Intersection Repair Process Notes for “Fortyninth Intersects Burke” a.k.a. the WallyBug (Sept 9-10th, 2006)
By Eric Higbee (h_i_g_b_e_e@yahoo.com)
Updated 10/09/06

This is a rough documentation of the steps and processes we went through to implement our intersection repair at 49th Burke Ave N. and N 49th Street on September 9th & 10th, 2006. It is intended to be a rudimentary guide to help other neighborhoods accomplish similar goals.

1.) Meeting Process

Meeting One: Gathered together a core group of neighbors to discuss feasibility of project. Showed precedents from Portland and elsewhere. Brainstormed initial ideas and establish a rough scope of work. Made initial contacts with City officials and City Repair.

Meeting Two: Invited larger neighborhood to a meeting to discuss the project. Presented more detail on project such as feasibility, dimensions, costs, permissions, etc.

Meeting Three: Design charrette. Brought neighbors together to brainstorm creative ideas for the project. Have a knowledgeable facilitator at meeting to keep an open forum and encourage creativity. Displayed all ideas on wall. Discussed and disseminated favorite ideas. For next meeting, took favorite ideas and prepared one or more alternative sketches of design.

Meeting Four: Discussed alternative designs. Refined.

Meeting Five : Approved of final design.

Closer to implementation : Meeting to create committees and assign tasks for various responsibilities. Most committees were really only one person. Committees we created included:

Committee for the Procurement of Paint -researching and buying the paint and paint supplies

Committee for Home Intersection Security - renting and acquiring the street closed signs. Set up and take down day of. Working with SDOT on any last changes to the traffic control plan. Making sure cars are not parked in work area.

Committee for the Layout and Logistics of Implementation –creating and implementing the system for laying out the design on the ground. Layout of design on Saturday.

Committee for Ensuring the Cleanliness of Painting Surfaces - renting a powerwasher and cleaning the street on Saturday.

Committee for Satisfying Stomachs - organizing refreshments and food for the painting day

Committee for Efficient Volunteer Organization and Participation Statistics - Making sure everyone has a paintbrush and a way to be involved on paint day.
Logging Volunteer hours.

Committee for Financial Oversight –dealing with keeping tabs of money and expenses and ensuring reimbursement.

All meeting should have food and beverage! Potlucks preferred!

2.) Department of Neighborhoods (DON) Small and Simple Matching Fund:

DON has a fairly complicated process for applying for and managing their Small as Simple grants. Most of this information is available on their website. Take a look early on in your process at the DON deadlines for the grants and leave yourself enough time to apply for and then sign the contract (a couple months after application is submitted). Some of what we had to do up front is estimate a budget and collect pledges for time commitments. Keeping track of volunteer hours once the application is submitted is very important. DON had also asked that we get the support of our neighborhood council. Our grant was for $1415 and covered costs for paint, paint supplies, permits, power washer rental, sign rentals. We used the Wallingford Community Council as our fiscal sponsor.

3.) Department of Transportation.

SDOT treated our Intersection Repair as a pilot project. We went through several design revisions as the folks in SDOT figured out what they were comfortable with. At one point they wanted the painting to be as small as a traffic circle because they were afraid people would drive up onto the curb to avoid driving over the painting. However SDOT eventually had a change-of-heart (perhaps after seeing some photos of Portland projects I sent them) and the final version was not very different from the initial proposal. In theory SDOT will be developing a set of guidelines based on this project to help guide similar projects in the future.

Personel :
Theresa Smith: Theresa was our primary SDOT contact person and chief advocate for our project within SDOT. She did a lot of work behind the scenes to get approval for the permit by showing the design the appropriate people, coordinating internal meetings, etc.

Theresa Cayetano Smith,
PE Senior Civil
(206) 684-0353
Theresa.Smith@Seattle.Gov

Marilyn Vancil: Worked with her to establish a Traffic Control Plan (see below). Gave final approval.

Marilyn Vancil
SDOT Traffic
684-5111
Marilyn.Vancil@Seattle.Gov

Angela Steel : Creates and issues final permit.

