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Week of May 18, 2009
Road corridors identified for historic recognition
After more than a year of on-the-road and in-the-archives research, nine road corridors in unincorporated King County have been identified as having unique historic and scenic qualities deserving special recognition.
Quartermaster-Center Road on Vashon Island in the early 1900s was unpaved. | This spring, the King County Roads Services Division is nominating eight of those corridors to become community landmarks – an honorary designation bestowed on special places in our community.
“We want to document the history of our King County roads to preserve important pieces of our transportation heritage,” said Linda Dougherty, director of the division. “This grant-funded project has allowed the Road Services Division to document the story of more than 100 years of transportation system development in our region and identify the most significant remaining corridors in unincorporated King County.”
The nine proposed Heritage Corridors are:
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Osceola Loop (Southeast 448th Street/Southeast 456th Way) west of Enumclaw;
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Southeast Green Valley Road east of Auburn;
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Southeast Issaquah-Fall City Road, the older section between Duthie Hill on the Sammamish Plateau and Fall City;
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Dockton Road Southwest from Tramp Harbor on Vashon Island to Quartermaster Harbor on Maury Island;
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Westside Highway Southwest/Southwest Cedarhurst Road on Vashon Island;
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West Snoqualmie River Road from northeast of Fall City to Carnation;
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West Snoqualmie Valley Road Northeast/Northeast Carnation Farm Road north of Carnation;
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Old Cascade Scenic Highway (Stevens Pass); and
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Old Sunset Highway (Snoqualmie Pass).
The first eight are the ones proposed for community landmark designation, which will be decided by King County Landmarks Commission. The county is not nominating the Old Sunset Highway, because the majority of this route is in U.S. Forest Service ownership. But, Dougherty said King County would like to collaborate with the Forest Service regarding recognition of this corridor the future.
Ruth Harvey, manager for the corridors project, said public road building in King County dates back more than 150 years to 1854, when the Territorial Legislature first authorized county commissioners to collect a tax for the construction of wagon roads and bridges. She said many of the oldest roads in King County are now unrecognizable, due to multiple road improvement projects and decades of surrounding growth and urban development.
A county crew paves Seattle-Renton Road (date unknown). |
“But other roads, primarily in areas that remain rural, still retain tangible scenic qualities and the flavor of an earlier time,” said Harvey. “The project is giving us an opportunity to promote awareness of these routes through education, heritage tourism, and future interpretative signage. It does not result in any new regulations or restrictions for property owners.”
Harvey said community landmark designation by the King County Landmarks Commission is a way to formally recognize the new King County Heritage Corridors. This is purely an honorary recognition that does not have any associated land use regulation. It will not limit the county’s ability to make any necessary road improvements in the future. Instead, future road maintenance activities or road improvement projects along Heritage Corridors will get extra attention to ensure they are as sensitive as possible to the character and history of the area.
“King County has a strong commitment to preserving our region's past,” said Dougherty. “The King County Comprehensive Plan calls for all county agencies to inventory and be good stewards of historic properties under their control and to collaborate with the Historic Preservation Program to nominate eligible properties for landmark designation. This project is helping the Road Services Division meet those objectives.”
A report detailing the project findings and history of King County roads will be released early this summer. Maps, photos, and other educational materials will be added to the project web site throughout 2009. Check the site often to see what’s new.
The Heritage Corridors project is a collaboration between the King County Road Services Division, King County Historic Preservation Program and 4Culture, King County's cultural services agency. Funding is provided through a Federal Transportation Enhancement Program grant administered by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
On Memorial Day – Monday, May 25 – most transit service will operate on a Sunday schedule. One exception is the Elliott Bay Water Taxi, which will operate on a Saturday schedule. The Water Taxi land shuttle, Metro Route 773, will also operate on a Saturday schedule.
All Metro offices will be closed on the holiday. For more details on the holiday weekend service, visit Metro Online.
On Friday, May 22, most Metro and King County offices will be closed for the fourth of ten scheduled 2009 cost-saving furlough days. Metro will operate regular weekday bus service and regular fares apply on Friday.
See Metro Online for more information.
The Seattle International Film Festival kicks off Thursday, May 21, and Metro can get you to all the venues via its regular routes.
The festival runs through June 14 at 13 different theaters in Seattle. Each is easily accessible using regular bus service. Metro has set up the online Trip Planner with links to each movie house in the festival, so film fans can “autofill” the destination point to obtain route information.
See Metro Online for more details.
171st Place Northeast – Crews will be replacing a culvert underneath the roadway on 171st Place Northeast at Northeast 167th Street near Woodinville. The road will be closed at that location starting Tuesday, May 26 for a month.
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