Expensive, “look at me” sidewalks pavers are fine for some selected special places. But most sidewalks are pretty humdrum things. Trod underfoot, usually cracked, always puddled at corners, and roller-coastered for your wintertime walking adventure. Sidewalks in Ottawa are the same as most other cities. Large poured concrete squares, about 5′ x 5′. You’d never know where you are by the looking at your feet. But Seattle had a distinctive concrete tooling, shown in the lead picture. Here’s a longer view: Sidewalks age over time, and decades on the sidewalk squares look like this: A few things really impressed me … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (xiii): simple pleasures on the sidewalk

Yesterday, we saw the “top” views of a landscaped overpass in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle. This landscaping is neither universal nor unique. But most impressively, along the I90 freeway, there were NINE overpasses in a row with luscious landscaping: Here’s some of the views from the freeway itself:   BTW, down the centre lanes of numerous freeways were transit priority lanes; stations were located in the centre median space either at freeway levels below the underpasses or sometimes transit vehicles had separate off ramps from the centre. You can see some of these features in the pictures here. In several … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (xii) parade of landscaped overpasses

the photo shows a generously wide sidewalk, interlock retaining wall, nice mulched bit of planting between the walkway and the road. Notice too how some surface treatment (sandblasting?) gave it an interesting pattern and texture. But there is something here that is extraordinary. there’s a pretty ordinary bike lane on the adjacent road. and a spot where the bike lane turns onto a bike path, crossing our sidewalk first. I;m not so sure I like the post, but it probably keeps motorists out. No, what is special can be seen in this picture: Look very carefully. Look at the left … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (xi) sidewalks you’ll never see in Ottawa

Visiting other cities reveals so many subtle differences in how something can be done. It breaks my assumptions — often implicit — that things “just are that way” as a matter of course.  So rather than look in depth at some significant urban planning diffences, which will be subject of future stories (drainage swales, bus stops, etc) lets look at a few miscellaneous differences. Here’s a few examples. Seattle’s Chinatown, being remonikered as the International District, seemed to have a heavy import-export-industrial flavour to it, rather than being a restaurant row. There was the requisite Chinatown Arch, albeit much more … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (viii) Misc street observations

  The picture shows a typical older street. The walkway is set back from the vehicle curb. There is a row of trees planted between the walk and the curb. Between the trees is asphalt, concrete, or pavers. The trees are tolerated but paved surfaces dominate. This would still rate as excellent by Ottawa standards, should we be so lucky as to have a boulevard of trees on a street. Here’s a newer installation, in front of an infill midrise apartment. Here’s another:   Notice too the steel frame and glass panels that partially shelter the pedestrians from rain or … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (vii) Cultivating trees as if they were wanted

As the Burke Gilman trail moves eastwards it approaches Fremont. First, it climbs some hills. Shown here, it sort of merges with a concrete sidewalk (note the sign, which I carefully cut off, with courtesy instructions):   This section had no yellow line:       the view from the hill was fine: Linkages to other loops and paths were marked out at various points:     We passed a chocolate factory with a sign telling people it wasn’t a retail store. Fortunately, that part was nearby, albeit not with the benefit of useful directions from the factory. Admire our … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (iv): the Burke Gilman trail (the more urban bits)