November 18

15th Avenue has a new solar-powered speed sign

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Photo courtesy Maple Leaf Life reader Dawn Siegel.

When the 15th Avenue Bridge opens back up again this spring, all of the commuters who fled the 15th Avenue Northeast corridor during the bridge’s construction are in for a few new sights.

We now have the above solar-powered speed sign for northbound drivers at Northeast 86th Street, and the new sidewalks from Northeast 94th to 97th streets, shown below, also have recently opened up to pedestrians.

Unfortunately, it looks like some of the hydroseeding that was done last month may already be destroyed, at right, by a driver who apparently used our new sidewalk as a U-turn pullout.

In addition to improvements on 15th Avenue, Maple Leaf also has been promised a few crosswalks on Roosevelt Way Northeast, at Northeast 90th, 92nd and 97th streets. In mid-October, the intersections were prepped for the crosswalks, but still no sign of them a month later.

Well, the Seattle Department of Transportation Blog says they’re coming “before the winter rains,” so any day now ….

UPDATE: Brian Dougherty with SDOT says the tentative date for our new crosswalks is Dec. 9, weather and other factors pending. Rain, snow stay away!

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  1. On walking in the street: where the sidewalks are clear and wide enough, people do use them. Where sidewalks exist for only one or two houses but not a while block, or where sidewalks aren’t wide enough for more than one person to walk, pedestrians really can’t use the sidewalks that well. The nice, proper sidewalks with kerbs are way nicer to use, but the older ones without kerbs are often unusable because they’re uneven, not clear of plantings, or blocked by parked cars or motorcycles. I personally still use them, actually, but I totally get why many can’t/don’t.

    I agree that pedestrians probably aren’t giving drivers stink eye as much as looking out to make sure they don’t get hit. In reality, almost no driver drives at the legal 25 mph limit on side streets, so drivers shouldn’t take weird looks personally. Just slow down, smile, and wave, and I’m sure any hint of stink eye will turn into a smile back.

  2. When my parents moved to Maple Leaf in 1963 they chose between a house on 89th that already had sidewalks and curbs and a house on 103rd & 12th which did not. Their agent told them that the side walks were scheduled for extension to the city limits in the “next couple of years”. They figured a side walk in the hand was worth it and decided accordingly. I remember walking to Sacajawea down those steep hills from 15th. There was no where to walk that didn’t put me in peril from any vehicle with a dubious breaking system. I agree that it would be wonderful to finally see the curbs and side walks that the city promised over 40 years ago!

  3. I walk 12th Ave several times a week and call baloney on the claim there’s not enough room to walk two abreast. Get out of the street! There’s already enough tension between pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers without people aggravating the situation by blatantly violating the law.

    If you have issues about garbage burning or vehicle speeds, there are agencies to call and complain about that. To use it as justification to break the selected law of your choice is a juvenile attitude.

  4. As a stroller pusher myself, I’ve found that driveway aprons make an excellent alternative to corner ramps and are often convienentyly located a yard or two from the corner.

  5. As someone who walks in the street with my dogs, I can tell you that the two points in Dawn’s first note are related.

    It is difficult to use the sidewalks as two people walking abreast because the plantings interfere with the sidewalk, causing endless sidesteps and pauses while filing single file through the tight places.

    It is quite true that pedestrians are required to be on a sidewalk when one is available, but so much of our neighborhood does not have sidewalks that it is easier to just stay in the street once you are in the street.

    It is also true that homeowners are required by law to keep their growing plants from encroaching on the sidewalk from either side, and allowing 9′ or 10′ (I think) of vertical clearance. There are whole blocks in Maple Leaf that are in violation of this, making pedestrian passage difficult.

    We walk only late at night, when traffic is at a minimum; if you feel we have given you the stink eye, I apologize, we are only watching to see that you go past and don’t hit us.

    And don’t get me started about the people who drive the full length of 12th at high speed to have fun swerving around the traffic circles, assuming there could be no traffic coming from the side streets, or those who burn their garbage in their fireplace instead of putting it in the can, thus stinking up the neighborhood for blocks late at night when they think no one will notice.

