homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Architecture & Engineering


print  email to a friend  reprints add to mydjc  

September 16, 2014

Kirkland OKs design for a new Park Lane

Image courtesy of the city of Kirkland [enlarge]

The Kirkland City Council has approved the design for redoing Park Lane, a two-block downtown corridor popular with pedestrians.

The $3 million project would turn Park Lane into a curbless, plaza-style street that can be closed to traffic for events.

The narrow lane runs between Lake and Third streets.

Perteet is the designer.

The City Council authorized staff to advertise for contractor bids, and could award a contract as soon as November.

The street would be paved with terracotta and beige brick pavers, some of them porous to allow stormwater to drain into the soil. Nonporous pavers will channel water toward rain gardens and porous pavers.

The new design will have pluses and minuses for the city.

On one hand, porous pavers and rain gardens will require more maintenance, said Frank Reinart, a project engineer with the city Public Works Department. But the new street will resolve longstanding maintenance issues caused by tree roots lifting sidewalk panels.

Overall, Reinart said, the new street will require about as much maintenance as the current one.

Council members also agreed to create a traffic loop in the Lake Street and Central Way parking lot, and to permanently close the Lake Street parking lot's exit onto Park Lane.

The changes will allow drivers to circulate within the parking lot, and it will reduce conflicts between pedestrians and drivers exiting the Lake Street parking lot onto Park Lane. Cars will leave the lot from the current exit onto Central Way.

Half the funding — $1.6 million — comes from a pair of government grants: one for stormwater improvements and the other to make the area more walkable.

The city is providing the remaining $1.4 million, some of which is for first-phase work that was completed in 2010.




Email or user name:
Password:
 
Forgot password? Click here.