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Sidewalk talk

Erica Barnett’s column in this week’s Stranger focuses on sidewalks. It is a great rundown of the politics of sidewalks, street improvements and today’s tension between developers and neighborhoods.

But I would suggest that, like many issues, single-family politics drives the sidewalk discussion.

Last weekend I was visiting family in Tacoma. Someone walked in and said “What is the deal; you have the last unpaved street in Tacoma. Gravel? What gives?”

The road to the future?

Tacoma’s road to the future?

A heated discussion ensued about why the project didn’t happen. “We wanted asphalt and rolled curbs. The City wanted sidewalks that would have slashed into people’s yards and been outrageously expensive.”

I piped up and said “actually the way it is right now is best for everyone, especially for China Lake. If the street was paved, it would create a huge drainage issue because of the new impervious surface. That would create a huge expense and a bunch of dirty water. The road now has much better drainage. Gravel is the way to go. Keep it the way it is!”

Everyone looked at me for a beat with a bit of bewilderment and disdain—as if I had just spoken in Latin—and then continued their debate about sidewalks.

No offense to Tacoma. The opinions expressed there are the same ones that drive the sidewalk debate in Seattle. The bottom line on sidewalks is that they are often needless status symbols creating more impervious surface which is expensive to mitigate. How about those swales?

The next time you hear someone saying “for crying out loud, we don’t even have sidewalks!” think about Palantine NW pictured here.

An sustainable alternative to concrete walkways.

We don’t always need sidewalks to support pedestrian-friendly and pedestrian-safe neighborhoods. And they shouldn’t be a litmus test as to whether a neighborhood has favored status with the City.

Sidewalks add impervious surface which we have to mitigate with huge drainage projects. Let’s focus on how we move pedestrians safely, not creating more sidewalks. Progress can be less sidewalks!

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This entry was posted by Roger Valdez on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Architecture, Engineering, Planning, Politics, Seattle lifestyle, Zoning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • mhays

    Palatine and that unpaved road look extremely unsafe. I’m imagining kids walking home in the rain, cars speeding through… It gets worse if cars park there — pedestrians end up in the middle of the street!

    A lack of sidewalks only works if cars are slowed way, way down. Like the “woonerf” (sp?) concept. Even then it’s sketchy, because some cars don’t get the idea. I can’t think of how many fenders I’ve slapped on Pike Place, to use a sort-of-similar example.

    The gravel would also be a disaster for bike safety.

  • http://aroundcarson.com Scott Schrantz

    Maybe that’s not a picture of the road in question, but the street in the photo sure looks paved to me. Maybe it’s been chip sealed once or twice, but that’s definitely a hard surface road, not gravel. Those unpaved gutters will handle the runoff just fine. My own neighborhood in Nevada looks just like that, and I’ve never had a problem walking down the middle of the street. Drivers need to share the road in a neighborhood like that anyway.

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  • BunnyBob

    The street in the photo is most certainly not gravel, and is likely asphalt capped with chip-seal.

    Living in a neighborhood of West Seattle that has numerous streets without sidewalks I can attest to the fact that it is anything but inviting or safe to wander sidewalkless streets. One must constantly look be on the look out for the numerous numb-nut drivers who are not paying attention. This same West Seattle neighborhood has a large number of gravel alleys which serve numerous multi-family housing project parking areas. The gravel alleys are dust bowls in the summer adding to local particulate matter air quality. In winter one finds the gravel alleys with potholes that become water filled lakes big enough to swallow small vehicles. Gravel as it has been historically used on rural roads and Forest Service roads is not a very serious option for a city. That is unless there is some modern engineering that can be done to keep it from potholing and producing dust.

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