History uncovered during Eastlake Avenue construction

You never know what you’re going to find when you dig under the ground in the Pacific Northwest. That’s why archaeologists are on speed dial when projects start digging.

You certainly never expect to find history right outside your door, but that’s what happened outside our office.

Contractors have been digging up Eastlake Avenue for months. Seattle is replacing the sewer lines and rebuilding the road to prepare for expansion of RapidRide bus service from South Lake Union to the University District (U-District).

But when I came to work Wednesday morning, I noticed something odd in the piles of busted concrete and dirt. Large piles of old wood. They looked like old railroad ties.

They had been dug up from under the concrete and asphalt.

Did SDOT crews dig up old railroad ties on Eastlake Avenue?

My first thought was the wood was old fill material used to support the road when it was built about a hundred years ago. But then I thought a little older. Are these the actual railroad ties from the old Eastlake Avenue Streetcar that ran from South Lake Union to the U-District?

I reached out to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and my favorite Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) archaeologist Jason.

And yes.

These are the old ties from the streetcar that opened in 1893 and provided service to the neighborhood until 1941.

SDOT sent me a statement, which included this: “As part of our construction process, we’ve been carefully removing these ties to make way for the new road and transit infrastructure. Additionally, we have a team of city archaeologists documenting and recording all discoveries made during the project. This ensures that we preserve the historical context of what we uncover, even as we build for the future.”

And yes, the contractor and SDOT were expecting to find the wood during excavation.

This isn’t the first time projects have dug up the past.

I did a story a few years ago on finding the old wooden road that first made up the Maple Valley Highway during expansion a few years ago.

And most famously, in 2004, WSDOT had to cancel a construction project in Port Angeles, when Native graves and a village were found where contractors were digging. The state had already spent $58 million on building a new dock in the area, but the project was scrapped.

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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