West Seattle potholes: ‘Spot paving’ planned for some rough spots

| Safety | Transportation | West Seattle news

(January photo of Orchard-to-Sylvan potholes, shared by Gary)
Hat tip for this one goes to the Sanislo Elementary School PTSA newsletter – reading the latest edition last night, we saw news of some road-repair work planned nearby, so we followed up this morning by asking SDOT for details. Here’s the reply from Marybeth Turner:

An SDOT asphalt crew will be doing spot asphalt paving along Sylvan Way SW, SW Orchard St and Dumar Way SW in areas where there are frequent problems with potholes.

They will pave the eastbound lane on Sylvan Way SW around the curve to the intersection with SW Orchard. They will also pave the eastbound lane of SW Orchard from Delridge up to the intersection with Dumar Way SW, and then continue for a short distance around the curve on Dumar.

The crews have not yet scheduled this work–it will be executed with other paving jobs, and it requires favorable weather. We will announce the dates when the crews are closer to starting this paving work.

We will also be doing some spot travel lane repairs between the 4100 and 6900 blocks on Delridge to address problem pothole areas.

We would like to perform more extensive street reconstruction and paving, but this is what we can do with the funding available at this time.

The Sylvan potholes got special note here back in January. The city is still tracking potholes online (with 229 in queue as of about a week ago); you can see the latest map, with info on how to report them, by going here.

Mike April 5, 2011 (11:15 am)

Too bad they can’t transplant some of these potholes to Admiral Way or 35th SW. They are the original “traffic quieting” technology.

Rhonda Porter April 5, 2011 (11:24 am)

Beach Drive has some doozy pot holes too… I’m getting ready to fill them with flowers… hoping it will also slow down the speeders.

Kristen April 5, 2011 (11:27 am)

I’d also like to see the ones on California filled, as well as the ones on 106th in Arbor Heights… and boy oh boy, Beach Drive is so bad it’ll shake your fillings out of your head!

Kim Sharpe Jones April 5, 2011 (11:30 am)

How about the potholes and general road malaise along the detour routes that take us back from SoDo via the low bridge? It’s like the wild wild west down there.

BrerM April 5, 2011 (11:32 am)

35th has some doozies too. If nothing else, the avoidance game will wake you up faster than the coffee will.

Live Here; Learn Here April 5, 2011 (11:41 am)

I know. How about if they fix them correctly (and with better asphalt product) the first time, they won’t have to repeat the process over and over and over agian. If I had to redo my work more than once, twice, three times in a year, I’d be fired from my job!

JakeS April 5, 2011 (11:50 am)

The WHOLE of California should have been repaved several years back. You know, when Nickels was still in office and had it paved from SW Edmunds St. up through the Admiral District where he lives. Things that make you go hmmmm…

Skeeter April 5, 2011 (11:59 am)

It’s endlessly frustrating that taxpayers have to pay over and over and over and over again to fix the same potholes that open up every couple of weeks. I much prefer a tax hike so we can pay to fix them ONCE.

Lil'Wash April 5, 2011 (12:25 pm)

Horray!! I sometimes want to spray paint a circle around the potholes so people will be aware of them…but I think that is considered tagging.

Que April 5, 2011 (12:57 pm)

I actually saw the pothole brigade out in front of my house yesterday filling in some doozies on 35th… Yay!!!

Upset Taxpayer April 5, 2011 (1:01 pm)

It’s a waste of taxpayer money!!!!!! I hate to say it but the “POT HOLE FILLERS” are just dumping the asphalt raking their shovel over it and NOT tamping it down! It all flies in my car and window … lot of good that does! (other than making me angry!)

SJ2 April 5, 2011 (1:16 pm)

We had a bad one in our neighborhood on 34th and Juneau, someone put cones in it. That definitely slowed people down.

Thadeus April 5, 2011 (1:29 pm)

What is the point of the pothole crew they do a trouble job. I could throw some rocks on the hole and get a machine to compact it. Its a joke! Another way to waste taxpayers money. Fix it right the first time!

WSB April 5, 2011 (1:35 pm)

To be clear, for the last few commenters – this is paving work, not pothole-filling work. At least one level up.

sam-c April 5, 2011 (1:31 pm)

hooray! (I think) please tell me they are including the portion of Orchard between Dumar and 18th while they are there. is is hard to tell from their description. that is the worst portion of road I have ever seen in the city, as bad as some areas out there are. our car takes a beating.

