Showing posts with label public works. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public works. Show all posts

King County Council unanimously approves sale of Brugger’s Bog Maintenance Facility to the city of Shoreline

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The decant facility has been vacant since King County surplused it
Photo by Steven H. Robinson


The Metropolitan King County Council voted unanimously at its June 24 meeting to approve an ordinance authorizing the sale of land designated as surplus by the King County Roads Division to the city of Shoreline. The property is adjacent to Brugger’s Bog Park and wetlands, and will serve as a maintenance facility for the city of Shoreline. The legislation was sponsored by County Councilmember Rod Dembowski.

Shoreline has outgrown their current one-acre facility, which houses both the City’s parks and public works maintenance operations. The purchase of the Brugger’s Bog maintenance facility will allow for additional space for equipment storage and equipment maintenance, and will serve as a fueling site for both city of Shoreline vehicles and Police vehicles, which currently have to travel to Lynnwood to fuel their patrol cars. In addition, King County and the City will jointly use the site as a decanting facility for vactor trucks.

“We are pleased to be able to acquire this property in order to serve the residents of Shoreline,” stated Shoreline Mayor Keith McGlashan. “On behalf of the City, I want to express my appreciation for Rod’s leadership in passing this legislation that is critically important to our City.”

The sale was supported by the Friends of Aldercrest and the Sound Cities Association.

“I am pleased that we were able to pass this ordinance, that will ensure Shoreline can effectively maintain its parks, streets, and utilities as the city grows,” said Councilmember Dembowski. “I appreciate the city of Shoreline’s commitment to work with the Shoreline Water District during its planning process for possible joint use of the site.”

King County and Shoreline also partner in providing residents many regional services. Through King County, Shoreline contracts its police, District Court, animal control, jail, public defense, traffic signals and road maintenance. 


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Lake Forest Park street preservation: 2013 Overlay Project

Saturday, June 22, 2013

As part of the King County North Overlay Project for 2013, the City of Lake Forest Park will be overlaying 30th Ave NE between NE 205th St and NE 195th St. The work will begin sometime between July 1st and July 12th. The contractor chooses the dates.

30th Ave between NE 205th St and NE 195th St
will be resurfaced


The overlay will take place in three main phases:

Phase one is grinding. The grinders will grind small areas where 30th Ave NE meets side streets. This is known as the “marriage lines”. There will only be momentary delays for traffic entering 30th Ave NE. Grinding will take less than 1 day to complete.

Phase two is the paving. The pavers will place approximately 2 inches of new hot mix asphalt on the existing street surface, joining the side street’s asphalt at the marriage lines. There may be delays of 20 minutes to allow the new asphalt to cool before vehicles drive on it. Paving will take less than 1 day to complete.

Phase three is the replacement of street surface markings. The traffic markings are painted down in dry weather. There should be only momentary delays as the paint trucks make their way down the street. Markings should take no more than a couple of hours to complete.

Dated No Parking barricades will be placed by the contractor for both the grinding and the paving. Please be aware of the temporary parking restrictions. Cars parked along 30th Ave during the restricted times will result in project delays and will be towed at the owner’s expense.

For questions call Lake Forest Park’s Public Works Department at 206-368-5440 Ext. 125.


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County Council to hold public hearing on sale of surplus county property to city of Shoreline

Friday, June 14, 2013

The 'decant facility' by Brugger's Bog
Photo by Steven H. Robinson


The Metropolitan King County Council will hold a public hearing on Monday, June 24, 2013 to take testimony on a proposed ordinance that would authorize the execution of an agreement for the sale of surplus King County property to the city of Shoreline.

The public hearing on the proposed sale will be held before the full council at the King County Courthouse, Room 1001 on Monday, June 24, 2013, at 1:30pm.

The city of Shoreline is acquiring a 2.87 acre surplus parcel commonly referred to as the Brugger’s Bog facility from the King County Roads Services Division. The site was previously used as the North maintenance site for the Roads Services Division.

