Linden Design Update
On August 20 the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) project team for the Linden Avenue N Complete Street project held an open house at the Bitter Lake Community Center to update the community on the latest version of the design for the street improvements. Project manager Connie Zimmerman and project design engineer David Vijarro described changes added to the project based on feedback from the design open house in 2009.
The changes include:
- Placed both bicycle lanes on the east side of the street, buffered from traffic. This is new to Seattle but is used successfully in other cities.
- Added a sidewalk on the west side of Linden between N 128th St. and N 130th St., for better access to the Interurban Trail at N 128th St.
- Added a crosswalk between the Bitter Lake Community Center and the east side of Linden at N 131st St, for access to the stores in the shopping area east of Linden.
- Added a sidewalk on the west side of Linden north of N137th St., for a more direct route than the current sidewalk.
- In addition, the design pictures included more detail about landscaping with street trees, and parking for cars.
Connie Zimmerman explained the funding situation. Currently there is enough funding in the budget to construct the improvements from N 130th St. to N 135th St., approximately $4.8 million. The current project schedule would finish constructing that segment by the end of 2012. Construction of the other segments would depend on when funding became available – it is estimated that the cost to construct the remaining blocks would be $7.5 million. During the question and answer period the point was made that right now the 2011-2012 City budget is being put together, and if you want the rest of Linden improvements constructed now is the time to contact the mayor and city council members urging that.
To get up to date information on the project visit http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/linden.htm You can also subscribe to e-mail updates at this site.
