Roosevelt Station Construction Open House on Thursday, November 3 (archived live blog)

Welcome!

[Any long pauses you can chalk up to “Baby Issues.”]

I would guesstimate about 60+ people here so far, taking in the open house portion. Large poster boards up around the perimeter, outlining the construction areas, affected parts of the neighborhood, etc. Pictures later.

Presentation starts at 6:30. Sound Transit generally makes the presentation slides available within a few days of the event.

Ooo! There are paper craft light rail trains!

North Link Deputy Project Director Ron Endlich is starting off the presentation portion now.

After Intro is Roosevelt Station Construction info, then Next Steps, Q&A, and back to Open House.

Overview of the whole system now. I’ll be sticking to the Roosevelt-specific info.

Excavation to start in early 2013. There will be a 24-hour construction hotline, manned by an actual person, for answering questions.

Mid-2012 will see the start of demolition, and the beginning of the onslaught of trucks into the neighborhood.

Excavation and tunneling from 2013-2017. Some parking lost on 66th and 67th, some sidewalks to be closed.

If you’d like a real world example of what the construction site will look like, head up to the Capitoll Hill Station site. Wall will be very similar.

There will be night work, and a variance will need to be granted. Another construction meeting to follow with more specifics.

Routes that the trucks will take to and from the construction site will depend on whether the trucks will be heading north or south from the site.

Parking, sidewalks and streets near the site will remain affected during station construction (post-tunnel boring).

Q&A time now. (There’s LOTS more to the presentation, but the presenter was speedy. I’ll be sure to hunt down the slides later for you.)

12th Ave NE will remain open during construction, but the parking lane on the west side will be taken for construction/truck traffic.

Good ? about repairs to roads affected by the toll of heavy truck use. Sound Transit will be the one to repair, should streets need it. Would work with SDOT.

Yes, parking will be affected, but workers will be parking off-site. So, that will help. Some.

Parking at the station question. No, no additional parking for the station. Idea is to walk to the stations or use transit. Residential Parking Zones could be created/expanded.

QFC sounds like they’ll be closing in January. Staff will be relocated to other stores, but the store itself will NOT be relocated.

The excavation and tunneling portion of construction s a 24/7 affair. 12 trucks per hour is the estimate. And as I understand it from an earlier meeting, that would be dump trucks with trailers (doubles).

Worry about property values dropping during construction. Thought is gain after completion would outweigh.

7 months to excavate the station. 20 months to tunnel (to the stadium, I believe).

About 100 people here, by the way.

40-50 feet a day is the speed of the boring machines. That’s where the 20 months comes from.

230 tunnel easements for North Link total.

Exact route of the North Link tunnels not yet known, but current mapped route is within a half a block of the final, says Ron.

Ooo, some rage against the machines that have no luggage racks. (The trains don’t have them.)

And now back to the open house portion. And, hey! Peaks is handing out free cone coupons!