After the city of Kirkland annexed the Juanita/Kingsgate/Finn Hill areas, the Roads Services Division declared the property surplus to its needs and an agreement to sell the site to the city of Shoreline was developed.

This property is located in the city of Shoreline at 19547 25th Avenue Northeast in District 1. Shoreline plans to continue to use the property for maintenance purposes.

Copies of proposed ordinance 2013-0155 are available upon request from the Clerk of the King County Council, Room 1200, King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104, telephone 206-296-1020. The ordinance is also available online.

The purchase was recently approved by the Shoreline City Council.



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New sinkhole in Lake Forest Park

Wednesday, December 19, 2012


Street closure NE 195th St between 35th Ave NE and 34th Ave NE.

Due to a large sinkhole around a cross culvert on NE 195th St, between 35th Ave NE and 34th Ave NE, this street will be closed until the City Engineer has time to assess the damage.


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Sinkhole repair crew cut water line to homes in Lake Forest Park

Tuesday, December 4, 2012


Photo by Jerry Pickard

Shoreline Area News photographer Jerry Pickard woke up Monday morning to no water in his Lake Forest Park home. He went looking for the answer and found that the crews repairing the 178th sinkhole had accidentally cut the water line.

He was still waiting for water four hours later, but in the meantime, he got these shots of the repairs.


Photo by Jerry Pickard
Belated update! Lake Forest Park Water District Manager Alan Kerley says that the crews did not cut the line. When they exposed the line, they discovered that it was broken and leaking, probably from shifting of the earth around the pipe. They had to turn off the water to replace the broken pipe sections.


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Shoreline's 2012 Pavement Preservation Project begins August 15 in North City and Ballinger neighborhoods

Wednesday, August 15, 2012


As part of a continuing effort to improve public infrastructure, Shoreline will be resurfacing arterial streets in the North City and Ballinger Neighborhoods beginning Wednesday, August 15. Work is expected to be completed by August 31. While streets are being resurfaced, traffic will be impacted. Please follow the traffic controls and drive slowly.

The City has contracted with Doolittle Construction Company to perform the work. Doolittle Construction will place sandwich boards on impacted roads 48 hours in advance of the work. The boards will include a tentative schedule, hours of operation, parking restrictions and contact information in case of questions or concerns. During paving, residents may contact Jaclyn McConnell with Doolittle Construction at (425) 455-1150 to answer questions and address concerns, or ask field staff directly.

The preliminary schedule for the initial resurfacing is as follows:

Thursday and Friday (8/16-17):
  • NE 205th (from 19th Ave NE to 30th Ave NE)
  • 25th Ave NE (from Ballinger to NE 205th ST)
  • 19th Ave NE (from NE 196th ST to NE 205th ST)
  • NE 196th ST (from 15th Ave NE to 19th Ave NE)
  • 15th Ave NE (from NE 196th ST to Ballinger Wy NE)
Monday and Tuesday (8/20-21):
  • 15th Ave NE (from NE 196th ST to 24th AV NE)
  • NE 175th ST (from Freeway to 25th AV NE)
  • 10th Ave NE (NE 195th intersection to NE 175th ST)
  • NE 180th ST (from 10th Ave NE to 13th Ave NE)
The second phase of the project, applying a fog seal, will occur three to seven days after the initial resurfacing. Loose rocks will be swept from the roadway daily for a week after the resurfacing.

This is the second year the City has used Bituminous Surface Treatment (BST) to resurface City streets. By using BST, the City is able to preserve the condition of good roads at a fraction of the cost of traditional asphalt overlays. Pavement preservation ensures that roads in good condition remain in good condition, preventing costly rehabilitation methods if the road were allowed to deteriorate.

Your cooperation and patience is greatly appreciated. More information about the BST process. During paving, residents may contact Jaclyn McConnell with Doolittle Construction at 425-455-1150 to answer questions and address concerns, or ask field staff directly.



