As of the Reporter’s July 10 press deadline, construction on the Willows Road pavement overlay project had yet to commence.
Scheduled to start at the beginning of this month and be completed by October, the project involves repaving sidewalk ramps along roughly two miles of road between Northeast 90th and Northeast 124th streets to meet current ADA standards; in total, 14 ramps will be repaved.
Work will take place mainly at night to avoid both the evening and morning rushes, but Jill Smith, outreach and community coordinator for the city, urged residents to keep checking the city’s website, which will be updated as more information regarding specific lane closures is provided by the project contractor.
Because Willows Road is a main commuter corridor, the city has partnered with carpooling app Waze to create a specific promotion aimed at reducing the number of cars on the road this summer.
“This is the first promotion of its kind and we’re excited about it. Riders pay just $1 through the Waze carpool app, and drivers receive $0.58 a mile,” Smith said.
A $10 bonus will be awarded to first-time drivers and a $20 bonus comes after 10 completed trips. According to statistics provided by GoRedmond, 143 people have enrolled in the Willows Road project as of late June, and 430 carpool trips have been tracked since the promotion started June 1.
“We going to run that promotion all summer and hope that more people join that group and discover how easy it is to carpool,” Smith said.
The Willows Road overlay is an example of a project that could be featured on the city’s new web tool, Let’s Connect Redmond. The online community conversation portal launched July 8 and allows residents to provide feedback on various Redmond initiatives, like the latest draft of the city’s Community Strategic Plan, or the performance of police and fire services.
Every topic and the subsequent responses it receives from residents will be archived for retroactive viewing on the portal. Smith said the city aims to compile the community’s feedback into reports and provide evidence for how it influenced city decisions. The site also includes an idea board for upcoming events like Derby Days, and an interactive mapping tool that could be used for traffic questionnaires.
