West Seattle road work: California SW repaving next week south of Morgan Junction

| Transportation | West Seattle news

Just in from SDOT:

Next week, a Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) paving crew will be working on California Avenue SW between SW Myrtle Street and SW Frontenac Street. On Tuesday and Wednesday, June 18 – 19, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., the crew will grind down and then repave the street surface. There will be no parking in the work zone. Sidewalks and crosswalks will remain open. During the work, the roadway will be reduced to two lanes and bicyclists will merge with vehicle traffic. Motorists should expect delays moving through the area.

Fiwa Jcbbb June 12, 2013 (3:03 pm)

About time. There are roads in this city that are worse than anything I’ve driven in Baja California…I would vote for a Box of Rocks before I vote for Mike McSchwinn.

wsn00b June 12, 2013 (3:17 pm)

Nice. That is indeed the worst stretch of tarmac from Myrtle to Fauntleroy on California. Hopefully this will take care of the dip in the surface on the southbound side (feels like a small sinkhole in the works).

WSB: How come this stretch isn’t listed on http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/paving_Websiteprojectlist3_13_2013.pdf . They list California from Myrtle to Fauntleroy as unfunded. Did they find funds for the first piece of it or all of it?

Azimuth June 12, 2013 (4:08 pm)

SDOT sure has a thing for paving in ~300-foot sections here and there. I wonder if there is a reason for that?

Frugal WS June 12, 2013 (4:39 pm)

I’m puzzled as well by the small sections that are repaved in each go-round. You’d think the cost of getting all those workers and equipment to the job site would make it worth their while to pave at least a few blocks at a time!

Jehu June 12, 2013 (5:26 pm)

Wow, a whole block. Like wsn00b said, I really hope this fixes the nasty dip that’s been there for years. Most people that know about it drive in the turn lane to avoid it.

GWS June 12, 2013 (6:42 pm)

I believe the short repaving sections is a “color of money” issue. Longer sections or higher dollar amounts would come out of a different budget category – like repairs vs improvements. (Just my guess.)

WS June 12, 2013 (9:39 pm)

Bigger Jobs would have to be contracted out so they do it in small sections to keep it in house

Rumbles June 12, 2013 (10:43 pm)

EPIC!!!!

Robert June 13, 2013 (9:18 am)

how about DO THE JOB CORRECTLY for once compact the soupy mush UNDER THE ROAD FIRST THEN PAVE IT. MAYBE IT WILL LAST MORE THAN A MONTH BEFORE TURNING INTO A SINK HOLE..

wsn00b June 13, 2013 (8:52 pm)

Drove by today. The fun sinkhole-ish dips in California are a between Frontenac and Mills just north of the projected repairs. My grocery still has a chance to catch air when coming back home from Thriftway :)

@Robert: That patch is a braking zone at the foot of the slope with the bus stop, coffee shop/other business and left turns to the school. Any tarmac patch job is guaranteed to pothole up in months. The school zone slope near OLG is a great example of basic road splash/dash losing to physics.

DrDimentico June 18, 2013 (9:28 pm)

Unannounced, they patched (again) the “sinkhole-ish” dips this morning; last done about 5 years ago. Those are underground spring locations and gravity+water will always win over time, compacted fill or not. I suspect that a “permanent” solution would close off those blocks for extended periods and cost many times what periodic in-fill does (culverts or girders to span the area?).

Sorry, comment time is over.