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Survey Team on 41st Ave NE and 44th Ave NE – Friday, August 17th


On Friday, August 17, 2012, a survey team will be gathering data on 44th Avenue NE north of Brookside Boulevard NE and on 41st Avenue NE between NE 165th and SR 522 in Lake Forest Park. 

In June, City Council authorized City staff to sign an agreement with Otak, Inc. to explore the feasibility of making right of way improvements facilitating commuter parking. The survey work on August 17th will allow Otak, Inc. to gather survey data and create scale base maps. These will be used to access the possible size, number and orientation of parking spaces and cost estimates at the two locations.

Otak will summarize their findings in a draft preliminary engineering report which the City staff will review at the Council work session on September 24, 2012. After the September 24, 2012 work session, City Council will decide what the next steps will be in deciding whether existing rights of way could be used for commuter parking.


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Lake Forest Park is resurfacing streets with chip seal

Sunday, July 22, 2012

From the City of Lake Forest Park

The City of Lake Forest Park is committed to preserving and improving streets and employs two maintenance strategies to achieve these goals, asphalt overlays and chip sealing. The project area for the 2012 chip seal process is 55th Ave NE from the 19300 block to the 20400 block. The work is expected to take place in early August.

Chip sealing of roadways allows the City to stretch maintenance dollars by reducing the need for more expensive street overlays or full-street paving replacement.

The chip sealing process includes the following activities; first applying an oil coating to the existing roadway followed by a layer of fine rock (3/8 of an inch or less in size). Next the rock is compacted into the oil and allowed to set up overnight after which the residual rock is swept and removed. This process is again repeated with a second layer. Within a few days the surface is sealed by spraying with a layer of diluted asphalt, a process commonly called a fog seal.

We anticipate the contractor will be on site the first week in August. When an exact project start date has been set, the contractor will place informational signboards in the area containing parking instructions, date and time of project.

While work is underway the roadway on 55th Ave NE from the 19300 block to the 20400 block will need to be clear of vehicles. Vehicles left on the street the day of the chip seal work will be towed to allow the contractor full access to the street to complete the project. Residents will generally have access to their street and in and out of their driveway with only minimal delays. The contractor will attempt to keep half the street open as work proceeds.

For the chip seal process to be a success, the understanding and support of the affected residents is critical and greatly appreciated. Thank you for your cooperation. Questions? Please contact Scott Walker, Public Works Superintendent, 206-957-2825.


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Advice for residents who are getting chip seal on their streets

updated 07-22-2012 5:39pm
By Diane Hettrick

Lake Forest Park just announced they are chip sealing 55th NE from 193rd to 204th. Shoreline will be chip sealing streets in two neighborhoods this summer (North City and Ballinger) after completing one neighborhood (Echo Lake) last year. Mountlake Terrace has been chip sealing its streets for years.

Chip sealing is an extremely economical and durable method of finishing streets. Even with both cities using the triple layer method (see previous article) instead of cutting corners, they can still lay eight miles of chip seal for the cost of a half mile of asphalt (current costs may vary).

However, after the experience in Shoreline last year, and soliciting feedback from residents who lived with the process, I have some advice for residents whose streets will be refinished in this method.

First of all, it is a three step process, and the layers have to cure before the next layer can be applied. How fast the layers cure depend on the weather. The chip seal process is timed for the hottest weather, but the assumption is that the weather will last several days, not just several hours.

A street newly finished with chip seal
Do everything the city tells you to. It may be annoying to have to park your car around the corner, but do it. You run the risk of being towed in LFP if you don't move before the scheduled time, but if you drive on an uncured surface, you may have tiny bits of black gravel on the underside of your car.

Do not let your dog (sheep, chickens, goats, etc.) walk on it, even when it is ok to drive on it. The loose stuff (and it seems to take a long time to go away) will stick in the dog's pads and come off on your rugs.

