Mobility can be key to a healthy, happy, and engaged community. Whether taking a stroll to a neighbor’s house, or biking to a local café for a cup of coffee, the ability to move safely and easily through our neighborhoods is what lets us participate in our communities. But as neighborhoods change and grow, maintaining mobility and connectedness can sometimes be difficult. That’s why SDOT has made it a priority to help people planning construction projects to also consider and plan for mobility.
As part of this effort we have rolled out six new construction planning templates (plus two blank templates) that will help people recognize and plan for mobility impacts for all types of projects, large and small. Planning a construction project? Check out the new templates here. As you can see below, it’s now easier than ever for people planning a project to communicate ideas to maintain mobility, whether or not the area has sidewalks or alleyways.
Prudent planning not only makes for more navigable neighborhoods, but can save time and money too. For example, we recently responded to a situation, pictured below, in which construction fencing had crept so far out onto the sidewalk that there was no landing on which pedestrians could stand. Even the crosswalk button was hidden behind the fence!
With effective planning this situation may have been avoided from the start, thereby keeping both construction and members of the community moving right along. It is our hope that these new planning templates will help keep Seattle’s neighborhoods vibrant and connected!
Have questions about the new templates? Feel free to email us at SDOTPermits@seattle.gov.