Delridge-Highland Park Greenway complete, says SDOT

Construction of the Delridge-Highland Park Greenway is done, SDOT announced this afternoon – aside from “a few minor tasks,” such as:

*Finish sign installation and road striping

*Replace temporary handrail with permanent handrail on the new stairway on 17th Ave SW

*Reseed planting strip on 21st Ave SW just north of where 21st Ave SW and 22nd Ave SW merge

Seattle City Light will turn on the new signal at 15th Ave SW and SW Holden St

And Seattle Public Utilities continues with the Delridge Natural Drainage Project. If you live/work in, and/or frequently travel through the greenway area, you’re invited to answer this survey. Meantime, scroll down the project webpage for the city’s before/after images of spots along the greenway.

Trickycoolj March 30, 2016 (5:24 pm)

I presume this means the traffic light on 17th Holden is functioning? Haven’t been doing my normal commute this week.

Alan March 30, 2016 (8:04 pm)

That is on the short “to do” list. That has to be done by Seattle City Light apparently.

Craig March 30, 2016 (7:29 pm)

As noted there is a new stairway with bike runnel on 17 th between Webster and Myrtle. This feature is a diversion from the original plan due to unstable soil.

If a rider is new to the route and heading north. It seems likely that he or she might ride up the curb ramp and down the stairs.

I hope signage a maybe a barrier might be added to keep people from a trip to the ER.

Pete March 30, 2016 (8:28 pm)

Rthose of us in Pigeon Point had to spend a lot of time and energy to get SDOT to agree to fix the parking strip that they tore up during construction. There original solution was to replace grass with gravel. We now have in writing that they are going to remove the gravel and reseed the shoulder that they tore up and put it back to the way it was before they started this project.

Overthere March 30, 2016 (9:07 pm)

Why doesn’t the city try doing the simple tasks, like repaving Delridge? That street is a mess.

Darryll March 30, 2016 (9:12 pm)

Uh. We live on the green way route, and I can say without doubt that it is not done. Unless a number of the features the project team showed us in their “final” approved design were eliminated after the fact. I’ll definitely be following up with the project team on this.

AmandaKH March 31, 2016 (7:35 am)

I’m sure that’s where the money ran out Darryll, as usual.

Mamasuze March 30, 2016 (9:44 pm)

I live just off if Andover in Pigeon Point. I watched the sdot guys tear out a perfectly good sidewalk between 21st and 22nd and replace it with a new one that is twice as wide as a typical sidewalk….who knows why..?!! The amazing thing to me is that I pointed out to them one day that not 50 feet away (on 22nd) is an absolutely crazy dangerous section of sidewalk that is all wonky and contorted from huge tree roots. Can you fix THAT? I asked….. Sorry lady…it’s not in our work order.

AmandaKH March 30, 2016 (9:57 pm)

It would be so awesome if the greenway actually connected to White Center, not Cambridge, which is still in West Seattle. How does a Seattle agency not know where the City limits are?

Rob March 30, 2016 (10:58 pm)

Several of the neighbors living between 21st / 22nd and Genesee thought this project was going to connect the improvements along this route. Instead we have the same issues of bikers either riding along the sidewalk on this trail or in the middle of the street. We approached the city to put the gravel in said parking strip to improve the mud. Now it sounds like the grass is being replaced only to have it torn up again by those who park along there. Not to mention the Pathfinder parents who tear up the parking strip on 21st at the top of the trail to school. They have been approached by more than one neighbor about this and some of them are very rude and don’t care. Leave the gravel where it is! We are tired of the mud… as this was an issue before.

Tony C. March 30, 2016 (11:18 pm)

Living on 21st Ave SW, and walking the distance from our home up to Genesee and back on a daily basis, and living here since 2004, I can attest that SDOT does not deserve the entire responsibility for destroying the strip of grass, now mud in many areas, along 21st Ave SW. Others responsible for the destruction of the strip of grass along 21st Ave SW are: Parents of students attending Pathfinder; people living in the area; a lot of stolen cars left for the police to retrieve; Car To Go; and anyone else who happens through the area that has nothing better to do. Replacing grass with gravel is a waste of money, time, and energy because there are those that really give a rat’s hindquarters where they park, how they park, or how they spend their spare time. SDOT is to be commended for the improvements they have made to the crosswalk making it safer for pedestrians. In my opinion, the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Committee would really be wise to focus on the folks who speed through the area as if it were the Daytona International Speedway. Where we live, four times we have experienced drivers flying off the road and down the embankment, one driver flying off the road and into someone’s front yard (almost into the house), and one person killed because her car supposedly rammed from behind and pushed into a tree. Real solutions to an improved quality of life in this area of West Seattle deserve more attention to the real causes of the trashing of this area.

