The one minute Port Package map fly over

Visualizing Port Package eligibility from 1991 until today

A few weeks ago we wrote a post describing the work we had begun to improve our maps and charts and graphs. Here is one tiny example of how you can use them.

This one minute video is a ‘fly-over’ of the DNL65 from 1991 until today using our Port Packages Mapped page. (We suggest you view this full-screen.)

1991

The red area is the original boundary area, known as the 1991 DNL65‘. Note how far it extended: south into Federal Way, east into what is now Kent, and then north almost to Boeing Field.

All the green blobs are the 9,400 structures that received Port Packages from prox. 1996 to 2005 through the Part 150 program.

2018

Around 0:32, a much smaller blue-ish area comes into view, slightly south of Kent Des Moines Road. That is the 2018 southern boundary of the DNL65 — the current area of eligibility for new sound insulation. Inside that boundary you’ll see smaller groups of yellow blobs. Those were also part of the 9,400 homes that received Port Packages. But unlike the green blobs, if the Port Package program were just starting today, all those yellow blobs would still be eligible.

Zooming In

Zooming in you’ll see that the blobs are really hundreds of individual homes. Click to get detailed information on each particular Port Package.

• Any home inside the red area which does not have a green blob, did not receive a Port Package. Even though they were eligible years ago, those homes are not eligible for sound insulation today.
• Any home inside the blue-ish area which does not have a yellow blob, did not receive a Port Package. But they would be eligible for sound insulation today. Spoiler alert: that number is less than 50 and to their credit, the Port of Seattle does reach out to those homes to make sure they are aware of their eligibility.

Stay tuned…

As we said two weeks ago, we are (finally) moving quickly on a number of visualizations.

Easter Egg: there is also a set of light purple dots. We have prizes for people who find them and give us an accurate count. Those are the homes that received Port Packages on or before 1993. Those homes are eligible for FAA reimbursement for a sound insulation update. But only if the Port of Seattle applies for grant money to do so. They aren’t many. But the fact is: the Port always could have funded a repair/replacement for at least those homes.

Alpha Teaser: There is also an alpha feature, which, as the name implies, is nowhere near fully baked. It is the first of what will be several historical layers to capture the impacts of property buyouts and loss of tree canopy under the flight path. This will let you see what we’ve been seeing for years: what airport expansion has really done to each city.