Be assured that Public Works will be cruising the streets to look for cracks, potholes, and other problem spots, so they can fix them before the chip seal goes down. Staff are good, but don't assume they can see everything. If you know about a problem spot on your street, call the City and tell them. For example, a low spot that always collects rain water and run-off may not be obvious in dry weather.


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Lake Forest Park Public Works employees rescue dog trapped in storm culvert

Saturday, March 3, 2012

 From LFP Public Works

3:28am March 2, 2012

Lake Forest Park and Kenmore Public Works employees Kristian Kolberg and Scott Walker received an emergency phone call in the early morning hours of Friday, March 2nd from the Kenmore Police Department. Police reported a dog stuck in a Kenmore storm culvert.

Kolberg and Walker responded to the site and could hear the dog, Rainy - a long haired dachshund, upstream from a storm catch basin.

Photos courtesy Public Works. Rainy being held by her owner, with her rescuers.

Rainy’s owner explained that she disappeared Thursday night around 1:30 am. The owner was able to locate her because he heard whining coming from a storm water catch basin. Rainy likes to chase small animals and was most likely doing that when she got stuck. 

Rainy entered the storm system from an open culvert at the end of a ditch line. She followed the culvert into the catch basin and made a 90 degree turn into a 12 inch pipe. Once Rainy got about 8 feet up the pipe she tried to turned around and got stuck in the pipe.

Looking from the catch basin, Kolberg and Walker could see Rainy and determined that she was standing in about 2 inches of water. This was of great concern because the temperature at that time was at 34 degrees. The water that was in the pipe was continually flowing, not allowing any heat to remain around her. Coaxing wasn’t working.

Public Works contacted two vactor companies to dig down to the pipe so that they could break open the pipe. While waiting for the vactor trucks to arrive, they were able to relieve some of the water level in the pipe and reduce the amount that Rainy was standing in.

After about 15 minutes Rainy stopped whining and was much less responsive. Concerned that Rainy was not going to make it much longer, Kristian and Scott began hand digging. They reached the pipe about 30 minutes later, and broke into it using a digging bar. 

The rest of the story is told by the owner’s face. Another day at the office for the Lake Forest Park Public Works crew!



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Who owns 145th?

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Corrected / updated 2-26-2012 8:30pm


By Brian Doennebrink

At their meeting next Monday, February 27, the Shoreline City Council may take the first step towards improving 145th. The street interests Shoreline due to the possibility of a future light rail station in the vicinity of I-5. 130th, 145th, and 155th were identified by Sound Transit as possible locations between Northgate and 185th Street stations.

The problem with 145th Street is ownership. The City of Seattle owns the eastbound lanes, the westbound lanes are King County’s, and WSDOT’s involved with the operations for the portion that’s a state highway. Shoreline, on the other hand, only gets the impacts! 

As the staff report notes, “The only way improvements to 145th Street will be untaken is if the City of Shoreline instigates, designs, and constructs them.”

The City of Seattle and King County are interested in relinquishing jurisdiction over 145th, meaning that Shoreline has an opportunity to annex the right-of-way. However, there are these annual costs that total just over $150,000/year:

  • Public safety response costs : $18,000+
  • Annual street operations and maintenance costs: $60,000
  • Twelve signalized intersections: $24,000 and eventual replacement costs
  • Approximately 150 street lights: annual electrical costs of $30,000
  • Stormwater maintenance: $21,766

If and when the road is widened, to in part handle the increased traffic to and from a light rail station: higher traffic enforcement and maintenance costs, and presumed removal of “retaining walls, structures, rockeries, and fences” that are in the right-of-way.

According to the staff report, 31,793 trips per day is used in the I-5 to 15th NE segment, about 25,000/day east and – to Aurora – west of that, below 14,000 west of Aurora. Improvements on 145th, anticipated to be strongly grant-funded, might include three-lane re-channelization and bike lanes between Greenwood and Aurora, double left turn lanes from southbound Aurora (to travel east on 145th), a five-lane cross-section between Aurora and I-5, a four or five lane cross-section east of the freeway, sidewalk and lighting improvements, transit enhancements, and much more.