Tony C. March 31, 2016 (1:27 am)

WHOOPS! I made a mistake: Replacing grass with gravel is a waste of money, time, and energy because there are those that really give a rat’s hindquarters where they park, how they park, or how they spend their spare time. What I meant to say is, replacing the gravel with grass seed is a waste, etc. Thanks.

M March 31, 2016 (12:12 am)

Agree with Darryll & amandakh above.

Also, flashing beacons were included in the final draft at the (very busy & dangerous) intersection of 17th Ave SW & Henderson. Still waiting to see those…

Waiting, too, for the promised curb bulbs on the north and south sides of the same intersection so that cars cannot park so close to the intersection. When I last attempted to check in with the City about them, I got no response.

Alan March 31, 2016 (8:08 am)

I worry about the crossing of 16th on Webster. I think that location is as dangerous as the crossing of Holden on 15th, but no flashing beacons were included on 16th. Crossing 16th on Myrtle was so dangerous, even with a crosswalk and crossing guard, that they put in curb bulbs and flashing lights for the school zone. I’m afraid that people will assume they are safe in that crosswalk (when it is painted) and they are not.

John March 31, 2016 (9:20 am)

What a boondogle.

What is the point of spending millions of dollars on improvements and not any on enforcement? Talking about simple tasks for the city, how about protecting the new improvements?

Pigeon Point is a neighborhood that has adopted it own rules and the city simply does not care.

People parked blocking the sidewalks before all the improvements and continue to after the improvements.

23rd to Delridge is already a mess with the new landscaping already destroyed multiple times and a “No Parking’ sign in the planting strip bent to allow parking on it. Residents continue to park blocking the sidewalk and planting strip.

Residents also do not maintain their sidewalks and planting strips and leaving trash cans on the sidewalks making some of the improvements moot.

“No Parking” signs have been removed from the top of the rebuilt stair systems, where residents illegally store their cars blocking the ROW.

It is pointless complaining to Parking Enforcement as they can use their ‘discretion’ at the scene. I have even seen some people who display a paper from Parking Enforcement ‘allowing’ parking to block the sidewalks.

At the T of 21st and Andover, recent repaving was done incorrectly so that water fans across the road at the Stop sign on the south side of 21st. I contacted SDOT and provided photos showing the potential hazardous icing at the stop light. SDOT could not find any record of who did the repaving!

In the past I have approached both Jim Curtain of SDOT and attended Pigeon Point Neighborhood meetings about these illegal unsafe and destructive activities to no avail.

Tony C. March 31, 2016 (11:53 am)

Bingo!!! Thanks, John. Why in the heck would SDOT have to find the record of who did the repaving? Just fix the damn problem! We got involved with the Pigeon Point Neighborhood some 12 years ago and I did bring up the problem of an abandoned house, on a corner lot, that was falling in on itself; cars parking on the sidewalk; and sidewalks overgrown with plant life forcing walkers out onto the street. The neighborhood group spent time talking about the abandoned home with one member getting up and almost crying sharing that the owner lived in Georgetown and that the abandoned imploding home was her dream house. Not a dream in my eyes, but more like a nightmare infested with rats. The neighborhood group was really stuck on moving on the issue, so Vivian (now passed) and I got together and took care of the problem with Seattle City Gov. On the other two mentioned issues above; cars parked on the sidewalks and overgrown plant life onto the sidewalks, I was encouraged to create a flyer to distribute asking people to be more considerate by not parking on the sidewalks, and taking care of them. The flyer was rejected by the leadership with the comment that they didn’t want neighbors to be angry with the group. At that point, I lost interest in the group.

Sorry, comment time is over.