(The following story by Susan Gilmore appeared on the Seattle Times website on April 12, 2010.)
SEATTLE — It’s a signature at Safeco Field as popular as the garlic fries: train whistles.
Fans at Safeco Field are used to the interruption of a shrill whistle as the trains lumber by.
But the new Highway 519 overpass over the railroad tracks opens Monday, which will allow vehicles to drive directly from Fourth Avenue South to Safeco Field.
And with the new overpass, the whistles might be silenced.
Federal law says whistles can’t be sounded if there is no crossing, according to Gus Melonas, spokesman for BNSF Railway. And with the new overpass, there will be no crossing at Safeco Field.
But the whistles will be sounded on Monday’s opening day, according to Melonas. So will the whistles eventually be silenced?
That’s unclear. Melonas said the whistle’s future is under review by BNSF’s legal department.
But he said that since the Mariners played their first game at Safeco Field, an overwhelming number of fans have told him they love the whistles. He said more than 100 trains move past Safeco Field each day — freight trains, Amtrak and Sounder trains.
“We look at it as the 10th man and it’s definitely to the Mariners’ advantage,” Melonas said.
He said when an opposing batter is in the batter’s box and the whistle sounds, “it’s just as frightening as a Randy Johnson 100-mph fastball.”
He hopes the whistle can be saved. “It would be a sad day if the whistle is eliminated,” Melonas said. “It’s part of the theme of the park.”
As much as fans inside the park might not like losing the whistle sounds, Dave Sowers, project engineer for the state Department of Transportation (DOT), hopes fans and motorists outside the park will enjoy the convenience of the new overpass.
“You’re not going to get stuck behind the trains,” Sowers said.
“It’s going to be a much easier way to get through Sodo.”
The new crossing is one of two that will ease traffic through the neighborhood. Later this month, the state will open the Atlantic Street/Edgar Martinez Drive ramp, which will be used for freight and other vehicles to drive from Interstate 90 and Interstate 5 to the waterfront. It also will lead right into the Safeco Field parking garage.
According to the DOT, about 33,000 vehicles use this crossing every day, and studies found that in travel from I-90 to the waterfront movement, there will be significant travel-time savings: Travel in the morning will have a 2.4-minute or 35 percent reduction; the afternoon will have a 1.8-minute or 30 percent reduction.
The ramps are part of an $84.35 million Highway 519 access project. Officials hope it will help keep people and goods moving during road construction to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
The new project includes a pedestrian overpass over the railroad tracks. South Royal Brougham Way will become a dead-end. The tracks will be fenced.
The project is the second phase of a Highway 519 overhaul that ports around the state have desired for more than a decade to serve growth in freight-train and truck business.