The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will meet with the community and share the latest news about the community-initiated Wedgwood Children and Neighbors Safety Improvement Project open house on Tuesday, February 3rd. Meet the project team and learn more about the new sidewalks coming to Wedgwood. The meeting will be at Wedgwood Elementary School at 2720 NE 85th Street from 6:30 to 8 PM.
With our backs to the Wedgwood School building on NE 85th Street, looking south along 28th Ave NE we see no sidewalks, no curbs, no signage and no safe way for students to cross this busy street.
The project’s design has been updated thanks to community input, and there is full funding for the work since the last open house in late 2012. In 2012, the community requested a sidewalk along 28th Avenue NE and repair and replace part of the sidewalk along Ravenna Avenue NE. After reviewing the request, SDOT secured funding to make these improvements as well as build new sidewalks along NE 85th Street and NE 83rd Street. New curbs and curb ramps will also be installed throughout the project area.
These improvements will connect Wedgwood Elementary to the existing sidewalk network south of the school, making it safer and easier for kids, families and neighbors to walk and bike. To educate and encourage kids to walk and bike safely to school, the project is partnering with Feet First, Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center to provide bike safety education, support for walking school buses, bike trains and an evaluation of arrival and departure procedures.
This year, the $1.5 million project is fully funded through the support of local funds such as the Safe Routes to School program, and a grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation. Construction is expected to begin as early as summer 2015 when school is on break; a second construction phase is anticipated in early 2016.