KBear April 5, 2011 (1:34 pm)

If they let ’em go long enough, we’ll be able to drive downtown in some of those holes!

OP April 5, 2011 (1:38 pm)

This is my usual route to work, and yesterday an officer was trailing behind me. I had ZERO qualms about weaving my way around these mini-Grand Canyons, including maneuvering my car into the turn lane near we see in the picture above (which looks old to me as the road I think is in far worse shape). If he had pulled me over for doing those maneuvers, I was prepared to tell him not to waste his, mine or the court’s time. That didn’t happen, thankfully.

I don’t know what “spot asphalt paving” means exactly (now I do…and I’m not convinced it’ll do the job), but I hope it means compensating for what appears to be a significant drainage problem that may be undermining the surface. (Just my unprofessional, no-engineering-degree opinion, of course.) All the same, I hope this is not yet another temporary fix in a long line of temporary fixes.

I also agree with the readers above that portions of 35th are becoming riddled with frame-jarring potholes and that something needs to be done ASAP.

KT April 5, 2011 (2:11 pm)

I agree with sam-c. I really really hope that they include the portion of Orchard between Dumar and 18th. I have to drive that stretch every morning in the dark and never know what is waiting for me. We’ve had those holes filled half a dozen times, and it never seems to last more than a week.

rdm April 5, 2011 (2:53 pm)

I thought this section of road was repaved just a couple years ago.

whybother April 5, 2011 (3:45 pm)

The re-paving of California Avenue north of the Junction was great. But seemingly less than a month passed when some developer slices up the brand new pavement to connect their new building to sewer and water service. Now there are dozens of new holes sliced into the once pristine pavement. And when the new holes are re-filled, they are done so poorly.

BH April 5, 2011 (4:34 pm)

Good news — the potholes near Home Depot are a foot deep.

Ken April 5, 2011 (4:50 pm)

You don’t need an engineering degree to spot a stream of water running from the middle of the street. Orchard/Sylvan Way down hill (down stream?) has what we former rurals would call a “spring” running down the road bed. Until they fix or divert that, the potholes are just coming back under the new paving.

John April 5, 2011 (6:59 pm)

Spot paving over streets that have broken down won’t work well. Witness the hack job they did on 35th Av SW, south of Fauntleroy. I think streetcars ran down the center portion of the street, now paved with asphalt. Without proper prep of the underlayment, the asphalt has buckled after only a few years.

The same will happen along the proposed partial repaving projects. The city should do a proper job, fix the streets with concrete. A cheap job only comes back to bite you quick!

Doug April 5, 2011 (7:45 pm)

Someone actually drowned in a pothole in Pioneer Square a century ago. Don’t procrastinate.

Been There April 5, 2011 (8:55 pm)

Watch current SDOT Director Peter Hahn respond to direct questions about the “grind-and-skim-coat-with-asphalt” approach that has taken place on a lot of city streets that just a couple years hence their repaving are already failing. Hahn responds at 12:50 – http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3061103

Grind and skim coat is a failed policy.

Wendy Hughes-Jelen April 5, 2011 (11:58 pm)

It’s about time. I used to drive this route all the time when I lived at 18th and Myrtle, I swear these holes have been here for years and no one has ever done anything about them. The one right at the light just on the east side of Delridge felt like it was going to give me a flat this morning when I was headed back. You would think after all these years of figuring out how to perfect the system they would know how to fill up a stupid hole by now.

Yardvark April 6, 2011 (8:51 am)

Everyone’s driving on the wrong side of the road down by the pictured spot at Home Depot to avoid these potholes. Considering that’s a major arterial and also the spot where semi-trucks turn into Home Depot, that ain’t good. Fix it right, guys. It can’t be efficient to keep doing this every 4-6 months.

Lola April 6, 2011 (8:59 am)

I swear in some of the spots down by 1st and the waterfront you can see the Original Brick that used to be the road a century ago. Lets go back to the horse and buggy days and maybe the roads will get better! I know I Bob and weave my way around all the potholes anymore, I am just waiting to get pulled over for the cop to tell me how bad I was weaving while driving.

blf April 6, 2011 (9:59 am)

9000 block on 16th SW has been bad forever right in front of the Salvation Army building, why is that?

Michelle April 9, 2011 (5:22 pm)

If money’s the real issue, they should consider billing Home Depot for repairing the portion of the road there where the semi-trucks access their unloading area. The weight of the trucks and their frequent use of that stretch of the road is contributing to the wear and tear.

Sorry, comment time is over.