35th south of Roxbury…

[Greystreet]

Does anyone else find the sidewalk project with road narrowing to be a little awry on 35th, south of Roxbury? Since they installed the new sidewalks between 103rd and 104th down to 106th, 35th Ave SW has been narrowed to an almost unsafe degree. Living off of 104th, I turn onto 35th in both directions quite frequently. The corner bumpouts are now so extreme I have to turn into the other lane of traffic to turn onto 35th, and when cars are turning onto 104th from 35th they almost collide with me, and I only drive a Subaru Outback, so nothing too grand. Am I the only one who finds this ridiculous or are others experiencing difficulty with these interactions?!

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[flyingchickensinthebarnyard]

It’s not you. All the streets in Arbor Heights were plotted narrower than in Seattle proper. The sidewalks, curbs, curb bulbs and other items being added are definitely making for a narrower, harrowing journey down 35th. Not sure if it’s things the neighborhood requested, or building to code – but it’s been negatively impacted.

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[Michael Waldo]

I agree. I dread driving down the street now. Going north bound, there is a dog leg in the road so you have to turn towards the on coming lane and it is very narrow. I try to go around this route now, using the old detour route, which the folks on 39th most likely are not happy about. The north bound side has cement then a strip of blacktop on the side which sometimes throws my car off balance. I am waiting for either a bad side swipe or head on crash on this stretch of road. Turning left from 106th to go south on 35th, the sidewalk bulb on the SW side sticks out to far. I have to cross over into over lane to make the turn. I often believe the government policy of having to always take the lowest bid is not always a wise choice.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Michael Waldo.

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[peggie_griffith@hotmail.com]

As someone who lives on 39th, it’s really not great having the extra traffic. As you have probably noticed, we don’t have sidewalks on either side of 39th, and unfortunately people aren’t particularly great about driving slowly and carefully around pedestrians.

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[anonyme]

I live on one of the staging corners. There have been multiple accidents since the installation of these massive curbs, mostly from tires hitting the invisible, obtrusive curbs as drivers try to squeeze through these unsafe bottlenecks. One accident I witnessed threw the vehicle into the oncoming lane, directly in front of an SUV full of kids. The SUV was able to swerve into the other lane. A hubcap popped off and shot like a missile down the new “safe route” sidewalk. My neighbor’s car was sideswiped as a result of the narrow lanes.

As I tried to cross at the NW corner bulb of 35th &102nd this morning, I noticed that parked cars north of the intersection completely block the view of pedestrians trying to cross at this new, “safe” corner. It is now infinitely more dangerous for pedestrians than before this brilliant new design was implemented. At least it’s almost finished, more than two months late at the most conservative estimate.

Next step is the street tree fiasco. The massive beds originally intended for street trees were planted with lawns instead – the most high maintenance, unsustainable landscape option possible, with maintenance responsibility dumped on adjacent homeowners. The project arborist is instead squeezing some trees into the narrow, sloped strips between the sidewalk and private property lines. Insane. The landscaping company chopped holes in the highly compacted, narrow planting strips on the east side of 35th, and intend to plant red oaks – which is in violation of SDOT’s own street tree policy, which requires a minimum width of 8′ for red oaks, which grow to be massive. Well, if they survive, that is, which is unlikely given the conditions.

This entire project has been a nightmare of poor planning and execution. It would be interesting to see the actual bill (including time/cost overruns for taxpayers) especially given the fact that many of the dangerous features discussed here will undoubtedly have to be torn out and redone down the road (no pun intended).

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[Sunuva]

You are not alone. I often take a left from 100th north onto 35th. The sidewalk on the right side of the road now sticks out several feet further than the left side. This makes it so you have to pull forward into what should be the southbound 35th crosswalk in order to see well enough to safely make the turn. Ironically, they’ve actually made it more dangerous for pedestrians at that intersection! It’s probably only a matter of time before a car strikes a pedestrian at this intersection as they have to pull further forward to see how to turn safely.

What bothers me also is that Arbor Heights really badly needs sidewalks! Now I feel like a jerk for complaining about the one we just got. :(

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[Greystreet]

I’m glad to hear it wasn’t just me who thought this was ludicrous. I’m just wondering what we do about it? I would hate to say that a tragic accident will have to be the impetus for them to fix a problem that was just created, but as we know, just contacting Herbold isn’t going to get us anywhere quickly. Hmmm, what do you think fellow Arbor Heights folks, how can we point out these safety issues that are glaringly clear to us but seemingly invisible to the people who installed them?

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[anonyme]

They’re baaaack….

