At a Dec. 4 open house at Washington Cathedral, Mayor John Marchione and city staff shared information about upcoming construction projects in the North Redmond area.
While construction typically entails some inconvenience, the rewards will be significant, particularly as the city prepares to build the new Fire Station 17 at 16917 NE 116th St, according to Marchione.
Marchione said Northeast 116th Street will close for four to six weeks in the summer of 2010 to maximize productivity on projects such as installing infrastructure for the fire station.
As featured in an article in the July 3, 2009 issue of the Redmond Reporter, Fire Station 17 is expected to open in mid-2011.
It will be continuously staffed by two firefighter/EMTs with an aid car and should improve medical response times, by anywhere between two to five minutes, in the north end of Education Hill, southern portions of English Hill, the north end of Avondale Road and the Redmond-Woodinville corridors within the city limits. Seventy five percent of Redmond Fire’s calls are for emergency medical assistance. The 2008 average response time for a medical aid call in this neighborhood was 7 minutes 36 seconds.
Funds for construction of the fire station will come from the city’s capital improvement budget and funding for aid car personnel was approved by voters in fall 2007.
Before construction of the fire station commences, crews will work to raise the street grade to improve visibility near the site.
They’ll also put in sewer extensions and stormwater management features and make utility adjustments as needed to support the station, which will be large enough to house additional staff and equipment in the future.
Marchione asked attendees at the open house to please remember, when road construction is underway this summer, that the end result will be what voters requested — better response times from Redmond Fire in the North Redmond neighborhood.
Other upcoming North Redmond projects include:
• SR 202 (Redmond-Woodinville Road) and Northeast 124th Street intersection improvements, with added capacity on the south and east sections of the intersection to improve traffic flow. Work should begin in early 2010 and is expected to be finished in fall of 2010.
• A new stormwater pond in the Abbey Road development near Northeast 111th Street and 172nd Avenue Northeast, with work anticipated in summer of 2010.
• Stabilization of slopes and a stream that discharges to the Sammamish River, along Northeast 124th Street at Redmond-Woodinville Road. A fish passable culvert will also be installed, with work expected in the summer of 2010.
• Also anticipated, later on, perhaps 2012, is the installation of a roundabout on Northeast 116th Street at 172nd Avenue Northeast.
• And “in the 20-year plan,” said Marchione, 172nd Avenue Northeast may eventually be extended to go all the way through between Northeast 124th Street and Northeast 116th Street, with traffic calming measures.
For more information, contact Marilee Crivello of City of Redmond Public Works at mcrivello@redmond.gov or call (425) 556-2711.
