This work will affect the inside southbound and center lanes between SW 146th to SW 140th Street.

Here’s more from the city:

Construction times will be between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m Monday through Friday. During this time, travel lanes will be restricted with intermittent closures where heavy equipment is in operation. Left turns will be limited and may require detouring to the next signalized intersection or as directed by construction signage. Businesses especially on the west side of 1st Avenue South should expect limited access at times with intermittent driveway closures.

Steel plates will be used and drivers are cautioned to drive slower on these plates. Caution signs will be in place to inform drivers especially motorcyclists.

All lanes will be open to traffic outside of the construction time. Again, please expect steel plates to be in one of those lanes and use caution when driving over them.

Our friends at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub & Restaurant want our Readers to know that they’re looking to hire Bartenders and Servers, preferably ones that are over 21 and have at least one-year of experience in a high-volume dining environment.

Interested and qualified applicants are asked to please email resumes to jobs@mickkellysirishpub.com for consideration

Here’s the full job listing:

Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub & Restaurant is a traditional Irish Restaurant opened in Burien, WA, September 15th, 2005. Partners Mick Purdy and Adrian Kelly then opened Glen Acres Golf Course & Full Throttle Renton in early 2009. Riverbend Golf Course opened late 2009.

Experience the traditional Irish dining style. Specialty meals consist of Guiness Beef Stew, Shepards Pie and Traditional Corned Beef with Cabbage.

Mick Kelly’s is currently seeking experienced bartenders and or Servers to join our team. Ideal candidates will have a minimum of 1 year of experience in high-volume dining environment. Applicants must be 21+. Current WA state alcohol servers and food handlers permits are a plus.

Interested and qualified applicants please email your resume to jobs@mickkellysirishpub.com for consideration. You can also visit Mick Kelly’s and drop off an application or resume. No phone calls please.

“Paving has been completed on Ambaum to about S.W. 151st St.,” reads the city’s website. “The contractor hopes to complete paving to 4th Ave. S.W. the evening of June 17. Painting of lines marking lanes will be done early next week.”

The city says that all work on Ambaum “is expected to be completed by the July 4th weekend.”

We say Woot!

Scott Schaefer snapped these pics from his bike Friday night:

The City of Burien on Tuesday (May 31st) released its updated Paving Schedule for asphalt laying on Ambaum Blvd. SW, with the caveat being that it may not follow the schedule if it rains again (which it surely will…).

As before, paving work is being relegated to nighttime hours to have the least impact on traffic.

Did we mention that work will be postponed in the event of rain?

“A schedule for the paving on Ambaum from S.W. 153rd St. to S.W. 156th St. is not yet determined,” reads a statement on the city’s website.

Here’s the city’s schedule:

• Paving will continue Thursday night, June 2.  It will be southbound, starting from S.W. 124th St. to S.W. 148th St.  Southbound traffic will be rerouted to  4th Ave. S.W.
• Friday night, June 3: paving will be northbound, from S.W. 148th St. to S.W. 124th St.  Northbound traffic will be rerouted to 4th Ave. S.W.
• Monday night, June 6: paving will be southbound from S.W. 148th St to S.W. 153rd St.  southbound traffic will be rerouted to 4th Ave. S.W.
• Tuesday night, June 7: paving will be northbound from S.W. 153rd to S.W. 148th St.  Northbound traffic will be rerouted to 4th Ave. S.W.??All traffic rerouted to 4th Ave. S.W. is free-flow.

A major flippin' part of Ambaum has finally been flippin' paved!

Asphalt paving has finally flippin’ begun on Ambaum Blvd. SW, with the first layers added to a section between SW 126th and SW 112th on Monday and Tuesday this week (May 9 & 10).

We drove it Wednesday morning (May 11), and the smoothness makes one heck of a flippin’ difference to our little Mini Cooper Blogmobile (read our previous, too-snarky-for-some flippin’ story here, and be sure to read the Comments…).

