||| BY EDEE KULPER, theORCASONIAN REPORTER |||
Last night Prune Alley officially opened at 6 p.m. with lovely speeches, a non-motorized parade of people walking down the street for the first time, KIND bars and homemade cookies, and middle-of-the-street socializing.
Speakers starting off the event included Councilperson Cindy Wolf, Project Manager Colin Huntemer, and Contractor Mike Carlson, and recognition was given to Mona Evans and Grace Grantham for their invaluable input on accessibility. Magnanimous thanks were extended to the crew who made it all happen, and people like Jessie Douglas-Seitz of San Juan County Public Works were beaming in the crowd.
After the unrolling and joyous cutting of a long purple ribbon, the community strolled down the beautiful new street to admire all the thoughtful aspects worked into its design.
About an hour later, the street officially opened to cars. No more avoiding construction and machinery!
What a fantastic job was done, from concept and design to construction. The street boasts pedestrian and accessibility improvements, transportation infrastructure, storm drain infrastructure, water quality improvements, landscaping, lighting, benches, and other streetscape amenities and perks.
What heroic acts of endurance were made by islanders and businesses working around the 5 1/2-month-long project, from mid-March to September 1. Let’s all make sure to support the people and places that were hard hit.
See you on Prune Alley as we discover all the new nooks and crannies together!
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Bay Area suburbia! Was just there last week. Didn’t realize how much I missed it.
What’s the schedule for Main Street and North Beach Road?
The new Prune Alley is great. Everyone is happy now…remember this video featuring some locals years ago? Worth a listen –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAvGmCY7cOo
Bob Thomas’s succinct and critical comment is worthy of thoughtful consideration…my own thoughts on the result of the long and arduous design process for Prune Alley will be forthcoming in a Guest Opinion.
The road is great, but…the cost of the ridiculous bricks alone could have gone a long way to repair the roads across the island that were washed out. Still haven’t fixed the Doe Bay disaster. I still can’t think of a single reason for bricks at the intersections except for, “hey! Free money!”. We taxpayers should have done better.