Some much-needed improvements to the street crossings near Midvale Ave and Midvale Place will get underway on Monday, May 11 (today). You might know the crossing points as the places you pass by on your way from Stone Way to Aurora Ave., or perhaps the nearby Meowtropolitan is more familiar to you. Crossing the streets in this area can be a challenge, in part because of the irregular, triangle shape of the intersection.
While the triangle shape won’t go away, there will be some important additions that should improve safety for pedestrians and improve transit for bus riders. (See graphic below.) Some details we received from SDOT about the work:
- Extend the existing westbound bus-only lane on N Midvale Pl and on N 45th St
- Relocate the existing crosswalk at N 45th St and N Midvale Pl to N Midvale Pl and Midvale Avenue N, and adding flashing beacons to the crossing
- Restrict westbound travel on N 45th towards Midvale Ave N
- Replace sidewalk and curb ramps to meet ADA standards
- Concrete paving
SDOT warns of the following possible impacts to people living nearby and those passing through:
- Typical construction hours are weekends, 6 AM to 7 PM, with some work on week days. [Author’s note: This is correct. I confirmed it with SDOT.]
- Noise and vibrations
- Street and/or lane closures
- Temporary driveway impacts
- Dust and debris
- Construction staging and parking impacts near work sites
- Detours for people walking and biking
- Temporary lane, crosswalk, and sidewalk closures
The work is expected to take 90 days. For more information, contact Darrell Bulmer, Communications and Outreach Lead at [email protected], (206) 375-5636.
Adding bus lanes treats the symptom, slow and unreliable bus service. I however do not address the underlying problem. There are too many people driving by themselves at rush hour along 45th to get to and from I-5. The long-term solution is to complete a mass transit system for Seattle and the eastside. Couple this with last mile bus service and then most people will choose not to drive even if they work in another city. 45th can return to being a walkable main street for Wallingford with reliable bus service. We could then move I-5 out of the city.