I-82 Civic Greenway Project
A safer highway below. A greener Westhaven above. A branded microsite and communications system for a once-in-a-generation highway tunnel and park-cap project.
The I-82 Civic Greenway is the Westhaven Department of Public Works' biggest project ever: lowering 1.2 miles of interstate into a covered tunnel and building an 18-acre park — Westhaven Civic Green — above it, reconnecting six neighborhoods the highway divided for 60 years. A project this big, disruptive, and long can't live as one page on the department site. So Optimistic gave it its own public-facing identity: a project brand, an engagement microsite, and a full print and field communications system to help residents understand what's happening, why it matters, and how it affects them. This is a concept piece, built to demonstrate our approach; the project is illustrative.
We don't announce a billion-dollar project. We make it understandable, visible, and human.
In the 1960s, I-82 was built through the center of Westhaven as a symbol of access and progress. Over time it became a dividing line — cutting older Eastside neighborhoods off from downtown, schools, parks, jobs, and transit, and leaving aging bridges, noise, and underused land along its edge. The Civic Greenway project modernizes the highway below and reconnects the city above. But a $1.6 billion, six-year project is also a communications problem.
Years of public meetings, construction updates, detour notices, environmental review, neighborhood engagement, business-access concerns, funding questions, and park-design workshops were ahead. A normal government logo can't carry that. The project needed an identity that could make a massive, disruptive infrastructure project feel understandable, visible, and emotionally clear — and a place to live that wasn't buried in the department site.
One journey, applied to I-82 Civic Greenway Project.
A project brand, not a department logo
We built a public-facing identity around one idea — "Below: movement. Above: community." A tunnel-and-green-arc mark, a hopeful greenway palette, and a sub-brand for the park itself: Westhaven Civic Green.
An engagement microsite
A standalone microsite linked from the department site, built around what residents ask: what's being built, what's the impact right now, when are meetings, and what will the park be — led by a live status card and a plain-language cross-section.
A field communications system
The brand extends into a project brochure, public-meeting posters, weekend-closure construction notices, business-access door hangers, a construction-fence banner, and a project fact sheet — so the same clarity reaches people at the corridor.
A messaging system for trust
Consistent message frames for every audience moment: meetings ("Help shape the park"), construction ("Your route will stay clear"), business access ("Local businesses remain open"), and equity ("Reconnecting neighborhoods the highway divided").
A project brand that does what a government logo can't.
The department has its official identity. The project needed something more emotional and transformational — an identity that could carry years of meetings, notices, and change while keeping people hopeful and informed. So we built a public-facing campaign brand around one line: "Below: movement. Above: community."
The mark pairs the tunnel/highway below with a green park arc and trees above — the same idea as the project itself. The park earns its own sub-brand, Westhaven Civic Green, so the place people will gather has a name from day one.
Inside the I-82 Civic Greenway brand book.
A transformational project identity — a tunnel-and-park mark, a hopeful greenway palette, friendly type, and a park sub-brand named Westhaven Civic Green.
The mark holds movement below and community above — never flip them. The green park arc always sits on top of the navy corridor. The park sub-brand (Westhaven Civic Green) uses its own green roundel.
One project brand, from the website to the fence.
A project this visible needs to communicate everywhere — on the microsite, at a public meeting, on a weekend-closure notice, on a door hanger for a local shop, and on the construction fence itself. Same mark, same hopeful voice, same clarity, whether it's the homepage status card or a printed detour notice.
A communications system for a once-in-a-generation project
Below / Above, made clear
A plain-language cross-section shows the whole idea in one image: traffic moves below in a tunnel, the city gets the surface back as a park.
Live project status
A status card leads every visit — current phase, next milestone, the upcoming meeting, and whether there are impacts right now.
What's being built
Tunnel, park cap, reconnected streets, trails, transit, stormwater, and public spaces — each explained as rider and resident impact.
A timeline you can follow
Planning → utilities → traffic shifts → tunnel → park deck → park opening, with the current phase highlighted.
Westhaven Civic Green
The 18-acre park gets its own sub-brand and section — trails, tree canopy, civic plazas, and gathering lawns above the tunnel.
Get involved, not talked at
Open houses, a park-design survey, live traffic & detours, and a question form — with translation and childcare provided.
A billion-dollar project, made human.
A public-engagement platform that leads with clarity: residents see the big idea, the current impact, and how to get involved before any jargon. The project, agencies, and data shown here are illustrative concepts.