The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-09-30


The improvement Of VEsw street On
Q1ser Anne bill was completed last week
and marks . decided step IN advances in
the besnssfyinR Of tbs city, made at the
reconmenession Of City Engineer e Fl.
Thomson The bsss feature OF the work
Is that advantages vas taken Of the elGn-
ders Of past eff administrations 10 sarn
into o coed thing what you'd otherwise
have beea . dist gz-sment of the streets.
thss Is BY making into q PARK the jog in
the streets where two plats meet This
has h~sn accomplished in the case OF View
street through tAs skill Of Mr.. Thomson
and bis artist. A '. Bouillon.
Bradley street from the west and View
street from the east. running along the
bro. of the bill. where the ground slopes
abruptly TO the soutn, do not meet By
about seventy feet st Kentucky street. and
thus, II tie original plat lad been followed,
sn awkward jog would have existed.
The problem was 30 make the two streets
connect. and this was accomplished by
concessions fro1a the AUDITING property
owners. A strip on Prospect avenue. the
next street south, was exchanged for .
"trip from the south line OF View street 20
the south line Of Bradley street and
Bradley extsnded 10 Kentucky. A tri-
angular piece was also decided 10 the city
On the north side Of Bradley and used 10
connect with View street on . reverse
curve. This gives q divided roadway con-
Meeting the two streets with . triangular
park ia the middle. continuation of
View street being on the north and a con-
tlnuaiion of Bradley on the south, run
ming into Kentucky. This makes Q park
about eighty feet long and fifty feet wide
at the east end, tapering down 70 nothing
on the west The grade of Kentucky is
raised about six feet to help the connsc-
tons and ali the sidexa lks are connected
by easy curves.
Bur q still more difficult problem was
to be solved further east on View street,
which las reduced TO Is per cent grade
as far as Warren street, but from there the
natural slope was 50 steep. about Is de-
grees, that ii IL had been brought TO one
level through ITS whole width, the result
would have been unsatisfactory TO the
residents On one or the other side, for
either those on the north would have been
left far MP the hill with q precipics below
them or those on the south side would
have been left down in the hollow with q
sheer wall above them. The problem has
been solved to the satisfaction of both
sides with due regard to artistic effect by
the construction of divided roadway az
far as Poplar, the next cross street east.
To accomplish this Frank P. Lee and ]. T.
Ronald gave deeds TO . strip 200 feet
long and tapering down from twenty
feet wide on the north side, and thus
the width was made forty-two feet The
street Is divided into roadways at Warren
street, the one on the north side contin-
uing level and ending at Poplar street,
while the one on the south side deseends
on almost the natural grade until 1t is
twelve feet below the other a., Poplar. and
thence continues the foil width and on the
established grade. The sidewalk OF the
upper roadway is protected By a neat
wooden railing overlooking q narrow ter
race. on which trees can be planted, and
the roadbed Is maintained by solid bulk
head Of ave-inch plank sustained by
double sxi2inch tiuibers, all anchored by
iron rods. The bulkhead and railing are
ali coated with mineral paint. and q tenn
porsry stairway lets pedestrians descend
from the upper 10 the lower roadway.
This is such a satisfactory and tasteful
solution of knotty point in regard to
street improvement that the precedent is
likely to be followed in a number of other
instances. with the result that the city will
have q numbsr of beauty-spois where it
might otherwise have had as many eye
sorex