Is the sidewalk north of 99th Street finished? There is a gap between 99th Street and 102nd Street on 50th Avenue. Shouldn’t it be continuous?
–Linda Stewart, Hazel Dell
It should be, and it will be continuous, Linda. Not only that, but it’ll be continuously walled.
According to Clark County Public Works spokesman Jeff Mize, a 10-foot-tall, 100-foot-long retaining wall will be built along with the sidewalk north of Northeast 99th Street. The county’s contractor, Integrity Excavating Construction, started working on the project this past spring and cleared the site but then ran into “conditions that required additional engineering/design work to this wall.” Hence the delay.
That work will get under way again in two to three months, Mize said. This entire sidewalk segment, from 99th to 102nd streets, will be 825 feet long.
Usually, Mize pointed out, the sidewalks are built when private property is being developed or redeveloped, or when the county is doing road work or building a park. But this particular project is part of “a separate sidewalk program to fill in gaps and make connections to existing sidewalks.”
The public can request these connections and new sections of sidewalk. Take a look at the county’s sidewalk construction Web page to learn more. There’s an online form you can fill out; you can also take a look at the county’s criteria for scoring sidewalk requests — things like the density of nearby housing or commercial nodes, the volume of traffic on the road, whether pedestrians are forced to walk in the street and whether there is a school or park nearby.
Mize pointed out that another county sidewalk connection will get under way this month: a 500-foot-long sidewalk on the south side of Northeast 104th Street, from 23rd Avenue to the existing sidewalk at 25th Place. It scored high because of its proximity to Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School, on 104th Street. The county hopes to have construction done by the time school starts.
By the way, keep in mind that after you make a sidewalk request, “Project design, right-of-way issues, permits and other pre-construction activities can take a year or more to complete before construction can begin,” Mize said.
Got a question about your neighborhood? We’ll get it answered. Send “What’s Up With That?” questions to neighbors@columbian.com.