The city’s website says:

“The contractor began laying asphalt Monday night (May 9) on Ambaum Blvd. S.W. As of Wednesday (May 11), the section of Ambaum between S.W. 112th and S.W. 126th streets had been completed.  Grinding work and paving will continue, moving south from S.W. 126th St. this week and into next week.

During the nighttime work, traffic is being channeled and also detoured in some areas. No parking will be allowed on the street and driveway access may be temporarily affected during these times.  Use of alternate routes such as 4th Ave. S.W. is recommended.

Asphalt laying had been delayed because of the wet weather, although the contractor is ahead of schedule.  Rain also has been causing delays in the grinding process since wet pavement prevents lanes from being clearly marked.”

As for the remaining section that remains rough and un-paved, Steve Botkin from the City of Burien says:

“Not sure of the paving schedule now that the rain has returned, but at least they got it started.”

Are you as tired of driving on this flippin' rough road as we are?

Several BTB Readers, as well as Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer, have been wondering ‘just when the flip is Ambaum Blvd. going to finally get flippin’ paved again?’

The poor B-Town Blogmobile has suffered from weeks of its construction, first with delays and detours, and now with stripped-to-the-roughest-parts-of-the-road concrete, causing many a bumpy, irritating ride that can’t be good for its cute little Mini Cooper suspension.

“It seems like for a while that construction crews were everywhere,” said Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer to himself while writing this post. “Then all of a sudden, it’s as if they vanished, leaving behind a rotten, terrible roadway that should require a helmet to traverse even in a flippin’ horseless wagon!”

We checked the city’s website, which had nothing new – just this same old notice:

Road repair and grinding work in preparation for laying of asphalt is continuing on Ambaum Blvd. SW. During the nighttime work, traffic is being channeled and also detoured in some areas. No parking will be allowed on the street and driveway access may be temporarily affected during these times.  Use of alternate routes is recommended.

Asphalt laying will take begin on Ambaum when the grinding is complete and there is a sufficient break in the wet weather.

We then inquired directly with the flippin’ City of Burien, whose spokesperson Steve Botkin responded with this note:

The rainy weather in the past month delayed the asphalt laying on 128^th, which had to be completed before they could start resurfacing Ambaum.

Now that 128^th is done (including the permanent striping) the focus is on Ambaum where they have to finish the grinding and concrete work before they begin laying the asphalt.

The hope is to complete the grinding by the end of this week and begin laying asphalt as soon as next week , if the weather cooperates.

So, long story short – if the flippin’ weather improves, Ambaum Blvd. might flippin’ be as smooth as SW 128th is now:

Flip!

The City of Burien wants to remind residents and businesses along Ambaum Blvd SW that they can expect to continue to be disrupted through next week as noisy grinding and repair work continues – with most of the work being done at night, including “jackhammers pounding.”

The warning relates to the area on Ambaum between SW 112th and SW 156th Streets.

“Work is being done at night to have the least impact on traffic and to complete the work quicker,” reads the city’s announcement, which also adds: “Residents and businesses along Ambaum can expect disruptions throughout the night while the work is going on, with trucks coming and going and jackhammers pounding.”

Grinding and pavement repair on Ambaum Blvd SW started April 5th at SW 112th and is moving south, with the goal of finishing at the intersection of 4th Ave SW and SW 156th Streets.

Here are more details on this project’s progress:

• The segment to SW 140th is expected to be completed by Friday, April 8.
• Grinding and repair will take place from SW 140th south to SW 156th St. the week of April 11.
• During the nighttime repair work, traffic is being channeled to one lane, and also detoured in some areas.
• No parking will be allowed on the street and driveway access may be temporarily affected during these times.
• Use of alternate routes is recommended.
• Residents and businesses along Ambaum can expect disruptions throughout the night while the work is going on, with trucks coming and going and jackhammers pounding.
• Following the grinding and repair work, Ambaum will be resurfaced with new asphalt, a process that will take at least a week.
• The timing of the resurfacing process, which also will be done at night, is weather-dependent, requiring temperatures above 36 degrees and a dry surface.