The discussion item is 9 (a) on the City Council’s agenda, their Monday meeting starting at 7:00 pm. Online, you can offer comments.


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Shoreline Public Works featured in King 5 story

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

King 5's Jim Forman did a segment on the ingenuity of Shoreline Public Works' staff:

"As temperatures plunge across the region, one city is preparing to fight off icy roads with de-icer. That isn’t big news, except in Shoreline, where the economy led to a big budget shortfall; and no money to purchase a professional anti-icing unit. 
So without thinking twice and without being told, some members of the public works team decided to come up with a work around. They did, and it works."




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Echo Lake neighbors - the City wants feedback on the street resurfacing

Friday, August 26, 2011

The City of Shoreline would like to thank the Echo Lake Neighborhood for being the first neighborhood in Shoreline to have Bituminous Surface Treatment (BST) applied on local streets. As part of the City’s commitment to continuous improvement, the City would like to get feedback from Echo Lake residents.


The City is asking residents to complete the survey by Friday, September 2, 2011. The City will use the feedback from the survey to help improve the process in the future for other neighborhoods.

Newly resurfaced street in Echo Lake.
Photo courtesy City of Shoreline.
Approximately 8.1 miles of road surface in the Echo Lake neighborhood received the BST treatment. 


The primary focus of pavement preservation is to prevent deterioration of surface roads that are rated good or better. 



By applying a surface treatment to good roads, the City is able to increase the life of the road in your neighborhood by nearly 8-10 years, at 25%-30% of the cost of a new road surface (overlay).

See previous SAN articles:


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Echo Lake streets are being resurfaced this weekend

Saturday, August 13, 2011

On Thursday, the Doolittle Construction Company took advantage of the hot weather and began the first phase of work on Shoreline’s 2011 Bituminous Surface Treatment (BST) project in the Echo Lake neighborhood. (See previous article)

The first phase will take approximately four days to complete. The second phase will occur several days later and take a day or two to complete. The entire project is to be completed by August 20.

Paving work is weather dependent. The hotter the weather, the faster the new surface cures. In order to take advantage of the current run of summer weather, crews will work through the weekend.

On Saturday, August 13, crews will work from 8 am to 7 pm. in the area bounded by 5th Ave NE to Meridian Ave N and N 185th to N 205th Streets. (See map) On Sunday, August 14, the streets will be swept to pick up the excess rock on streets that were paved on Saturday.

1st Avenue NE will not be included in the work this weekend because of the Shoreline Classic Soccer Tournament. Work on 1st Avenue NE will occur next week.

The City advises residents that it is all right to drive immediately on the new surface, but it is important to drive slowly.

Residents have all been notified so they could move their vehicles from the street.

For questions or concerns about the paving work, call Tom Doolittle of the Doolittle Construction Company at 425-455-1150. To learn more about BST in Shoreline, visit this information page.



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Turn in your potholes, Shoreline residents

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Shoreline Public Works department wants to know about potholes on city streets. Not only potholes, but cracks, low spots, and other imperfections in Shoreline City streets.

Operations Manager Jesus Sanchez says, "It's easier and more cost-effective to fix a small crack in the road than to wait until the road is in full failure."

If you live in the Echo Lake neighborhood, they want to know right away, and your streets will get priority. (See story).

Public Works has made it as easy as possible to report those flaws, by providing a variety of ways to communicate with them.

Customer Response Team
If you have an honest-to-goodness pothole, call the CRT at 206-801-2700. They'll have someone out within 24 hours to do a temporary fill and they'll create a work order for Public Works crews.

On-line form
If you have something not so urgent, you can create a work order for Public Works by going on their website and filling out a simple form.

