Another Scenic Drive Sign!

It's been over seven years since my last post on Seattle's Scenic Drives, 'cause I thought I was done with the topic. But in the past week I happened to come across another sign that I somehow overlooked way back when. It's on the east side of California Ave SW, just north of SW Admiral Way, facing south.

Perhaps I'll do a 2014 update to see which Scenic Drive signs I know of are still out there.
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Scenic Drives: Final Report

Alright.

I've now driven all 117 miles of the four original Scenic Drives laid out around Seattle in 1958, as depicted by this map. Other than along the mustard-colored Scenic Drive 4, I didn't see a single "Scenic Drive" sign on any of the other drives.

However, I did receive Seattle DOT's work report dated March 5, 1981, addressing the original 94 wooden signs installed along Scenic Drive 4 in '58. In '81, 35 signs were replaced (23 of which were "weathered," 11 of which were "missing," and one of which wasn't described at all). Five signs were removed (or six, if you count the one with the zen-inducing instruction to "remove missing"). The instruction for sign #29 says "Trim shrubs or RESET post and REPLACE," though I'm not sure which one happened. Two were marked "OK," and apparently left alone.

The other 50 signs weren't individually mentioned or field-checked, as the abridged 1981 route no longer included them. Instead, 18 new signs were installed along new legs of the shortened route -- four "temporary," and 14 permanent.

Eliza and I did our own field-checking in the last few weeks, finding just 13 signs still posted today. We came across both wooden and metal signs -- my best guess is that the original wooden signs were replaced with similarly wooden signs in 1981, but since then were replaced as needed with metal signs. Below is a list of the ones we found, with links to area maps. The signs are numbered according to the '81 report.

3. On the west side of Alaskan Way S at S Royal Brougham Way, facing north. Map.

21. On the east side of California Avenue SW, just north of SW Donald Street, facing south. Map.

25. On the north side of Harbor Avenue SW where it turns into Alki Avenue SW, facing southeast. Map.

31. On the west side Beach Drive SW, just north of SW Andover Street, facing north. Map.

33. On the west side Beach Drive SW, just north of SW Juneau Street, facing north. Map.

34. On the west side Beach Drive SW, just north of Lincoln Park Way SW, facing north. Map.

35. On the southwest side of Lincoln Park Way SW, just east of Beach Drive SW, facing northwest. Map.

39. On the south side of Wildwood Place SW at Fauntleroy Way SW, facing north. Map.

40a. On the south side Wildwood Place SW at 45th Avenue SW, facing northwest. Map.

40b. On the east side of California Avenue SW where it turns into SW Barton Street, facing south. Map.

51f. On the east side of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, just north of West Seattle Freeway, facing south. Map.

51i. On the south side of the Alaskan Way Viaduct off-ramp to Seneca Street, just west of First Avenue, facing west. Map.

51j. On west side of First Avenue S at S Cherry Street, facing north. Map.

Previous Scenic Drive posts:
Seattle's Scenic Drive to Nowhere
Follow the Trident and Trees
Signs, Signs, (Not) Everywhere a Sign
Scenic Drives Update
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Scenic Drives Update

From Carol McMahan in Arterial Traffic Operations at the Seattle DOT:

I found in our sign database a record of the signs for Scenic Drive #4. In 1980 the weathered or missing signs along this route were replaced and a portion of the scenic drive was rerouted due to a slide and bridge closure. At that time these signs were put into our database of sign records. There were 94 signs for Scenic Drive #4, of these I do not know how many actually still remain. If you are interested in these other locations I would be happy to send you a copy of the work instruction from 1980 that did this route revision and replacement... I cannot find a record of the three other scenic drives, though I have seen some of the signs along the other routes. We currently do not have a program for maintaining these signs.

Wow, that clears some things up, and now I can't wait for that 1980 work instruction... Thanks Carol!

BWT, yesterday I drove the purple northeast route on my old map, and today I drove the blue northwest route. Both of 'em meandered through lots of nice but boring residential areas, with nary a Scenic Drive sign. Still, I plan to explore the one remaining route -- the red, southeast one -- sometime in the next few days, so keep your eyes open for the SteveMandich.com Prize Patrol™!

That is all.
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Signs, Signs, (Not) Everywhere a Sign

In my ongoing quest to retrace Seattle's Scenic Drives, today Eliza and I motored along what appears to be Scenic Drive 4, the mustard- colored route in the southern half of our outdated, non-detailed map. We were surprised to find nine signs we hadn't seen before -- nowhere near enough to follow the route by sign alone, but far more than we expected. Curiously, they were along just one stretch of the approximately 25-mile drive, all in West Seattle, from Hamilton Viewpoint to Fauntleroy Park. Among them were newer metal signs like we'd seen before, as well as older wooden ones like the weathered specimen here. Also, on the last sign we saw, the arrow pointed in a different direction from what the map indicated. We followed both routes, just to cover the bases.

Anyway, we plan to drive the other three routes in the coming weeks; I'll post our findings as they occur, along with anything the Seattle DOT can tell us.
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Follow the Trident and Trees

“Follow the 'Trident and Trees' markers to see Seattle’s many delightful scenic attractions.”

Trouble is, there are hardly any such markers to be found, other than the few I wrote about last month. However, a recent trip to the library answered some of my original questions...

In 1958, the Seattle Engineering Department’s Traffic Division asked the city’s Art Commission for help in mapping a scenic drive around town for both locals and tourists to enjoy. The commission did so, and also urged the Traffic Division to commission a professional artist to design a distinctive marker sign for the project. The Traffic Division chose Robert Mathieson, who described his winning design thusly: “Within a blue Neptune’s trident, representing our surrounding waters, are two simple, elongated green triangles, representing our abundant trees. Water and trees are our great resources. And the driver need read nothing save ‘City Drive’ to understand.”

"City Drive" was changed to “Scenic Drive,” otherwise, that same year the design appeared on 12-by-24-inch route markers installed along 117 miles of city streets. A corresponding color-coded map was created; the one above -- with the "Scenic Drive" image in the upper-right corner -- appeared in a souvenir booklet from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. It shows four routes, one for each approximate quadrant of the city. Click on the map for a larger view; print it out, along with the descriptions below, and take 'em along on your own self-guided tour!

Questions remain: How many of these signs are still posted? When were the original 3/8-inch-thick plywood signs replaced with the metal ones we see today? Are missing signs ever replaced anymore, or will they continue to disappear over time? When did the city apparently stop promoting the Scenic Drives?

I can't find anything on the Seattle Department of Transportation site. I'll drop em a line, and report whatever I find.
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Seattle's Scenic Drive to Nowhere

If you exit the Alaska Way Viaduct's northbound lanes at Seneca Street, you'll see this sign just before the First Avenue stoplight. Then, if you turn right on First (as the sign indicates), five blocks down you'll see another such sign, at Cherry Street.

Continuing south, you won't see any more of these signs before hitting Tierra del Fuego.

Obviously they're signposts for a self-guided scenic drive, I'm guessing for a route laid out in the '60s or '70s (judging by the signs' design and font), perhaps an imitation of the more popular San Francisco 49-mile Scenic Drive. I'm also guessing that most of Seattle's other scenic drive signs were phased out/removed/stolen/whatever over time, as the two here seem to be obsolete relics.

But I'm curious. Does the "4" on these signs mean there were at least four designated scenic drives around town? Was there a corresponding map to go along with the drive(s), published by the city or county? Do the cool, trident-shaped blue arrows pointing through the iconic evergreens represent alternate routes? I'd love to reconstruct the route(s) and drive it/them myself -- I'll see what I can dig up at the library, and post my findings at a later date.
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