Workers perform repavement work Friday.

Story and photo by Doug Petrowski

Construction crews will be repaving 55th Avenue West from 236th Street Southwest north to 230th Street Southwest Friday, May 4 and Monday, May 7, and again on May 18 and 21. Drivers can expect delays and are advised to consider an alternate route.

The construction work on 55th Avenue West has been part of the Town Center water main work begun earlier this year. The water system upgrades are being made in anticipation of new building development expected in the downtown core of Mountlake Terrace along 56th Avenue West over the next few years.

Stanford worked during this past legislative session to win support for an $800,000 appropriation in the supplemental 2011-2013 capital budget to assist in paying for a new Scriber Creek Pedestrian Bridge. This updated construction budget won final legislative approval near the very end of the recent special session.

A December 2007 flood damaged the bridge, he said.

“Those devastating flood waters eroded the creek bank. In fact, the creek bank took such a battering that two of the four pilings supporting the bridge were exposed,” Stanford explained.

“I’d like to express my appreciation to Rep. Stanford and his staff for their efforts assisting the City of Brier to acquire the funding needed for this project,” said Brier Mayor Bob Colinas. “The city will now be able to make the repairs ensuring that the bridge, sewer line and the fragile ecosystem of Scriber Creek will be maintained.”

Nicole Gaudette, Brier City Planner, said that “rebuilding the Scriber Creek Bridge will protect salmon-bearing waters, critical infrastructure, a pedestrian pathway, and the public health. The state’s partnership in funding this project is crucial to its success.”

The Scriber Creek Pedestrian Bridge not only provides a major trail link in Brier, it also carries a sewer pipe over Scriber Creek, which is a salmon-bearing waterway. As an emergency measure after the flood, a rock wall was installed to protect the exposed pilings and prevent the bridge from falling.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials have declared that the rock wall can serve only as an emergency provision, which means that it must be removed fairly soon to prevent further damage to fish habitat. So when the rock wall is taken out, the bridge and sewer pipe are once again vulnerable if there’s another flood. And if that happens, the sewage dumped in Scriber Creek would pollute the water, the waters downstream and, eventually, Lake Washington.

According to Stanford, the state’s capital budget emphasizes public-school improvements, among other construction work. The budget will help leverage federal, local and private funding, and it also helps preserve and maintain state facilities. Since it is primarily funded by the sale of bonds,  it “doesn’t do anything to add to the serious shortfall currently confronting our state’s biennial operating budget,” he said.

Construction work will close two of the most-traveled arterials in Mountlake Terrace next week

Detour for 44th Avenue West closure.

Story and photo by Doug Petrowski

Construction work will close two of the most- traveled arterials in Mountlake Terrace at times this week sending drivers on lengthy detours.

Beginning Monday, April 23, all four lanes of 44th Avenue West just south of 212th Street Southwest will be closed to traffic. The closure is expected to last two days; possibly more if weather hampers the repair work.

The detour set up during this construction work will send drivers over to the two-lane 48th Avenue West via 212th and 216th Streets Southwest. Some local access to 44th Avenue West for businesses and homeowners will be allowed.

Detour for 212th Street Southwest closure.

Following the two-day 44th Avenue West closure, work crews will require a full closure of 212th Street Southwest between 48th and 52nd Avenues West for up to a week, depending on the weather. The detour during this closure will utilize 216th Place Southwest and 217th Street Southwest via 48th and 52nd Avenues West.

The scheduled construction work is part of the joint Mountlake Terrace-Lynnwood 212th Street Southwest Overlay Project that began earlier this month. The two cities are working together to repair, overlay and re-configure 212th Street Southwest; additional work is being completed simultaneously to drainage systems, sewer and sidewalks. The entire project is expected to be completed in June.

Construction at Arbor Village Saturday.

By Doug Petrowski

Construction of the Arbor Village development at the southeast corner of 56th Avenue West and 236th Street Southwest is on schedule for its August 2013 completion, reported Afco & Sons property development and management company.

Workers busy on the job.

The five-story,10,000-square-foot project will include two levels of underground parking and ground-level commercial space, with four stories of residential space above.

