The view looking east on NE 70th Street by View Ridge Playfield.
SDOT crews were out in full force Wednesday, beginning construction on about 40 curb ramps at corners on NE 70th Street from 36th Avenue NE to 48th Avenue NE.
The ramps will bring the area up to current standards, making the area easier to navigate for walkers, wheelchair-bound folks and people pushing strollers.
Crews began prep work began this week and plan to start breaking out concrete next week, working on about three blocks at a time. At each intersection, they plan to work on one corner at a time. When they take out a corner, they will provide asphalt ramps (many already installed) to enable people to use the sidewalk while construction is in process.
The asphalt ramps, however, are drawing lots of head scratching because of their placement (some 10 or 15 feet from corners, straight into traffic) and questions about why they are necessary in places that worked pretty well without any ramps at all and can wait another week or so.
Parking will be a bit tighter during construction but SDOT has no plans to close any traffic lanes. This program is funded by the “Bridging the Gap” transportation initiative approved by Seattle voters in 2006.
