New Sidewalk on N 125th St.
Doug Cox, Associate Planner, Multimodal Program & Project Group, SDOT Traffic Management Division notified the Broadview Community Council (BCC) of a project to build a new sidewalk. Below is from his email message”
“I am eager to share the news with you that in 2011, SDOT plans to build another sidewalk in your area…this time on the north side of N 125th Street, connecting Greenwood Ave N with the Interurban Trail!
At this point we are beginning work on the design, and we expect to have some pretty detailed plans, cost estimates & other info by the end of January. The project is part of SDOT’s Sidewalk Development Program, which builds new sidewalks throughout the city each year thanks to funding from the Bridging the Gap levy passed by the voters in 2006.
I understand that you applied for NSF funds to have this project built, but that it was not selected. Thankfully it is a priority in the Pedestrian Master Plan (which we use to select projects for the sidewalk development program), so it has another avenue for becoming a reality.”
At the Nov. 16 BCC meeting local residents noted that survey work was being done on N 125th. Now we know why. Because this street segment is a corridor to both the #5 bus on Greenwood and the #358 bus on Aurora, having a safer way to walk to transit is welcome.
Let’s review the design to make sure that the sidewalk is located as per the Right of Way Improvement Manual and that is up close to the private property line (0 – 2ft away). I’ve seen a pattern of locating the sidewalks much closer to the street than they should be. Yes, there will be repairs to the private property side, but that is part of putting sidewalks in. Avoiding the property line wastes a lot of public land, so let’s see if we can get as much buffer between the traffic and pedestrians as possible.