35TH/ALASKA/AVALON: What’s next

Here’s what’s happening next on the 35th/Alaska/Avalon repaving-and-more project, as announced today by SDOT:

Next week we will continue with demolition on the north half of SW Alaska St between 35th Ave SW and 36th Ave SW. Weather depending, as early as February 12 we anticipate beginning concrete pouring on 35th Ave SW and continuing onto SW Alaska St. This work will continue into the week of February 17. After completing the north side of SW Alaska St we will then move traffic to the north side and begin work on the south side of SW Alaska St as early as February 24. We anticipate work in this zone to take several weeks. Please note that this work is weather dependent and may be rescheduled. We will be sure to let you know if this work changes.

During construction, please expect left turns onto SW Alaska St from 35th Ave SW to be restricted to allow room for our crews to work safely and efficiently. Additionally, access to 36th Ave SW from SW Alaska St will remain restricted at the north end until concrete work is complete. Once complete, we will then close the south end of 36th Ave SW and SW Alaska St to demolish and rebuild the southern half of SW Alaska St.

Also noted, no work is planned February 14, 17, and 21, For a big-picture look at what’s been done and how much longer until the entire project is complete, see our report from two weeks ago.

6 Replies to "35TH/ALASKA/AVALON: What's next"

  • Cathy February 8, 2020 (9:44 am)

    Could this project be more convoluted? Or drawn out and an imposition on the residents and driving public? It is like a Marx brothers movie.  

    • KM February 8, 2020 (12:16 pm)

      I simply cannot handle a minor and temporary detour for future long term improvements. Give me convenience or give me death!

    • Peter February 10, 2020 (8:16 am)

      What is you’re background in engineering and construction? Based on that, what would you have done differently?

  • Asking February 8, 2020 (3:02 pm)

    Cathy. Educate us on how this project should have been done without inconvenieceing anybody.

    • Will S. February 8, 2020 (10:21 pm)

      Sorry, it just doesn’t have to be this way. It’s true that roads on heavily-used bus routes take a real pounding. SDOT thinks the solution is not to repave from time to time (which is relatively quick and inexpensive but also something SDOT is terrible at doing). Instead, SDOT chose to completely reconstruct these roads, digging up the foundation and replacing it with steel-reinforced concrete, which lasts a very long time under heavy use. Along the way they took on the complexity of adding a water main, tinkering with parking and bus lanes, and adding a protected bike lane (the last of which is important, in that it’s one of the few upgrades that will make a difference to anyone, but it’s also the kind of thing that can be done cheaply and quickly if you aren’t completely rebuilding the road from scratch). When it’s finally over—after 14 months of construction, compared to just weeks for a repaving project—SDOT will have installed an impenetrable barrier underneath the bus route. And that will be fine, until someone needs to make a utility cut to support transit-oriented development, install something like 5G cables, or build an elevated light rail line. That unlucky person will discover that it’s really expensive to cut through reinforced concrete and also difficult to repair it properly. What could have been a mini project (well, not ST3 I admit) will end up taking longer and permanently messing up the road. SDOT will then claim it’s not their fault, since their new road would last practically forever if there weren’t a growing city around it. Meanwhile, many roads in other places (including roads that bicyclists have to ride on) won’t get the simple repaving they need, because SDOT sunk all the levy money into a few overwrought projects like this one and 23rd in the Central District, a similar project from which SDOT appears to have learned approximately nothing. 

  • Viaduct February 8, 2020 (4:21 pm)

    They can tear down the viaduct faster than repaving a few blocks of 35th. They clearly don’t dedicate many resources to just get it done. They had months of good weather, yet saw too many times of inactivity. It simply hasn’t been a priority. More crews so multiple sections can be done simultaneously. 

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