Last week Jefferson did a story on the city’s Bridging the Gap street-repair levy and how we might be getting the short end of the deal. Yesterday we got an update from SDOT spokeswoman Marybeth Turner that included two maps of improvements that have been made citywide and here in the neighborhood. The full maps are attached as .pdf files below.
Here’s a summary:
- Madison St was re-paved last year
- The 3, 4, and 14 bus routes got increased service (too bad only the suburbs get new service from the county taxes that fund Metro)
- Cross walks have been remarked in a number of intersections
- Signage has been improved, including in numerous school zones
- Bike sharrows & bike lanes have been painted on 19th and along some of the larger arterials, including Cherry, Jackson, & Union.
- “Electrical Traffic Control Device Improvements” have been made to 19th & Cherry, multiple places on Union and on Jackson & Yesler at the far western edge of the neighborhood.
- Left-turn light was added at 23rd & Jackson
- Sidewalks were repaired in a few places
So it’s a decent number of small things, and a big repaving project at the north end of the neighborhood.
Major improvements or changes to neighborhood transportation? Not yet.
Worth the $144 a year in additional property taxes on a $400k house? You decide.
I’ve got a request in for an update on 23rd Ave and whether it will soon be making the list, and whether it is considered a candidate for a road diet.
Plus we got a traffic-calming chicane on 20th at Marion. Thanks, Dena, Brenda and Misty!
A combination of bike lanes and sharrows were also added to Yesler Way from downtown to Leschi starting about 1.5 years ago as well. Unfortunately, many of the lane markings have already been obliterated, particularly by the recent snow, sanding, and plowing. Seems a rather inferior paint was used…
I REALLY hope that 23rd Avenue get repaved in many (if not all) places sometime in the near future, especially after having split a tire on a pothole along that street north of Union. I still have some personal misgivings about a road diet for 23rd Avenue since it is one of the few continuous North-South streets that connects the CD to neighborhoods to the North (Montlake/U-District & beyond) and the South (Rainier/Beacon Hill). Most of the other North-South arterials either terminate not far outside the neighborhood and/or narrow down to tight residential streets (especially to the north). I understand that 23rd Ave is busy, and probably not the most pleasant to walk along (I have done it), but it seems we do need some arterials that let traffic flow, otherwise we will end up with Eastside style bottlenecks where traffic gets funneled into a very limited number of streets that make getting around particularly unpleasant there.
On another side note, while outside of the CD, I really wish they would re-pave James Street from 9th Ave to 6th Ave, at least westbound. That street has been a series of potholes for 2+ years and despite my regular postings on the City of Seattle pothole website there has been no action to fix them.