When the majority of Golden Gardens Drive washed out during last winter’s storms, the Seattle Department of Transportation closed the road with barricades and a fence. It wasn’t much of a deterrent as people routinely walked or rode bikes around the edge of the fence. SDOT recently returned to the site to bulk up the fence, anchoring it into the hillside and extending it out over the edge of the adjacent ravine to scare off all but the most determined.
Frankly, I’m surprised it took them so long – that site is an accident waiting to happen. Anyone who’s looked at the washout (from outside the fence, mind you) can see that almost all of the remaining asphalt is completely undermined. I’m no engineer, but I’m betting asphalt is not known for its structural strength, which is probably why you don’t see any bridges built out of it.
In any case, we recently mentioned it’ll be about six months before they get the road fixed. Bummer.