SDOT has moved the heavy equipment back onto 35th, closing sections of the street without notice. They just finished this project at the end of October, two months + overdue. Now they’re re-excavating and demolishing sections of the new sidewalks and ramps. They are, at this moment, smashing concrete in front of my neighbor’s house, who have a newborn baby. Nice.

The glaring issues mentioned by Greystreet, visible to anyone with at least one eyeball and two gray cells, were installed without question by these bozos and their inspector. Multiple people reported these issues to SDOT, but they refused to correct the errors as they were in progress. For example, they really did a number on my entry. That’s when I discovered that their blueprint/plans in regard to my property were incorrect. When I pointed this error out to the moron-in-chief, who was sent out to shut me up, he said he wasn’t interested in errors on the blueprint. So there you have it.

Now, neighbors are again to be subjected to this nightmare of noise, destruction, and damage. Perhaps worse, we – and ALL of you – are paying for this boondoggle, including the bizarrely placed ‘street trees’. We received no notice that this was to happen, so have no idea of the scope or duration of the re-construction. I really wish someone would look into this gross waste of time and taxpayer money, but neither Jenny Durkan, Lisa Herbold, or Jesse at KIRO were interested.

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[Michael Waldo]

When I saw the street trees, at first I though, cool new trees. Then I noticed how skinny the patch of grass is between sidewalk and street. It won’t be long before cars are being side swiped by branches and branches being knocked of. They just got planted and already the branches reach the curb. No to mention folks walking by and having to dodge the branches. But in Seattle, for some reason, no one is ever held accountable for cost over runs and poor work. Just look at the messed up cement job on the West Seattle bridge. Someone drove a truck over it while it was still setting up. The tracks are quite noticeable and have grabbed my tire more then one. Sigh.

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[anonyme]

As I said above, the way these new trees have been installed is a violation of SDOT’s own rules. If a taxpaying property owner applied for a permit to plant these species in these locations, they would be denied.

As for the sidewalks, I was told this morning by the inspector (who was on site daily during the prolonged construction) that all the new ramps have to be demolished and rebuilt as they are not ADA compliant. How in hell does something like that go unnoticed? When I asked why it wasn’t done right the FIRST time, he shrugged and said “I don’t know”. Well, he damn well should know. Taxpayers are being fleeced.

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[anonyme]

The way the street trees are installed are a violation of SDOT’s own street tree rules. The trees planted on the east side of 35th are red oaks, which get 60′ tall and wide. The Street tree rules require an 8′ wide planting strip for this species; these new trees are planted in compacted strips 3-4′ wide. But the most idiotic plantings are on the west side. It was determined that trees could not be planted in the wide, new planting strips along the street due to “utilities”. Not exactly sure what they were referring to; there are overhead wires as well as underground utilities, both of which were in place before the construction. Instead (and this is where it goes off the rails wacko) the arborist planted trees between the sidewalk and the private property lines. It won’t be long before the soil washes off of the root balls due to the significant grade change on this side. Some trees have been planted directly under the canopy of existing trees on private property, actually touching the branches overhead, or squeezed between large trees. Nor will the minor adjustment from one side of the sidewalk to the other prevent these trees from interfering with utilities. If these trees are able to grow at all, they will quickly intrude on both the sidewalk and private property, as well as heave the new sidewalks.

Speaking of which, the contracted SDOT inspector, who was on site for the entire construction period, says all the new ramps have to be rebuilt as they are not ADA compliant. Some have been a couple of times already. When I asked why they weren’t installed correctly the FIRST time, he just shrugged and said “I don’t know”. This from the inspector, for Chrissake. Seattle taxpayers are being fleeced.

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[flipjack]

I agree, I’ve serviced that area for many years with my mobile mechanic business and many of my long-time customers in Arbor Heights have brought it up as an issue… I’m all about safety first, but seems like these SDOT projects are just about filling quotas and using up taxpayer money rather than doing the job right the first time. Look at how little effort goes into repairing our local roads after a condo goes in and they rip the streets up with heavy equipment like cranes, or dig the a hole in the street for utilities and then shovel a mound of asphalt on top of it like that is going to last more than 6 months before it becomes a huge crevice or pothole. This city needs to step up to the plate or the yellow vests will be hitting the streets soon.

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[wsn00b]

The entire stretch of 35th Ave SW is a showcase of SDOT’s utter incompetence in policy, planning and execution. Most of it just a patchwork of homeowner delegated sewer patchwork, multiple different surface types, a botched Move Seattle levy boondoggle, a world class collection of potholes/ruts, etc. It is the single most frustrating thing about living in WSEA for me (I guess I have it good).

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