City of Burien Project Manager Doug Lamothe said by doing the work on Ambaum at night instead of during daytime hours, the contractor can get the grinding/resurfacing work done in two weeks instead of two months. The road repair project is a large operation with 60 road workers onsite, two grinders and 30 truck-trailers.

“We realize this is a great inconvenience, but we’re doing much-needed street repairs to main arterials,” Lamothe said. “We’re doing as much as we can to lessen the impact on everyone.”

SW/S. 128th Street
Grinding and repair of the pavement on SW/S. 128th Street is complete and the contractor is waiting for a break in the wet weather to do the asphalt overlay, which will take four nights.  Work being done at night instead of the day to have the least impact on traffic.  The arterial will be channeled down to two lanes during resurfacing. No parking will be allowed on the street and driveway access may be temporarily affected during these times. The resurfacing work will be done during the night hours to disrupt traffic as little as possible.

For regular updates on the road projects, click here for a direct link: http://burienwa.gov/index.aspx?nid=902.

The City of Burien announced Thursday (Jan. 20th) that it will be closing a section of Ambaum Blvd. for construction work on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 25th and 26th.

A one-block section of Ambaum, just south of SW 116th Street (see map below) will be closed for repair work of the storm drainage system. Short detours will be set up in both directions, with police officers directing traffic. Vehicles will be directed east to 12th Ave. S. on SW 116th St. and SW 118th St. to bypass the construction area.

Metro buses that service Ambaum Boulevard also will use the detour.

The road work and closure on Ambaum is weather-permitting; it will be postponed in the event of rain.

Ambaum will be reopened on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 27th and 28th, but will be down to one lane in both directions at SW 122nd Street because of continued storm drainage work.

The traffic disruptions will move south on Ambaum in the weeks and months ahead as construction on the storm drainage system and sidewalks continue south to SW 156th Street.

View Larger Map

by Ralph Nichols

Applications for permits for the new Burien/Normandy Park headquarters station are expected to go to city planners for review by late next week.

Fire Chief Mike Marrs told The B-Town Blog on Jan. 13 that while the permits are being issued, architects will continue working on construction and bid documents.

Marrs said the call for bids for construction of the new station, at 900 SW 146th St. – long the location of the Bonney-Watson chapel and mortuary, is expected to be issued sometime between late March and mid-April.

Construction should begin sometime between early May and early June and be completed “toward the end of the year,” he added. “It’s a six- to nine-month build.”

Voters in the Burien/Normandy Park Fire District (King County Fire District No. 2) approved in November 2008 a $25 million bond issue for construction of the new headquarters fire station and replacement of the existing station in Normandy Park.

The bond issue included the costs of property acquisition and equipping the new stations.

“There’s been no dollar change” in costs facing the district, Marrs said. “We’re still within budget. We’ll know where we are price-wise when we get the bids back but it looks like we’re on track.”

Burien has long needed a new fire station to replace the outdated and undersized existing facility at the corner of SW 151st St. and 8th Ave. S.

A top priority for the headquarters station was a downtown location for response times no more than seven minutes anywhere in the fire district, and for direct access to major arterials and State Route 509.

The Normandy Park fire station at 135 S. Normandy Road will be built at this location. The fire district has acquired an adjacent residential property for the building site and the existing station will remain in operation during construction.

Marrs said the department is just finishing the schematic design for this station, with work running “about two months behind.” Permitting is expected sometime in March with bids called for in May.

“I think we’ll catch up with it once we get to bids,” he said. “It’s a smaller building so construction will be shorter. We should be done with it around the end of the year too.”

KING5.com reported Thursday (Nov. 18th) that they discovered that a business called Haos Sewing is operating a “sweatshop” out of a garage on SW 122nd in Burien.

According to the report:

…when you walk through the garage door you might feel like you have been transported back in time, or to a third world country.

That is because the garage is more like a factory than a home and people who have worked there describe sweatshop conditions.

KING says that one woman who works for the company “is making less than $1.60 per hour for her work.”

Here’s the full video:

See the entire story here.