Email

Fax Brian  
206-801-2783


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Contractor to widen SR 522 Business Access and Transit lane in Kenmore

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Drivers should plan for around-the-clock closures of eastbound BAT lane

The City of Kenmore’s contractor, MidMountain Contractors, Inc. will begin work on Monday, April 11 to widen the eastbound State Route 522 Business Access and Transit (BAT) lane. The lane will be widened approximately one foot to the south between 73rdAvenue NE and 77th Court NE.

The eastbound BAT lane will be closed around the clock beginning April 11 for approximately six weeks. Crews will re-landscape the area along the Burke-Gilman Trail, remove the existing curb, and adjust utilities in order to widen the lane to 13 feet.

The Burke-Gilman Trail and other eastbound lanes of SR 522 will not be affected by the work. Two bus stops will be affected by the closure. The eastbound bus stop at 77th Court NE will be closed while the work proceeds. Nearby bus stops are located at 73rd Ave NE and 83rd Place NE. The 73rd Ave NE bus stop will be relocated to the west side of the intersection. Crews will work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The City of Kenmore has completed major improvements to two-thirds of the two-mile state highway between the east City limits and 65th Ave NE to improve transit reliability, increase vehicle and pedestrian safety, and ease congestion. For more information, check the Kenmore website.
 

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Seattle Times: Why Shoreline doesn't have Seattle's pothole problem

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Do we have potholes?  A few in Shoreline have been reported on the Pothole Map.  If you do know of a pothole, add it to the map so Public Works can find and fix it.  Same for LFP residents (the Sinkhole doesn't count - Editor)

From our NewsPartner The Seattle Times

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times transportation reporter

As the city of Seattle struggles to fix hundreds of new and old potholes, its northern suburb Shoreline reports no significant problems.

Mark Relph, public works director for the community of 55,000, attributes his good fortune to a sustained investment in maintenance, and having a newer road network than Seattle.

That said, just about all arterials in Shoreline are at least 40 years old, having been developed by King County long before Shoreline incorporated in 1995. A main strategy to extend blacktop's life span is to fill cracks as soon as they appear, so the roads don't break or become "alligatored," said Relph.

"Crack filling is a basic, fundamental principle of street maintenance. It keeps moisture from going through cracks, into the subgrade of the pavement," he said.

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City of Shoreline advisory: Prepare for winter weather in Shoreline

Sunday, November 14, 2010

From the Office of the City Manager

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is predicting a colder and wetter than average winter for the Pacific Northwest. This means more rain, wind, ice and snow in Shoreline. Throughout the year, the City prepares for winter weather. The City asks residents to do the same.

Snow Removal

City road crews prepare months in advance to make sure equipment is ready to take on winter weather. When it snows, City plows will concentrate their efforts on main roads (primary routes) first to accommodate fire, medical and police response, as well as Metro transit, school buses and commuter traffic. Primary routes include roads such as Aurora, 15th Avenue NE, N 155th, N 175th, N 185th and N 205th Streets. As long as it continues to snow, the City will only plow primary routes.

Once the snow has stopped and all primary routes are clear, plows will move to secondary roads. Once the secondary roads are cleared, plows will move into neighborhoods.

If at any time it starts snowing again while plows are clearing secondary or neighborhood streets, the plows will return to the primary routes and the process of clearing streets will start over.

While the City will eventually get to all streets, it is possible that it might take several days after the final snow event before residents may see a plow on their street. Snow plowing route maps are available to view at shorelinewa.gov.

Property Owner Responsibilities

Shoreline homeowners and business/property owners are responsible for clearing snow and ice off driveways and sidewalks near their property, including the ridge of snow left along the edge of driveways by the snow plow. The City will not plow driveways.

Homeowners and business/property owners that plow snow or have it removed from their property shall not place the snow in the public right-of-way. This is not permitted and can lead to hazardous conditions for the traveling public. Homeowners and business/property owners must accommodate removed snow on their own property or make arrangements to have the snow removed to another location.

