Relieving flooding like this (NW 183rd Street) was one of the goals of the 3rd Avenue NW Drainage Improvement Project.

Status: Completed September 2005

Shoreline's 3rd Avenue NW Drainage Improvement Project alleviated flooding with nearly a mile of new storm drain pipe and provided many new right-of-way improvements along 3rd Avenue NW including:

• 8 blocks of sidewalk along the west side of 3rd Avenue NW (one of the City’s goals is improving pedestrian safety);
• Curb and gutter for secondary drainage and to delineate on-street parking;
• A planter strip with flowering crabapple trees to beautify the neighborhood;
• A traffic circle at the intersection of 3rd Avenue NW and NW 185th Street to replace a 4-way stop;
• Off-street/shoulder parking north of NW 185th Street (the ditches are filled); and
• A completely new roadway on 3rd Avenue NW from NW Richmond Beach Road to NW 176th Street, narrowed to help calm traffic in the neighborhood.
  

The goal of the 3rd Avenue NW Drainage Project was to prevent frequent flooding to around 20 homes and adjacent streets in the low lying area between 3rd Avenue NW and 6th Avenue NW and from NW Richmond Beach Road to NW 182nd Street.  Past flooding in this area occurred every six months to two years depending on the intensity and duration of the storm. The new storm pipe system begins on Richmond Beach Road west of 3rd Avenue NW, follows 3rd Avenue to NW 176th Street, west to 6th Avenue NW and south to the Boeing Creek Park stormwater facility. This system intercepts runoff that would otherwise flood these homes and conveys the water to the stormwater facility. 

The 3rd Avenue NW Drainage Project cost $3.2 million with $1.9 million financed with a 0.5% Public Works Trust Fund Loan, which will be repaid with surface water fees.

Other related projects in the same drainage basin include the Boeing Creek Park Stormwater Project and Pan Terra Pond and Pump Project.  These projects have been referred to as the pond phase and pump phase of the 3rd Avenue NW Drainage Improvement Project.  They are now each a separate Capital Improvement Project.

The Boeing Creek Park Stormwater Project involves re-grading the stormwater facility in Boeing Creek Park to accommodate faster filling of the pond from the new 3rd Avenue NW storm drain system.  Stormwater is detained in the facility and released over time to improve water quality and prevent erosion in Boeing Creek. The work in the pond is scheduled for 2007-8 and is being coordinated with the Boeing Creek Park Improvements and King County improvements to the Boeing Creek Trunk Sewer Upgrades in Boeing Creek Park. 

The Pan Terra Pond and Pump Project will undergo a feasibility study during design to identify and evaluate solutions to reduce flooding at N. 183rd Street and Dayton Place N and to evaluate the impact of these improvements on the capacity of the Boeing Creek Stormwater Facility. A solution may include a pump station in Pan Terra Pond and a force main on NW 185th Street to the new conveyance line on 3rd Avenue NW.