Recently 4 Trees were cut down on North 80th Street – on the south side near Sunnyside Avenue North.  A resident asked me: “What happened?” I reached out to the City to find out. They put me in touch with the City Arborist, and here’s the response – Paul Kostek, Chair, Green Lake Community Council.

The construction manager and City Arborist provided the following information:

This work was done in advance of an AAC project along N 80^th St. that will repave the roadway and replace certain segments of sidewalk. The Sidewalk Safety Repair Program agreed to go in early, do needed root pruning, and place a temporary asphalt sidewalk. Once the AAC contractor comes through, they will reinstall a permanent concrete sidewalk at the impacted locations.  This work is part of the Green Lake/Wallingford area paving projects happening in 2019.

SDOT Urban Forestry was responsible for evaluating the trees during the construction, for impacts to the root systems. The reconstruction of the walk impacted the trees so severely that they had to be removed, as their stability was compromised.  We were unable to make enough modifications to the adjacent infrastructure to avoid impacting the roots.

Feel free to share these project links:

• Main project page for the Green Lake/Wallingford area paving projects: https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/maintenance-and-paving/current-paving-projects/green-lake-area-paving-and-safety-projects
• N 80^th St project fact sheet: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/SDOT/MaintenanceProgram/GreenLake/2019_0122_GreenLakeWallingford_Factsheet_N80th_Final.pdf

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Nolan Rundquist City Arborist Seattle Department of Transportation Maintenance and Operations Division

Urban Forestry/Asphalt-Concrete Paving & Engineering/ROW Infrastructure Maintenance/Emergency Response

ISA Certified Arborist / Municipal Specialist  PN-1624AM
206-615-0957 (Tel)

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