The public works extravaganza continues

There is no news to report on the Third Avenue sidewalk repairs -- they removed great chunks of the sidewalks for several blocks, and have been letting the dirt air out, and pedestrians walk in the street, for a week. BUT! Now they are cutting up Fourth Avenue!

That saw cutting through the pavement is not as loud as a jet engine at takeoff thrust. But, if they keep trying, maybe they can get there. And they're trying.

I have noticed over the past few days that they have cut out big hunks of the east curb lane all down Fourth Avenue south of here to Stewart Street. It wasn't until they started cutting near me that I figured out what they are doing (I think). All these excavations are happening at the bus stops; I suspect they are going to replace the pavement at the bus stops with those perfectly flat concrete pads, as they have installed on 15th Avenue. I'm not sure, but I think I have read somewhere that they will also replace the curbs in these locations so the curb will be approximately level with the floor of the new flat-floor buses, so boarding a bus is more like boarding a subway car. (The Seattle Department of Transportation page about this project is too nonspecific to tell if that is the case.) The idea of that is to make it so a wheelchair can roll onto the bus, or an ambulatory cripple can walk onto the bus, without deploying the ramp, which will greatly speed up bus service. Unfortunately, wheelchairs still have to be lashed down by the driver, which slows things up.

The thing is, Fourth Avenue has a very significant crown on it. I'm not sure how they will be able to install a flat pad of concrete and have it line up with the sidewalk. Unless they plan to raise up the sidewalk.

Posted: Wed - April 1, 2009 at 12:41 PM

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The public works extravaganza continues

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