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Spring has sprung on Broadway with flowers — and trees now surrounded with recycled tire pavement

Dirt is out on Capitol Hill. Cork covers Cal Anderson’s sports field. And “flexible porous pavement,” slowly but surely, is surrounding Broadway’s trees.

Along with larger efforts like winning the return of homelessness outreach services on the street, the Broadway Business Improvement Area also is marking a smaller win with spring as the first phase in a two-year effort to fill in the street’s tree wells is complete.

Starting with Broadway’s northern end to steer clear of the busy construction scene currently going on around Capitol Hill Station, the BBIA’s tree well project is designed to make the area’s sidewalks easier to navigate and cleaner for everyone. And the trees don’t seem to mind.

Filling the wells is also a safety issue — CHS knows of a few lawsuits against local businesses over the years that also probably inspired the work.

The “pavement” is also relatively earth-friendly as it puts recycled car tires back to work in new form.

The Broadway work joins a city project that filled in the tree wells of E Pike a few years back. By next year, the trees on the south end of the Broadway core will get the treatment.

In the meantime, the BBIA says to watch out for the return of flower baskets on Broadway along with daily watering service funded by its ratepayer and city grant-powered budget. “We can’t wait to see the explosion of colors in the baskets welcoming visitors to Broadway,” the BBIA says.

 

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iluvcaphill
iluvcaphill
4 years ago

These are one of the best inventions of the 21st Century. So many ankles will be saved. I still think we need to put limits on the sidewalk cafes that cause the need to practically go into the street on some parts of Broadway, but this is definitely a “step” in the right direction!

JayH
JayH
4 years ago
Reply to  iluvcaphill

+1
Excellent solution to an irritating problem. And yes, the city needs to enforce existing encroachment rules on sidewalk cafes.

RTG
RTG
4 years ago
Reply to  JayH

Recycled tires are known to release zinc and other metals and toxic organic compounds into the soil. Unless the product used is very different from the usual, this is possibly not good for the trees. I wonder if this move comes from the SDOT arborist or whoever is in charge of sidewalk conditions.

For more discussion of this issue, see:
https://grist.org/living/ask-umbra-is-rubber-mulch-really-eco-friendly/

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-france-reverses-car-tyre-sea.html

This manufacturer claims the tires they use are free of lead and other heavy metals (and what SDOT is using could be similar), but says nothing about toxic organic compounds:

https://www.rubberway.com/rubber-trails

Gordon
Gordon
4 years ago
Reply to  iluvcaphill

Sidewalk cafes are great. Let’s build wider sidewalks where there isn’t enough room.

Glenn
Glenn
4 years ago
Reply to  iluvcaphill

Maybe if people pulled their noses out of their cellphones when walking (see photo in this article) they could manage to navigate sidewalks safely?

d reeves
d reeves
4 years ago

I like these!

I think we need to make sidewalks wider, not limit sidewalk cafes.

RWK
RWK
4 years ago
Reply to  d reeves

Oh sure, and eliminate even more parking and/or traffic lanes, loading zones etc.

JB
JB
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

Because driving a car is the only meaningful thing in life.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

Yeah, JB, that’s exactly what Bob was saying. Uh huh.

JB
JB
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

Well, that’s the style of urban design he is advocating – classic car fetishist.

And don’t look now, but Cap Hill is the densest residential neighborhood in the Pacific Northwest. If you want the strip mall lifestyle, they go on for dozens of miles in every direction as soon as you get out of central Seattle.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

No he wasn’t. But I’m sure that’s how it looks to an all-or-nothing car hater. When the only tool you see in your bag is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

JB
JB
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

I have a car and I drive it all the time. When was the last time you rode a bike or caught a bus or even walked a mile in the city?

And once again – Densest Residential Neighborhood in the Pacific Northwest. You guys complaining that there isn’t enough parking around here is the equivalent of a Seattleite going over to Cle Elum and complaining that there aren’t parking meters and underground train stations.

Eric
Eric
4 years ago
Reply to  d reeves

Sidewalk cafes end up on public property so why should the public be giving up sidewalk space to benefit private for profit businesses when it ends up reducing public space that is needed for sidewalk, parking, roadway etc?

poncho
poncho
4 years ago
Reply to  Eric

because that land is for housing human beings and conducting commerce. this is a city afterall not a nature reserve. narrow the streets for wider sidewalks

southsound22@hotmail.com
4 years ago
Reply to  Eric

It makes for a nicer city. That’s why

Imsalbug
Imsalbug
4 years ago

Now let’s do something about Pike and Pine!

WW
WW
4 years ago

So ugly.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
4 years ago
Reply to  WW

Not as ugly as mud-and-dogshit slurry.

Eric
Eric
4 years ago
Reply to  WW

Ugly compared to a mud puddle during rainy weather, or a dusty garbage filled pit during dry weather? I’ll take what you call “ugly” over that any day.

Eric
Eric
4 years ago

I love the sidewalks that have the porous pavement covering the base of the sidewalk trees. It makes the sidewalks safer, larger, and easier to navigate, especially if your someone who’s got someplace to be and you don’t have time to dawdle stuck behind a group of people walking side by side as slow as can be.