  6. It’s curious to me that the city cheaped out on the sidewalks on 15th but installed a new concrete curb and sidewalk on 1st and 90th.

    While I agree on the lack of corner ramps at 12th and 91st being a pain for folks with kids, the majority of street walkers have been adults walking together or with their dogs. I’ve witnessed impromptu gatherings of pedestrians stopped in the middle of the street blocking traffic with glaring stink-eye because I had the gall to have them move to the side so I could drive by.

  7. I agree with many of the posters here … it’s great having these new “sidewalks”, but what a shoddy, low-budget approach. With erosion, poor drainage, etc., I can see them being basically unusable in 5 years. How much of this is the city wanting to complete previously promised projects, but on the cheap because of budget shortfalls?

  8. One of the reasons people with kids use the street on 12th (instead of sidewalks) is because there are no ramps cut out on the corners. This makes it hard to keep going up and down the abrupt edges at each intersection (not fun with a stroller). Regarding the new asphalt path…anyone know why some of the drainage is covered and some is not? Seems in winter we may end up with someone driving ino the drainage ditches. In my opinion it would probably be best to cover them all.

  9. I’m tempted to keep a tally of all the people I habitually see use the middle of the street as a pedestrian thouroughfare. Oooo, maybe with photos!! O

    Okay, I don’t actually have that much time, but, its an intriguing thought.

  10. Dawn has an excellent point. Even more annoying than people using the streets instead of sidewalks is when they turn around and give you a dirty look for having the audacity to drive your car behind them . . . I don’t even honk or rev my engine and they give me the evil eye.

  11. On the subject of sidewalks, I’d love to see people actually USE them. It’s far more common for people to walk their dogs – babies-children-run, down the center of the street (especially 12th on the way to the park) than the sidewalks that line boths sides of the street. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched close calls between cars and pedestrians.
    I’d also like to call on neighbors who have plantings of any kind along the sidewalk to follow the city ordinance and make sure that the sidewalks are clear of growth. In so many areas, prickly holly or other plantings cover up to half of the sidewalk.

  12. I’m glad for the speed signs and crosswalks.

    The fake sidewalks are better than nothing, I concede, but I honestly can’t imagine that putting in a proper kerb and concrete sidewalk would have cost THAT much more. I hate to complain about something sorely needed, but they could have been so much better for not much more money. (Also, the asphalt won’t last but 5-10 years in this climate, whereas proper sidewalks last 50-60 years; so the asphalt is way less cost-effective over time.)

    It’s also odd that they did the cheapo sidewalk thing one block shy of the bus stop at 98th. Odd.

    We still need more (and proper) sidewalks. Would anyone in their right mind let their kids walk on Maple Leaf’s streets to Olympic View and Sacajawea? It’s crazy.

  13. It is great that the city has made improvements in the drainage along 15th , but I think it is generous to call what was put in as sidewalks. They are blacktop walkways. It is very disappointing that the city would go to all this trouble, time and money of tearing up the streets and then skimp on a real sidewalk and curb. I think this is a very short sighted move. When will maple leaf get real sidewalks? I can’t believe how dangerous it is walking the side streets where we are forced onto the street also being used for cars. It is just going to take one unattentive driver and someone (god forbid a child) is going to get seriously injured. I am just disappointed this job couldn’t be done up to spec.

  14. Thanks for mentioning these.

    Concerning the new sidewalks and hydroseeding between NE 94th and NE 97th, did they intend to create an erosion demonstration project, or did it just work out that way?

    There seems to be minimal attention paid to the various ditches and ad hoc water runoff flowing into the area so that there is now large-and-getting-larger erosion all around the project, and many other places nearby (for example, the stretch between 95th and 96th) where the hedges and groundcover were removed but not replaced by anything. They appear to be prime candidates for future erosion/earth movement onto the sidewalk.

    I agree that it was a good project to undertake and that we will benefit from its presence, the erosion thing is just glaring.

    Thanks for doing this blog; I just found it last week and now visit daily.

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