The city of Kenmore provided an update to the Bothell-Kenmore Reporter regarding construction on Northeast 153rd Place, which is slated for completion in October.
The renovations in question, also known as the Northeast 153rd Place Safe Routes to School project, began June 25 to accommodate school closure. Targeting the area around Arrowhead Elementary School, the remodeling is being done to ensure the region around the school is safer and more comfortable for students, families and pedestrians walking, biking and driving in the area.
“The city appreciates everyone’s patience as we complete this important project,” Kenmore communications specialist Becky Range wrote in an email to the Reporter.
Once construction is completed, there will be new angle parking opportunities, landscaping and sidewalks. There will also be a feature wall at the southeast corner of Northeast 153th Place and Juanita Drive Northeast.
In the email, Range wrote that work on the project is expected to continue through the third week of September, with work on irrigation, final grand and half street overlay, planting, paint striping and property restoration remaining.
Kent Vaughan, the senior civil engineer of Kenmore, clarified reservations the public might have in a statement.
“After construction, the minimum roadway width will be 21 feet with two 10.5-foot travel lanes for approximately 500 feet along Northeast 153rd Place, west of 70th Avenue Northeast,” Vaughan said. “We have coordinated with King County Metro during the design phase and this is an acceptable lane width for buses. It may feel constricted when driving through this block. When the road is slightly more narrow, it provides traffic calming and will slow vehicles down in an area where lots of school kids walk to school daily.”
Throughout construction, the eastbound lane of Northeast 153rd Place has been closed to vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists from Juanita Drive Northeast to 70th Avenue Northeast. Until the project is completed, a detour directing eastbound traffic to the north on Juanita Drive Northeast and turning east on Northeast 155th Place will serve in its place.
Range emphasized that she hoped the community would support The Guest House restaurant until construction is completed, as it is located at the heart of the detour.
“We ask that the community continue to make it a point to support their business during construction,” she said.
The Northeast 153rd Place project is 90 percent and 10 percent funded by the WSDOT Safe Routes to School program and the city, respectively. About $673,594 has been allocated from WSDOT funds, with $76,354 of city funds being used.
The project has origins in Kenmore’s 2015-16 neighborhood transportation plan program. In tandem with the program, the city hosted two public meetings with residents living in neighborhoods in the Arrowhead school zones.
Based on feedback from the community, a grant proposal to develop sidewalk along Northeast 153rd Place was submitted in 2016 through the WSDOT program. The latter organization ultimately awarded a grant for this specific project in June of 2017.
For more information about the project, go to the city of Kenmore’s website.
