds into veritable forests.

Officials from the state Department of Transportation told Tacoma leaders recently that up to 20,000 trees could be planted along Interstate 5 and Highway 16 over the next several years as part of long-range plans to add car-pool lanes and reconfigure several interchanges.

Money for landscaping will be set aside in the construction budgets of each project, but it's important that city officials speak up now to ensure that Tacoma gets all that it can, said DOT landscape architect Bob Barnes.

Back in the 1960s, when Interstate 5 was built through Tacoma, city leaders didn't insist on roadside beautification the way many other communities did.

Olympia now boasts some 11,000 trees along its stretch of I-5.

Tacoma, on the other hand, is "just this rather blah stretch of freeway," said city Councilman Bill Evans, a tree enthusiast.

Tacoma lost out again when Highway 16 was finished. A 1978 environmental impact statement for the highway project made landscaping commitments that were never followed, city officials said, likely because the highway construction wrapped up at a time when Washington lawmakers favored using transportation dollars on paving rather than planting.

Lest there be any doubt about what the city's leaders want, the City Council is expected to approve a resolution Tuesday that spells out in detail how seriously they want native trees, shrubs and ground cover along the freeways.

The resolution asks for all the native trees and ground cover available under state regulations, noting that the landscaping will offer "psychological relief to motorists and build community pride."

Other groups including the Audubon Society, the Native Plant Society, the Puget Creek Restoration Society and the Green Team, a group that encourages tree planting, have lent their support to the request.

"This is a good opportunity to green the freeway," Evans said. "It will give a new image to our city."

The DOT plans eventually to build car-pool lanes from Highway 16 to the new Narrows Bridge and along I-5 from Highway 512 to the King County line. It will take more than a decade for all of the freeway work to materialize, but drivers will notice the landscaping before it's finished.

As each stage of construction is completed, the landscaping will be added to that stretch, Barnes said.

Crews are already working along a stretch of I-5 between 48th Street and Pacific Avenue.

"You'll see some trees fairly soon," he said.

To get a sense of what's in store, drivers and passengers can look at the tree planting taking place along Highway 16 on the Gig Harbor side of the Narrows Bridge, or south to Olympia, where thousands of mature trees line the freeway.

The landscaping along I-5 in Tacoma will likely favor more native trees than the Olympia stretch, which is a bit more formal and ornamental, Barnes said.

The overall goal of the DOT is to create landscaping that keeps out noxious weeds such as Scotch broom and blackberries, and to create a consistent look throughout the I-5 corridor.

That sounds good to Tacoma's leaders, who no longer keep quiet about freeway landscaping.

"It's our turn," Evans said.