Visit our office on a given weekday, and you never know what you will see or hear. That’s because work has started on Snoqualmie’s $2.3 million Town Center Infrastructure Improvement Project.
When crews are busy, the earth shakes as backhoes rumble by and jackhammers pummel the ground. Yesterday, a tractor drug an enormous piece of steel across the ground, making a sound that was reminiscent of a huge dog bone being dragged across a giant chalkboard. Trust me, that kind of racket can break your train of thought.
But I don’t mind the noise — it’s the sound of change coming to downtown. When it’s done, my office window will look out onto a much more attractive, modern street.
Downtown Snoqualmie isn’t alone in these kind of changes. A similar, but smaller, project is unfolding in downtown North Bend. Work has begun on that city’s new park and ride sites. When finished, North Bend gets two new options for commuters who want to use greener transport, while making the corner more walker-friendly, with wider, attractive sidewalks.
It’s refreshing to see this investment in the Upper Valley’s two downtowns. North Bend has been eyed for growth and change for some time, and it has been great to see the former Maguire Hill building come alive with new businesses, including Birches Habitat and L Taco. Let’s hope that construction doesn’t disrupt the flow of business on North Bend’s most visible corner.
The same hope goes for Snoqualmie. Downtown business owners were concerned enough about the impacts of construction — blocked driveways, closed roads, stalled deliveries — that they formed an impromptu campaign to promote visits through the worst of the work. Their vision includes special events that put a positive spin on the impacts of construction.
The first of such events, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Backhoe?” is coming soon.
Before construction began, downtown business owner Wendy Thomas, who operates historic Carmichael’s True Value Hardware Store, went before the Snoqualmie City Council to air her qualms about the final downtown vision. Early sketches called for basalt boulders at the newly enlarged sidewalk corners, part of a plan to draw sightseers off Railroad and around to Falls Avenue to check out the rest that downtown Snoqualmie has to offer. Thomas asked whether non-local basalt is appropriate to the Valley. One of her intriguing ideas is to swap the volcanic stone — already on view at Snoqualmie City Hall — with locally relevant sculpture.
These projects will change the identity of our downtowns, subtly or not. Just don’t expect Snoqualmie or North Bend to become Bellevue East.
Until the final touches — and big rocks — are in place, I can endure all the bashing, scraping and trembling outside because it is the sound of progress. My hope is that the neighbors in the downtown block and in North Bend can also survive it. Please support your downtown businesses during this challenging time.
