Written by Sidewalks are costing up to two million dollars per mile in Seattle. This is a daunting pricetag, and we are seeing sidewalk prices heading this direction in Renton as well. The reason for this is that new ADA provisions, along with stormwater, curbing, and other road design requirements prevent us from simply using the old four-inch-thick-slab-of-concrete-at-grade mentality. Each sidewalk now has to be architecturally designed and engineered to meet the latest standards. This truley is for the public benefit, and really helps those who are mobility challenged; I support this improved design, but boy is it ever expensive. I hope we can find ways to slow these cost increases, or even reverse them (maybe?), in the future.
ready for the next pour…:-)
When I was a kid, I remember when I and a group of school classmates were informed by a city engineer that new freeways cost over one-million dollars per mile! “No way” we all said, in disbelief that a freeway could cost so much. Who would have guessed we would be paying twice this amount for a sidewalk in 2007!
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