The city put off sewer work until it was an emergency — Now 12th and Pike closure will double to 6 weeks

(Image: CHS)

A photo posted by the Unicorn last week: “Even though we’ve got some construction going on, the bar is still OPEN and we’re still having a grand ol’ time!”

An intersection’s utilities overhaul in the heart of Pike/Pine will take twice as long as originally planned after excavation crews ran into unmapped wiring, old concrete, and tangled utility lines, city officials confirmed. The even more intense punch of construction in the neighborhood is making for a challenging end of summer for residents and businesses in the area.

The round-the-clock intersection closure at E Pike and 12th Ave initially slated to last three weeks has been extended to roughly six weeks.

According to a Seattle Public Utilities spokesperson, while the project’s overall scope remains unchanged, digging beneath the street uncovered unexpected concrete, electrical wiring, and utility conflicts. The unanticipated conditions forced crews to install additional shoring to safely reach and replace 53 feet of failing, 12-inch sewer main buried 25 feet below the surface.

The intensity of the shutdown is due, of course, to the neighborhood’s aging infrastructure but is also an unfortunate byproduct of policies that put the work off for years despite obvious end of lifecycles for the old pipes and equipment below Pike/Pine.

SPU officials tell CHS that the emergency nature of the actively failing infrastructure ruled out breaking the repair into smaller, intermittent phases and staging the work in piecemeal closures would have dragged disruptions out for six to eight months and significantly elevated the risk of a catastrophic sewer failure, the utility said.

SPU owns and maintains approximately 1,400 miles of mainline sewers. Significant portions of the network date back over 100 years. As of about four years ago, roughly 40% of Seattle’s core system was vitrified clay pipe installed between the 1890s and 1940, according to city documentation.

Rather than wholesale replacement, SPU assesses pipes on a likelihood vs. consequence matrix. Pipes beneath major arterial intersections or near sensitive waterways are flagged for higher-priority intervention. Major projects like the overhaul that created the RapidRide G also provide opportunities to dig in and upgrade the system.

Adding to complications are the multiple departments involved in the work. In Seattle, street projects are managed through a multi-agency framework where the Seattle Department of Transportation acts as the regulatory gatekeeper of the city’s public right-of-way. When a project slips schedule or creates severe local impacts, the public and business owners sometimes struggle to identify who is in charge. SDOT manages the detours and permits, SPU manages the sewer, City Light handles the electrical vaults, and Puget Sound Energy manages gas lines. If a project stalls, agencies often point to other utilities’ uncompleted work or review processes.

Seattle’s historic core including Capitol Hill contains over a century of undocumented utility lines, abandoned streetcar tracks, and unrecorded concrete vaults. When one agency begins digging and encounters an unmapped line belonging to another utility, work can stall and projects quickly expand.

Another issue is staging the work. Agencies generally work sequentially rather than concurrently in the same trench for safety and liability reasons. If SCL or PSE is delayed in relocating a wire or gas pipe, SPU’s contractor must hold, pushing out the entire timeline and SDOT’s final repaving date.

With the extended timeline at 12th and Pike compounding concerns for surrounding retailers and nightlife venues, the city says it is ramping up mitigation efforts to keep local commerce afloat. Representatives stated that outreach teams are conducting door-to-door visits with business owners to resolve loading and access issues, hosting weekly virtual check-ins, and pairing with the Office of Economic Development for evening visits.

City officials emphasized that pedestrian access to all storefronts remains open, aided by new informational flyers and “Businesses are Open” signage though some property owners say they are having to foot the bill for signs for their commercial tenants.

Limited vehicle turn movements also continue under the direction of on-site traffic officers. SPU noted it is coordinating directly with fall neighborhood events, including Elysian’s Great Pumpkin Beer Festival on October 3rd to minimize impact.

The issues have been extra punishing for the nearby Unicorn bar. It suffered through a three-month closure at the end of last summer after a fire damaged the E Pike building it calls home.

“Come support your local bar, grab a drink, eat some food, and hang out with us while we ride out the construction chaos,” the bar wrote in a social media update last week.

CHS reported here in July on the $6.5 million project originally planned for a 90-day cycle of closures and construction to replace 115-year-old infrastructure in the neighborhood.

Video sent to CHS by an area property owner

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