Volunteers Widen NE 104th Way Right-of-Way

A three hour volunteer work party consisting of neighbors around Victory Heights beat back the black berries and moved a large fallen tree to widen the right-of-way along NE 104th Way on Saturday. Here is what it looked like originally:

The black berries had grown down the hill until they reached a 20 feet tree that lay along the side of the road, just up from Lake City Way NE.

The crew started by cutting back the black berries on the other side of the tree to create a wide gap. A number of bags of trash were filled with old cans and bottles that had been thrown to the side of the road over the years.

The original plan was to cut up the tree, so a chainsaw was rented. The first cut went very well with a large trunk-sized branch taken off and cut up for removal.

However, subsequent attempts to cut the main trunk weren’t successful, so we decided to try to roll the tree over up against the hillside to create a wide gap alongside the road.  The idea is the next time the city mows the edges, there is more room for them to cut it back.

Large levers were borrowed from the NE Tool Library (literally down the street as the crow flew from our location), which helped us roll and shift and massive tree.

Several hours later and here was the result:

A large rented dump truck was filled with all the yard waste for disposal.  It was a lot of effort but NE 104th Way looks a lot nicer now and hopefully is safer for pedestrians.

There was thoughts about getting street lights put in but currently there are no utility poles or electricity along NE 104th Way, but perhaps we can persuade the city to install them.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out! A great team effort.