For those living near 40th St. the first half of 2020 has seen an increased pace of construction to smooth sidewalks, improve pedestrian crossings and lay new asphalt. Along with those benefits, though, have come some necessary ills: noise, dust, traffic delays and detours for pedestrians, bicyclists and motor vehicles alike. (Residents up near 50th St. have already endured a far longer period of the same. That work is now complete.)
But the end is now in sight. We received word from SDOT this week that they intend to finish the paving of 40th from Stone Way to Latona, the last stage in the project, on Monday and Tuesday unless weather or other delays force the work into Wednesday.
Quoting from their email, here’s what we can expect:
- NO access in or out of driveways or parking garages when the road is closed and paving is in process. Asphalt can take up to 6 hours to fully cure; we will re-open driveways as it is safe and feasible.
- We will deliver flyers to notify you before driveway closures
- No parking signs will be in place during this work
- If you need access to your vehicle during this work, please park on side streets
- Emergency access will be maintained at all times during this work
- Pedestrian access to homes and businesses to be maintained at all times
- There may be changes to the King County Metro lines 31 and 32. Please sign up for Metro Rider Alerts for more information. Traffic will be maintained with one rotating lane of traffic
I’ve been enjoying the smooth sidewalks that have been in place for a month or so now. I can walk along without looking at my feet! The smoother streets will be nice, too. Still waiting for the pedestrian beacon at Bagley near Irwin’s to be activated.
It seems the 40th construction went faster than 50th and with less impact. After all, 50th got the highway entrance and more traffic, while 40th construction was done half during the shut down times. Also I think the stretch done on 40th is shorter than 50th?
We will be glad to see it done! We live just up from 40th on 1st.
One quibble to an otherwise nicely-done project: anyone else feel like the curb-cuts and new sidewalk edges are a tad, uh, inelegant? Like, kinda clunky, often misaligned, and just rather protuberant? Maybe it’s just cuz they’re new and I’m not used to ‘em.
But take the NW corner of 40th & 1st NE for example. The uphill edge of the sidewalk, the little retaining wall so to speak, sticks way out into foot traffic, I think. Maybe it has to, to follow the property line. Seems like a big trip hazard to me.
Sorry for the Monday-morning quarterbacking. Like I say, I mostly dig (haha) what they have done.
The plan for the sidewalk at our corner had curbs but I asked them to reconsider because the old sidewalk didn’t have curbs. Owen, I believe the project manager for the contractor, checked and changed the plan. No curb, no trip hazard.
Oh dear.
Yeah. I hope the folks living on 40th who didn’t want a bike lane there because it would make parking difficult enjoy the cars doing 40mph down the street. Great win guys. #Doing40on40th.
Glad to see neighbors win one against the bike lane lobby and that 40th will be kept for it’s intended purpose. Not to worry though, there are plenty of other arterials for activists to steal from commuters. The War on Cars marches on.
So you provide an anecdote of a driver who ran a red light. I guess we should, what, do away with stop lights then? Take away all the arterials and install protected bike lanes everywhere? Kick cars out of the city? Kick them out of the state?
Funny, whenever I provide an anecdote of a vagrant attacking someone or burning down a structure, it’s dismissed as exactly that: an anecdote.
Funny how that works
I sent email to SDOT and the Paving Project email address to ask if they would consider installing a solar powered radar speed sign eastbound on 40th between Wallingford and Latona. Vehicles are very fast on this downhill stretch so a current speed sign may encourage some drivers to obey the 25MPH speed limit.
If inclined, please email a request.
That’s a great idea, Gary. Those signs do catch my attention and, being a reasonably decent person, I try to align to its warnings. Still, I can’t help but wish they would fire a rocket-propelled grenade at anyone going 10 MPH or more over the limit. Too harsh?
Might be too much collateral damage with an RPG. It’s amazing how many cars back up behind you when you drive 25 MPH eastbound on 40th.
The people have spoken. No traffic mitigation on 40th. Freedom! #Doing40on40th.
Keep trying with that hashtag DOUG. Maybe one day…well, ya never know! 🙂
Well, keep at it, and I’m sure eventually you’ll have your anecdote.
Safety isn’t just an attribute of the street.
I’ve crossed in that vicinity many times, without hazard to myself because I wait until there isn’t anyone coming. I would not at all recommend stopping traffic to cross, for exactly the reason you discovered.
Like every street, N 40th is located in a neighborhood, but if it were a neighborhood street in any sense of the term beyond that, we wouldn’t have to wait. We wait because it’s a heavily used arterial. I don’t usually have to wait very long, though. But I’m not really asking you to wait, I’m just telling you that if you’re concerned about safety, that’s where you’ll find it.
Donn doesn’t care that drivers one through five had a legal obligation to stop for you at that unmarked crosswalk (SMC 11.40.040). Donn doesn’t care that what the seventh driver did was also illegal (SMC 11.53.400). #DonnDoing40on40th.
Well said. Oslo (pop 673,000) achieved “Vision Zero” – no pedestrian or cyclist deaths – last year. Seattle’s committed to Vision Zero too, so we should wholesale “do what they did.”
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/01/03/vision-zero-norwegian-capital-completely-quashes-road-deaths/
DOUG doesn’t care if people get run over by motor vehicles.
Can we talk about Kitaro’s???