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| 20th Ave NW photo by Wayne Pridemore |
By Jonelle Kemmerling
In a recent survey, the community made their thoughts known on the new sidewalk with 223 responses about the proposed design for 20th Ave NW.
Laura Reiter, City Project Manager, and Darren Murata of DOWL presented three initial design alternatives during a Zoom meeting on Wednesday January 12, 2022.
Discussion followed about the major concerns:
Discussion followed about the major concerns:
- vehicle speed control and requests for speed bumps along the road. For example, motorists disregard the stop sign to the Saltwater Park entrance;
- stormwater drainage to eliminate ponding and the use of permeable concrete for the new sidewalk (favored by 77 respondents);
- the removal of trees. There was overwhelming support for preserving trees along 20th. The arborist, Tree Solutions, will be inspecting the affected trees and delivering a report in February 2022.
The expressed feeling is that folks do not want to cover the street with painted stripes, lines and excessive concrete and destroy the beautiful and calming nature of the walk to their jewel of a park, RB Saltwater Park. Someone said that an idea that has been around for 15+ years is to extend the design of the street to become a 'Grand Promenade' befitting the entrance to the park.
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| 20th Ave NW heading north at NW 193rd, away from the park entrance Photo by Wayne Pridemore |
Strong comments were made against the City's plan for a 10-foot-wide sidewalk to be shared with bicycles for fear of leading to accidents between pedestrians and cyclists. (21 survey respondents favored shared usage.) The City states that 10 feet is the standard for the safety of all using shared-use sidewalks. However, some experienced cyclists said they would prefer to use the street.
Other safety improvements mentioned were:
- Lighting: 53 in favor (25%)
- Crosswalks: 60 in favor (28%)
- Separate bike path: 59 in favor (27%)
- Storm water repairs: 94 in favor (44%)
Watch the website at www.shorelinewa.gov/20AveSidewalks for further updates.
This is where the city decides whether it serves the people who fund it, or just roll along doing whatever it wants. The people who live there should be the final voice and 10 ft wide sidewalks are the largest waste of revenue there is. They are ugly, unnecessary and expensive. They are a blight that is to be avoided at all costs.
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