September street closures frustrate merchants

When Seattle Public Utilities closed down East Madison Street, from 28th to 29th avenues East in late September, it gave the residents and business owners in the area another reason to yearn for the Madison Valley Stormwater Project to be completed as soon as possible.

With merchant interests differing from resident concerns, and Seattle Public Utilities taking criticism from both sides, the project has caused major issues throughout this tight-knit community. The only thing everyone can agree on is that they want the project to be done.

Larry Levine, president of the Madison Valley Merchants Association and co-owner of the Fury Consignment Shop on East Madison Street, said that although the Sept. 26 through 30 road closure wasn’t as bad as he originally anticipated, he and other merchants in the area did not understand why project managers waited until late September to close the street.

“Get the stormwater project done, and get out,” Levine said. “We understand that the work needs to be completed, but why not do it sooner? They closed the road to replace temporary pavement put in place after work that was done last December. Why wait until the start of our busy season to put in permanent pavement?”

Bad timing

Last December, the project forced a road closure on this same stretch of East Madison Street, limiting access to shops on the road and their Christmas sales. Levine said that the merchants were relieved to see this portion of the work finally finished and were under the impression that, even though construction would continue down the road, East Madison Street would not be closed again.

Elaine Yeung, Seattle Public Utilities communications lead for the Madison Valley Stormwater Project, said that while they understand the major inconvenience the community has had to endure since last August, the stormwater project has to be done to reduce the risk of flooding in Madison Valley.

“The truth is that nobody likes construction projects,” Yeung said. “It’s an inconvenience, and we know that. But it’s something that needs to be done. There is no easy solution.”

Marie Harris owns the home decor store Veritables on East Madison Street. She said she understands that the project needs to be completed but wondered why Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) waited until the start of the busy retail season, often thought to go from Labor Day through January, to close down East Madison Street.

“Our numbers fell all through September. It appeared like our neighborhood wasn’t open for business,” she said. “The customer doesn’t want to deal with it. This is when we should be getting busy, and we’re not because, again, we are under construction.”

Yeung said that the reason for waiting so long to install permanent pavement had to do with the ability to create a detour route for the area and better weather conditions for laying permanent pavement.

“We had shafts open on 28th and 29th avenues East, all the way up until the week before we went onto Madison,” she said. “Those roads are the detour route for East Madison Street. We needed to maintain a proper detour route for emergency vehicles to have access to the area during the street closure. 

“There is also a technical side of winter weather not being the ideal time to lay permanent pavement,” she added.

Yeung explained that, while the weather in spring and early summer could have worked for pavement installation, 28th and 29th avenues East were still under construction during these times and could not be used for the detour route that was needed during a major road closure like East Madison Street.

Businesses vs. residents

John Van Nostrand, co-owner of FastFrame on the corner of 29th Avenue East and East Madison Street, said that he and his wife, Molly, wish that the Sept. 26 through 30 project had been done faster.

“Molly and I have been fairly supportive of the project because it needs to be done, but we want it done as fast as possible,” he said. “Do the work in back-to-back shifts; work a day and a night shift. I think everybody was in favor of them working two shifts, especially because it takes them close to three hours to set up and take down equipment. They could have gotten it done twice as fast if they worked two shifts.”

Yeung said that while this project did allow crews to work an extended day, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., they did not do night work so as not to disturb local residents.

She added that residents had already endured two weeks of night work on a previous project this year.

“The residents have made concessions, too,” she said. “I don’t know if you can imagine what it would be like to have night work going on outside your house for two weeks in a row, but the residents have made sacrifices for the project, as well. We try to balance all of these things and still get the project completed.”

But merchants in the area feel that missing paychecks isn’t quite the same as missing a night’s sleep. Harris pointed out that with each project delay and road closure, her livelihood suffers more.

“I’m not Microsoft, I’m not Boeing and I’m not Starbucks,” she said. “I don’t have a trust fund to get me through the rough times. It is a battle for me, and every time they miss a deadline, I miss a paycheck. I don’t get paid.”

Van Nostrand agreed, adding that he has been working for free for almost a year: “If we don’t have a good Christmas season this year, we might have to close our doors because I can’t keep working for nothing. It’s not just construction’s fault; it’s the economy and construction. It’s kind of a double-whammy, and it needs to end.”

The end is near?

While East Madison Street has reopened, construction continues as the project crews begin installing storm drains that will collect rainwater to prevent flooding. 

Though SPU has said that it will not close East Madison Street again, large trucks and roadwork continue to hinder traffic and take up parking spots.

Yeung said that the project is on track to be finished by the end of the year and that she is optimistic about reaching the project deadline. 

But for merchants who are already construction-fatigued and for residents who just want to see an end to the work, optimism is fading.

“At the beginning of the project, we were told it would be finished by August,” Harris said. “Then the city told us they never said August and that they had always planned on December. So we feel we’ve been misled.”

Yeung said that the project finish date has always been December, and that crews are working hard to meet this deadline. 

She added that the majority of the remaining work will be done in Washington Park and that only minor construction projects will continue on East Madison Street through December.

Van Nostrand said that he is hopeful that the entire stormwater project will be completed by December, but that he isn’t holding his breath: “We want to get it done before the Christmas season, but that keeps getting pushed back, and they are probably going to be here during the best time of year — again.”