My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog

Our news partner seattlepi.com have posted some information about the weedy median islands at E Green Lake Way N and N 64th St:

Getting There: Ugly, unfinished medians – what’s the deal?
By Scott Gutierrez

Question:

Getting There seems to have a backlog of questions about Green Lake. This week, we answer this one from Jim Grafton about the corner of East Green Lake Way and North 64th Street, where a new traffic signal was put in about two years ago. “As part of that project, two median islands were created, but nothing was ever done to finish them – neither pavement nor planting,” Grafton writes.

“When they first went in, I thought they might be waiting for spring to plant, but then nothing ever happened. The planters grow a pretty good crop of weeds, which somebody comes and cuts down every once in a (long) while, but that’s about it,” he says. “Last time, only one of the two was cleared out. It’s kind of an ugly blot next to one of our best parks. Are there any plans to finish these? Why wasn’t it done when the signal went in?”

Answer:

Eric Widstrand, the Seattle Department of Transportation’s city traffic engineer, says the city still hasn’t found the money to finish the landscaping.

“In late 2007 / early 2008 a new traffic signal was designed and built at the intersection of East Green Lake Way North and North 64th Street. As part of the design we wanted to restrict left turns into and out of Meridian Avenue North due to the close proximity of this intersection to North 64th Street on East Green Lake Way North,” Widstrand says. “There were two proposed designs and estimates: a median island with asphalt top, or a median island with landscaping.”

“Through a neighborhood meeting, the area residents selected the landscaped median as the preferred treatment. There was funding available to build the median and add topsoil, but not enough funds available at the time to landscape the island. At the meeting it was noted that no funds were tagged for beautification, and the neighborhood agreed to the design with that information.

“While SDOT continues to explore additional funding options, we encourage the neighborhood to pursue additional funding sources such as the Neighborhood Street Fund or the Neighborhood Matching Fund through the Department of Neighborhoods by visiting the following website: http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/btgnsfcrf/ SDOT can report that the overgrown wild vegetation at this location has recently been cut back.”