The City of Seattle has announced the list of 20 projects that have been awarded funds form the Neighborhood Projects Fund. We were awarded $81,000 for an asphalt walkway between 5th and 7th. Hopefully we can have more built soon through future rounds of funding!
A project manager from SDOT will be calling us in early 2011, and we’ll set up a meeting with residents of those two blocks of 115th to discuss the work to be done. Details will also be posted here as we can more information.
Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard on this over so many years!
How do they choose which side the sidewalk goes on? Do they take into consideration the kind of trees that will be lost?
SDOT previously funded a design which placed the sidewalk on the south side of the block. See the design here:
http://www.pinehurstseattle.org/sidewalks/ne-115th-st-sidewalk/
I don’t believe they will be removing any trees. There is already room for a sidewalk; it’s currently a muddy, lumpy shoulder with blackberry bushes.
congrats! I believe the sidewalk installed on our street a couple years ago (part of swale project) resulted in more pedestrian safety and more appropriate (slower) traffic speeds on our residential street.
It’s too bad the sidewalk couldn’t extend to a more natural conclusion at 8th where it could meet that sidewalk. Has anyone explored how much more that would take? Maybe we could pass the hat for some matching funds?
7th is halfway between 5th and 8th, so presumably it would take another $81,000 to build the second half.
The south side was chosen because it requires the least costly drainage work. The north side would likely be preferred for pedestrians walking to bus stops, but that would cost many thousands of dollars more than a south sidewalk.
Sue – Your suggestion of passing the hat is a great one. If neighbors got together and contributed, the sidewalk would be completed much faster. And, the increase to property values would likely exceed the cost of the sidewalk.
$81,000.00 dollars for 2 blocks of a 6 foot wide asphalt path. I could understand if it was concrete sidewalk with forms and soil compaction requirements, but not an asphalt walkway.
Gary, you should see the costs for concrete sidewalk. They kinda blew my mind when I first saw them. In that case, I think a lot of it has to do with the drainage requirements and other extras though.