Proposed Market Street Closure

Background

After our meetings of September 18 and 24, 2003 two major topics have surfaced with regards to the future development of the Hillside area. The first is the planned closure of Market Street by the University of Washington, Tacoma (UWT) and the second is the City of Tacoma's plans for development of City owned properties in this area.

HDC's concerns regarding the closure of Market Street include:
• With the development of the Link Light Rail, Market Street is the last effective cross downtown arterial street.
• Closure would split the city into two regions, separated by the UWT, potentially slowing investment and development in the area South-East of UWT.
• Public safety issues such as fire and police access have not been properly addressed.

HDC Position

The City of Tacoma should review the UWT master plan in light of current changes in the downtown area. Public involvement in this process is essential. Full consideration must be given to cross town traffic patterns, public safety issues, and future City development.

Followup

August 17, 2004 the City of Tacoma's Economic Development Committee listened to representatives from the City, UWT, and HDC regarding the proposed street closure. City staff were directed to address the issue immediately. The Council members present expressed the desire to forge a positive solution using the assets of the City, UWT and the community. Download the presentation (.pdf format 38kb). Also available is the map showing downtown Tacoma, Market Street and the footprint of the UWT campus (.pdf format 5.47mb).

March 6, 2005 Peter Callaghan from the News Tribune writes about Market Street.

April 27, 2005 and April 21, 2005 meetings that included representatives from the City of Tacoma and UWT produced several announcements by UWT regarding street closures:
   • UWT will apply for all street closures at one time
   • UWT will hire a consulting firm to address traffic issues.
   • The public will have a representative on the committee which hires and provides input to the consulting firm.
   • Hopefully the consulting firm's work will be finished by October 2005.

Resources

UWT Office of the Chancellor This page includes links to the UWT complete master plan.

UWT master plan November 2009