SDOT Week

Sara Robertson from the Seattle Department of Transportation working with Tony Mazzella, both alumni of the University of Washington Urban Design & Planning Department, scheduled a week-long exposure to the workings and process of this city department.

The Yesler2014 Team met with engineers and planners from the traffic management center, the street and Right-of-Way designers, and surveyors, concrete pourers, mapping specialists, foreman, coordinators, and executives.

We met with civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers. Analysts, adminstrators, Race & Social Justice representatives, community surveyors, designers, and skilled trades people.

We worked on GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and learned about "live" mapping, found our homes on Google Earth (tm), learned how curb-cuts are modified at 31st and Yesler Way next to Leschi Elementary, and found out that the cost of of repairing a sidewalk is thousands of dollars.

SDOT conducted a sidewalk survey on Wednesday to assess the walkability of the walkways, the condition of the pavement, identifying repair needs, and learning how to analyize an intersection for its ability to be used efficiently.

We also met with SDOT Director, Grace Crunican and got to field questions about parking regulations, traffic management, congestion pricing (go Bria!!), and how to get the streets repaved.

Great day!!