Faulty reasoning signals

• Confirmation Bias - 7.9% (60 hits)
• Anchoring Bias - 2% (15 hits)
• Availability Heuristic - 6.3% (48 hits)
• Representativeness Heuristic - 6.6% (50 hits)
• Hindsight Bias - 0%
• Overconfidence Bias - 0%
• Framing Effect - 4.8% (36 hits)
• Loss Aversion - 2.6% (20 hits)
• Status Quo Bias - 2.2% (17 hits)
• Sunk Cost Effect - 0%
• Optimism Bias - 10.7% (81 hits)
• Pessimism Bias - 2.8% (21 hits)

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Can Seattle move Highway 99 out of this neighborhood?

Residents of Seattle's South Park have long wanted to do something about Highway 99 that runs through their neighborhood, calling attention to the road's environmental and health impacts.

Now that the city has concluded a two-year study into the matter, there are some options on the table.

"South Park is very unique in that a lot of people don't even know it is part of Seattle," said Maria Guadalupe Ramirez, project manager for the Reconnect South Park Coalition.

The group aims to move the highway that carves through center of the neighborhood, where it dead ends 22 streets.

"South Park is west of Georgetown, and so you have to go through an industrial area of Seattle to get to South Park." she told KUOW's Seattle Now.

"There are a lot of families there and it was traditionally a Latino neighborhood.

It was about 60% Latino.

With gentrification, it's down to 30% now ...

So, there are a lot of Hispanic restaurants and taco trucks, some great places to go get a beer and hang out with friends and have dinner."

RELATED: Is Seattle's South Park neighborhood ready for king tides?

This story comes from ab episode KUOW's Seattle Now podcast.

South Park was historically an agricultural corner of Seattle.

Today, it is a residential area surrounded by industrial operations.

That industry relies on the highway that cuts through it.

As such, the neighborhood is known for poor health outcomes and environmental damage.

The highway has been pointed to as a contributing cause.

"We're talking about higher levels of asthma, COPD, and cancer rates," Guadalupe Ramirez said, adding that previous studies have concluded South Park residents live 11 years less than people in other areas of the city.

"And so, the highway is a pretty big contributor to the air and noise pollution that folks are exposed to, living there, next to a highway."

The neighborhood is also near the King County International Airport and is under the path of Sea-Tac International Airport.

It's surrounded by industry.

The Duwamish River that runs alongside the neighborhood is a superfund site.

In 2018, then Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan told KUOW that, "South Park and Georgetown, the Duwamish valley, have really shouldered the burden of environmental injustice for decades.

Those communities have suffered in ways that other parts of our city haven’t.”

"I believe it is the exhaust from the diesel," Guadalupe Ramirez said, addressing why her group is focused on Highway 99.

"That flows into the river.

The noise pollution is also a serious issue for folks.

That really impacts people's health."

State Route 99

Today, State Route (Highway) 99 runs from Everett at the north, to Fife down south, passing through Seattle.

It includes various local streets, such as Seattle's Aurora Avenue, and International Boulevard that runs through the cities of Tukwila and SeaTac.

This stretch was formerly a section of US 99, a federal roadway spanning California to Washington through the early 1900s.

That highway was stitched together by various roads that existed before that.

In the 1960s, when Interstate 5 was established, the state took over the highway and renamed it as a state route.

Highway 99 has therefore gone through many changes and alterations in the past.

Most recently, for example, Seattle tore down a section of the highway — the Alaskan Way Viaduct — and replaced it with a tunnel under downtown.

In Seattle's South Park neighborhood, it runs along West Marginal Way South.

The city of Seattle recently concluded a two-year study, which offers up four potential actions that could alter Highway 99.

As KING5 reports, one option is to remove the highway through South Park.

Guadalupe Ramirez said that this would, "Free up over 100 acres of land and restore some of the land, open it up for trees, green spaces, and other areas are possible for housing and further expansion of the industrial area."

"We also see a potential solution for the flooding we know that South Park is going to be experiencing," she added.

Guadalupe Ramirez said that other options include fixing what is there, meaning everything would stay the same.

There are also two boulevard options, which would convert the street into either a two-lane or four-lane street.

Guadalupe Ramirez says the four-lane option would make the roadway similar to Aurora Avenue (another stretch of Highway 99).

But for anything to actually happen, more studies at the state level will be required.

Ultimately, the state Legislature will have to approve.