Workers were seen Saturday completing concrete walls for the elevator shafts with 58-meter boom pump trucks, capable of a vertical reach of more than 188 feet and a horizontal reach of more than 174 feet. Afco and Sons report that the outside concrete walls and the parking garage pillars are complete.

Work began last week on a resurfacing and reconfiguration of 212th Street Southwest between 44th and 52nd Avenues West. The project, a joint effort between the cities of Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood, also includes drainage and sanitary sewer repairs, minor traffic signal modifications, adding and modifying sidewalk ramps, and striping  and signage to accommodate bicycle lanes. Once completed, this stretch of 212th Street will change from a four-lane thoroughfare to having two lanes for vehicular traffic (one eastbound, one westbound), a center left-turn lane and at least one designated bicycle lane. Work is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The traffic signal at the corner of 44th Avenue West and 228th Street Southwest has been experiencing failures lately. The city will begin work soon on replacing the loop detectors (wires in the pavement that detect when a vehicle is at the intersection) that are being exposed in the deteriorating pavement with video detection cameras mounted on the signal mast arms. This project is expected to be completed by the end of July; until then the city will experiment with changing the signal to an all-red flashing mode from 1-5 a.m.

Work continues now on Town Center water main improvements; more than a mile of 8-16-inch-diameter water mains are being installed on 55th and 56th Avenues and 230th and 234th Streets in the Town Center area. The project includes installation of new water services and fire hydrants.

Beginning in early April, work will begin in 14 locations around the city in replacing or rerouting existing underground storm and sanitary sewer pipes that are in need of service. Approximately 3,800 linear feet of pipe will be installed and a number of manholes and catch basins added to the system.

City officials warn that traffic may be limited (or even restricted) at times in these work zones.

Thanks to David Carlos for sending in these photos.

The volunteer project included new flooring, windows, insulation, kitchen appliances, electric work, clutter removal, a new fence and a new roof. The Mountlake Terrace family with two children, one who faces physically and developmental disabilities was one of only a few hundred such projects for families in need nationwide. In addition, Mountlake Terrace City staff donated $250 to the family for four months of water and sewer payments.

In November, Shannon and Gabe applied to Rebuilding Together Seattle in hopes of providing a warm and safe home for their children. In a letter to RTS explaining their family’s circumstances, Shannon wrote: “My son has many issues requiring medications and tube feeding to keep him healthy. Currently he has no heat in his room, no finished walls, and sleeps on a fold out mat on the floor of his room. The projects [at home] have piled up on us. We struggle with finding the time and resources to do the repairs.”

• The lighting of the intersection is provided by light emitting diode (LED) fixtures, instead of sodium vapor fixtures that are used in nearly all of the city’s street lights. The LED fixtures project a whiter and brighter light, and are significantly more energy efficient.
• The pedestrian curb ramps at this intersection are different from older ramps in the city in order to comply with recent changes in Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. The ramps are longer so that the slope down to street level is not as steep. Each corner also has two ramps, one for each crosswalk, so that visually impaired pedestrians are guided to the crosswalk and not to the middle of the intersection.
• The pedestrian push buttons are a new style, with features designed to comply with the new ADA regulations. There is a locator tone, which beeps every few seconds, to help visually impaired pedestrians locate the pushbutton. The pushbuttons have a raised arrow pointing in the direction of the crosswalk which the button controls. This helps visually impaired pedestrians know that they have located the correct push button for the direction which they wish to cross.
• After pressing the button, a small red indicator light turns on so that a pedestrian knows that the button push has been detected. To help the visually impaired, there is also a speech message which says “Wait to cross 44th at 214th…Wait…Wait” or “Wait to cross 214th at 44th…Wait…Wait” depending on which button was pushed. The “Wait” message repeats every few seconds until the walk light comes on.
• When the walk light comes on, there is a speech message which says “44th, Walk sign is on to cross 44th” or 214th, depending on which button was pushed. After a few seconds, the walk symbol changes to a flashing hand and countdown numbers are shown for the remainder of the crossing time, the same as at other signals in Mountlake Terrace. The button vibrates so that pedestrians with visual and hearing impairments can tell that the Walk light is on.