Where the sidewalks end on 180th street

A photo by Kevin Atkinson, Treasurer, North City Neighborhood Association,
shows a pedestrian walking in the street where the sidewalk ends on 180th

By Oliver Moffat

On the 2nd Thursday of each month, the North City Neighborhood Association hosts a meetup at Monka Brewing Company to talk about local issues and make friends.

When the neighbors meet, one topic that is sure to come up is traffic safety. And the section of road that comes up most frequently is where the sidewalks end on 180th street in North City.

A map by Mark Notermann, Co-Chair of the North City Neighborhood Association, shows the location of apartments and condos (yellow), the light rail station (red), recently completed sidewalks (green), and unfunded sidewalk projects (blue) 

Whether walking, biking, driving or taking the bus, 180th is the primary road residents of apartments in the neighborhood will take to reach the 185th street station.

There are two particularly troubling gaps in the sidewalk along NE 180th Street between 15th Ave NE and 12th Ave NE that force pedestrians to walk in the roadway.

A photo shows where pedestrians must use the road on 180th street 

That section of 180th is on a hill with poor visibility. And that block of 180th is the location of a school bus stop, the fire station, and later this year Metro’s 348 will add frequent all-day and all-night service to the street.

A map shows the locations where the sidewalks end on 180th street
forcing pedestrians into the road 

The city includes 180th in the estimated $80 million worth of road improvements for the 185th Street Multimodal Corridor Strategy.

But given staffing shortages and funding constraints, the city says it could be more than a decade before the 185th project would get the green light.

A map shows the five segments of the 185th Street Multimodal Corridor Strategy with estimated costs; North City residents have raised safety concerns about segment “E” - 180th between 15th and 10th

The city’s proposed Transportation Improvement Plan breaks the 185th project into five different segments labeled “A” through “E”.

Section “E” would build sidewalks on 180th between 10th and 15th and would cost about $5 million.

But the section that North City residents are most concerned about is between 12th and 15th - which might be much less expensive.

A photo by Kevin Atkinson, Treasurer, North City Neighborhood Association,
shows a wheelchair user on 180th

North City residents have asked the city to separate the west-side and east-side segments of the 185th project in the Transportation Improvement Plan.

Separating segments “D” and “E” would be consistent with the 145th and 175th corridor projects and would allow city engineers to consider the priority and costs of the North City segments separately from the west-side segments.

On May 20, 2024 the Shoreline city council will vote on adoption of the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Plan.