Homeowners and business/property owners should also help clear catch basins to make way for runoff from melting snow and avoid pooling water.

The City encourages residents to stay home during a heavy snow storm event unless there is an emergency. If residents must travel, the City asks that they use public transportation whenever possible.

Garbage and Recycling Pick-up

If icy streets keep garbage and recycling trucks from collecting materials on your scheduled day, they will be collected the following week. If yard waste is missed, it will be picked up sometime during the following seven (7) days. Please protect your materials from blowing away by making sure bins are closed. Call CleanScapes, the City's garbage and recycling provider, at (206) 763-4444 with any questions and to check schedules.

Flood Preparedness

Many parts of King County flood every year, including areas that have no history of floods. Flooding most commonly occurs from November through February during periods of heavy rainfall. Preparing in advance will save residents time and reduce risks families and their property.

One of the most important things that residents can do to help prevent flooding is to ensure storm drains remain clear in their neighborhoods. Clearing leaves and debris from storm drains will reduce the risk of drainage problems.

Another way to protect your home is to purchase flood insurance. A standard homeowner insurance policy will not cover flood damage; however, all Shoreline residents are eligible for flood insurance. Contact your insurance agent or learn more about flood insurance at www.floodsmart.gov.

Information

For more information on how to prepare for winter weather, go to www.shorelinewa.gov

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Railroad overcrossing bridge project begins

Thursday, July 29, 2010


On Wednesday, July 28, the beams were put in place for the temporary bridge for the Richmond Beach Overcrossing Project. The second and last was placed at about 2:30 pm after a train passed under the first beam.

The project includes constructing a temporary detour bridge with a temporary traffic signal, Once the temporary bridge is in place the old timber bridge will be torn down and a new concrete bridge constructed in its place with approaches over the two existing and very active railroad tracks.

When the new bridge is operational, the temporary bridge will be removed and presumably the at-grade crossing will be removed as well. The at-grade crossing was added so that equipment too heavy for the old bridge could be moved to 27th NW (also known as Apple Tree Lane). Burlington Northern has installed an access road to their new switch and placed a chain-link fence between the current bridge and the sewage substation along Richmond Beach Drive complete with barbed wire to inhibit foot traffic.

For safety reasons a section of Richmond Beach Drive in the vicinity of the bridge is temporarily closed to thru traffic during construction. Vehicle access to driveways will be maintained and Metro is operating under a temporary bus re-route plan.

Most of the funding for this $5 million project is through grants:
  • WSDOT: $4.25 million
  • BNSF: $400,000
  • City: $350,000
The bridge was originally built in 1923 by Great Northern Railway Company and rebuilt in 1956. The typical life span of a timber bridge is 45 to 50 years. This bridge provides sole access to 35 homes on 27th Avenue NW, historically known as Apple Tree Lane.

--Information for this article from the City of Shoreline and from resident Tracy Tallman. Bridge photos by Tracy Tallman.


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Hamlin Bridge safe walk route planned; call for artists

Friday, February 19, 2010



The City of Lake Forest Park plans to provide a safe route for the community to walk to the Towne Centre. Currently pedestrians have to share a busy roadway. The plan is to place a manufactured bridge across McAleer Creek through Blue Heron Park to Brookside Blvd NE. There will be a marked pathway to the area in front of the fire station.

The City has put out a call for artists to add visual interest and enjoyment to the bridge. The bridge will have a 60 foot span made of steel with Ipe wood decking and steel painted railings. Invasive plants around the bridge will be removed and the area will be replanted with native species. There will be an overlook area paved with low walls and railings.

The call for artists is posted on the city website.

The City is in the final planning stages. The bridge will need to go through the sensitive area permit process and will require a conditional use permit. The request for a permit will be heard by the hearing examiner. The bridge is anticipated to be open in the fall of 2010.

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