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SPORTS | Redmond High School fastpitch team falls to Issaquah, 5-1; baseball team beats Garfield for second straight win [13]
LOCAL | Overlake Terrace woman, older than FRIDAY, April 6, 2012 Redmond, celebrates 104th birthday [4]
Bagpipes blaring for new fire station Get ready for city road construction Upcoming projects will have an impact on traffic Samantha Pak spak@redmond-reporter.com
Redmond residents, workers and anyone passing through town may want to find alternate routes to their daily commutes as the city has a number of road construction projects scheduled for this year. The five projects’ timelines are scattered with the earliest beginning this spring and the latest scheduled to be completed next year. “These projects represent the city’s commitment to keep pace with growth by investing in our vital infrastructure,” said Redmond Mayor John Marchione. “This is one of the top priorities identified by citizens as being most important in maintaining Redmond’s quality of life.”
REDMOND WAY OVERLAY
STEM school counterparts during this short-term stay,” LWSD Superintendent Dr. Chip Kimball said in a press release. “I recognize the inconvenience involved and appreciate their understanding.” Two appeals to the new school site's conditional use permit were filed last December and denied by a King County hearing examiner last week, according to the press release.
Ron Grant, assistant director of public works for the City of Redmond, said the biggest upcoming project will be the Redmond Way overlay, which will extend from the Kirkland-Redmond border at 132nd Avenue Northeast to Bear Creek Parkway. This project will include an asphalt overlay and the installation of curb ramps for easy access for all users. There will also be drainage work done as part of this project. Grant said this thoroughfare used to be State Route 908 before Redmond and Kirkland successfully petitioned the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) about five years ago to have the roads turned back to the cities. Federal dollars had already been budgeted to pay for the construction project and WSDOT agreed during the negotiation process to give that money to Redmond and Kirkland. The Redmond portion of the federally funded project is $2.5 million. “We’re very grateful,” Grant said about the federal dollars. He added that the city hired a consultant to do the design for the project and this cost about $280,000. The City of Kirkland will also be doing construction on its portion, which becomes Northeast 85th Street, so commuters can expect delays along the corridor from Interstate 405 to Bear Creek Parkway.
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Musicians from Eastside Firefighters Pipes and Drums opened last Friday’s dedication ceremony for Redmond’s new Fire Station 17 at 16917 N.E. 116 St. The new station will serve North Redmond and parts of Education Hill and provide faster response times to residents in these neighborhoods. See story, PAGE 6. Samantha Pak, Redmond Reporter
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New STEM school to be housed temporarily at Eastlake Delays in permitting push back construction of new science, technology, engineering and math school BILL CHRISTIANSON bchristianson@redmond-reporter.com
Construction of the new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) high school in Redmond will not be completed in time for the start of the 2012-13 school year following a delay in the permitting process, the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) announced last week. As a result, LWSD's new choice school will open this fall in a temporary setup at
Eastlake High School in Sammamish — approximately four miles from the planned STEM school site near Alcott Elementary School in southeast Redmond. Delays in the required permits have pushed the completion of the first phase of the threephase STEM school project until late fall or early winter, forcing the district to house up to 300 STEM students — all ninth or 10th graders — at Eastlake in the meantime. “I know the Eastlake staff, students and parents will be gracious hosts for their