Angela Steel
Annual Permits, Street Use Division
(206) 684-5267
Angela.Steel@seattle.gov


SDOT Process
1.) Submit a plan of intersection repair that included street and design dimensions
- nothing to cross over onto the sidewalk from street (especially not at ADA curb ramps). Hopefully this could change in the future.
- identify what type of paint you will be using (see below)
- SDOT may be willing in the future to entertain using other traffic control elements such as bumps and reflectors into the design.
2.) Collect signatures of 60% of neighbors within a one block radius from the intersection. SDOT will supply forms, neighbor list, and map. Signatures of houses immediately adjacent to intersection required (?)
3.) Submit a traffic control plan
- SDOT guidelines can be found here: www.seattle.gov/transporta...lmanual.htm
- identify what signs will be used and where they will be placed to close of the intersection.
- identify when streets will be closed
- include a second level of protection in case vehicles enter the street (ie, more signs, or parking cars so they block the street (what we did))
- SDOT suggested, but did not require that we have someone with a flagger card to direct traffic (seemed a silly/onerous requirement to us)
- notify local fire department of street closure
- notify all neighbors about the street closure and work out their access issues to either mutual satisfaction, or you document your attempts to meet their needs.


4.) Actual Supplies and Expenses

Paint: We used RODDA Driveline paint. We got it from their store on 4th Avenue (3838 Fourth Avenue South ). We used AutoCAD to approximate area coverage for each color, and then estimated 250sqft/gallon coverage. This coverage estimate was low and we ended up having barely enough paint for about 1 ½ - 2 coats (even after calculating for two coats and generously adding a few more gallons) The road is extremely rough and sucks up a lot of paint. We used just about all of it. The estimated cost listed below is only a few dollars different from what we actually spent.


Color Area (sqft) x 2 coats Total (gal) Est. $
Red 450 900 5 $100
Green (leaf) 650 1300 6 $100
Black 325 650 5 $110
Yellow (flower) 1000 2000 12 $190
White 300 600 5 $70






Total: 2725 5450 33 $570

RODDA can mix limited colors with their Driveline paint. (We only mixed a green, but Squire Park had a variety of different colors mixed) They told us that the non-mixed colors (yellow, red, black, white) will last longer than mixed colors. Everything is latex-based except for the black, which is oil based. They can give it in 5 gallon buckets, except for the black which is in 1 gallon cans.

We used mostly rollers to apply the paint –both 12” and 6”. This 6” were especially nice for some of the outline work. We also used disposable 4” brushes for detail and touch up.

Supply list (approximate guess – Adam/Dan can you verify?):

(10) painting trays
(25) painting liners
(12) 12” roller frames
(24) 12” rollers
(6) 6” roller frames
(12) 6” rollers
(20) 4” disposable brushes
(5) 5 Gallon buckets
(2) blue tarps
(3) box of non-latex disposable gloves
Lots of rags
Stir sticks

We were a little bit short on enough rollers and paint tray liners.

Street Signs : Rented from National Barricade. $72 for all of ours signs (12 of them) for a six day rental. The delivered and picked them up. The price can be substantially cheaper if you pick them up yourselves. We had some signs stolen the night they sat outside.

5.) Notes on implementation

Sat: Swept and powerwashed the street – very helpful! There’s more dirt than you think, especially on the edges. This took about 4 hours with one person. Consider keeping elements of your design away from the sidewalk edges as these areas quickly fill up with a lot of dirt/debris over the year.

Layout: We used to control joints in the street concrete to establish a grid (approximately 6’) across the street. We also drew two large circles from the intersection centerpoint (a manhole cover). We then drew the design in chalk which allowed us to make corrections. We then marked it again with marking spray paint (the kind you can spray upside down). Labeled each area with a color symbol. Took about 4 hours for two of us.

Sun: We basically painted by numbers. We had 30-50 show up and help paint . Then we had a big block party/potluck.

6.) Photos

Lots of process photos taken by Eric Higbee here:
www.erichigbee.net/projects/IR2006/