If you’ve ever walked from Northlake Pizza or Voula’s Offshore Cafe to the University District on NE Northlake Way, you know that the two-block stretch west of the University Bridge is a nightmare for pedestrians. That is about to change.
Thanks to the Move Seattle levy (approved by Seattle voters in 2015), SDOT is currently installing three city blocks of sidewalk between 7th Ave NE and Eastlake Pl NE, two of which are on the north side of Northlake Way and the other on the south side. Additionally, the westbound bike lane on Northlake Way will be extended an extra block from 8th Ave NE to 7th Ave NE.
The project is due to be completed by the end of May. Though construction appears to be moving rapidly,
that date may be slightly optimistic. Nonetheless, the sidewalk will most certainly be completed by early June, providing folks a safer way to walk from coffee and omelettes at Voula’s to margaritas and kayaking at the Agua Verde Cafe.
This stretch isn’t that much utilized by pedestrians and bikes, because it’s next to Burke Gilman. It’s also not connecting major destinations for pedestrians. I doubt people walk from Wallingford to Agua Verde Cafe much, and those who bike there likely would still take Burke Gilman even with this improvement. Nice project but doesn’t seem the most important.
Or…that stretch is not much utilized by pedestrians because it’s a terrible place to walk. With all the new residence halls along NE Pacific Street just east of the University Bridge, students will have a much safer and more convenient way to get to and from places like Voulas, Ivars, Dunn Lumber and Waterway 15.
Students walking to Voula’s, Ivar’s, Dunn Lumber and Waterway 15 all sounds like very very rare events. And those residence halls have Northlake Way on one side and Burke GIlman on the other for them to get to Dunn Lumber, Waterway 15, and Ivar’s. Which route do you think they’d take even with the Northlake path available? You can try to observe the huge difference of traffic between Burke Gilman and Northlake in the stretch between Gasworks and Dunn Lumber. The bike lane is available for both, and nearly no bikes or pedestrians on the Northlake bike lane.
I actually used to bike on Northlake bike lane a lot, because nobody else did.
The south side should be a decent pedestrian attraction, with that small waterfront park under the freeway bridge, a nice restaurant, fish & chips and a premium waterway right in a row.
On the north side … Northlake Pizza used to be an attraction back in the ’70s, but back then we were tougher. The north side is no real problem for someone who wants to walk there. I don’t mean, try to squeeze behind the parked cars as in the photo, there’s plenty of room by the side of the road there. The roughest spot is the south side going under the University Bridge, where it isn’t OK to walk in the road and the alternative is a narrow dirt bank that passes for a trail. The diagram shows them fixing that – but not fixing the south side to the west, where for a block there isn’t much room between parked cars and traffic. They should have told the businesses there, they could choose between losing their angle parking for a sidewalk, or providing better access to the raised walk along their storefronts for pedestrian through traffic.
I do think it’d be a nice idea that would make the whole thing worth it much more if they can pave the whole stretch on the south side of Northlake. It can connect to Burke Gilman under the 99 bridge at the west end, and Boat Street at the east end. That way you’d definitely get foot traffic from pedestrians that want to avoid bikes on the Burke Gilman. It’d be a nice water front walk.
If you like a waterfront walk that isn’t exactly along the water. It’s primarily a water-related commercial/industrial area, and for me that’s the number one priority. The industrial complaints over trail conflicts in the Ballard Burke-Gilman segment were a tough call, but this one’s easy – we already have a trail through there.
It’s not the great, but it’s still way better than north side of Northlake. As I said, people don’t really use the north side trail. I am kind of curious when would the usage of land around Lake Union will get to be reviewed. Considering the development of the city, industrial use seems to make less and less sense over time for this stretch.
There’s also a new waterfront park being constructed along Boat Street where the old UW Police Station was. I expect the stretch between I-5 and Agua Verde to look dramatically different over the next decade, as light industrial makes way for more recreational space.
I-5 to Agua Verde they can have, and anyway recreation can certainly count as water-related. Along the Wallingford stretch of Lake Union, though, industrial use should be able to continue unmolested.
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I walk that way regularly to avoid the Burke Gilman. Too many people that don’t have any sidewalk etiquette. I like the fact that it is the road less travelled. Quicker to the back of the medical center. It’s nice to have the sidewalks, but it is taking forever. Sometimes crews out there just standing around doing what looks like nothing of much. Snails pace for something that shouldn’t take that long as was supposed to be done months ago. Plus the fact they paint the bike lanes and secure the street reflectors to pavement that is crumbling apart. In sailor’s jargon, it’s like painting over rust. Way to go Seattle. Why do the job right, when you can do it half assed.