The City's Clever Solution for a Tricky Seattle Hillside
Engineer R.H. Thomson avoids expensive cutting by designing a split-level street for View Street, satisfying residents and the city council.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
For nearly two years, efforts have been made to secure the grading of View Street, which is on the side of a hill overlooking Kinnear Park. The objection has been to the cost of making a practicable grade, and many attempts have been made to overcome the difficulty without incurring an excessive expenditure. City Engineer Thomson has devised a plan by which the street between Warren and Poplar shall be on a double grade. One-half of the street will be from twenty to twenty-six feet lower than the other, the space between being sloped off and parked. The crest of the lower roadway will be dressed with a stone copping and an iron railing. Both cutting and filling will be avoided and the unique switchback will afford all the necessary accommodation for traffic without damaging property on either side of the street. All the property owners on the route, with one exception, are in favor of the plan, and last night the house of delegates passed an ordinance authorizing the work.
“Both cutting and filling will be avoided and the unique switchback will afford all the necessary accommodation for traffic without damaging property.”
This innovative engineering solution reflects R.H. Thomson’s era of 'regading' Seattle’s challenging topography. While the specific switchback may have been lost to later expansions, the struggle to balance geographic reality with property owner interests remains a fundamental element of Seattle civic planning.
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