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synopsis

West Seattle Parkway, intended to traverse northwest across West Seattle from the bluff top near today’s Puget Park to Alki Point, was one of 11 roads the Olmsted Brothers suggested the city add to its original 1903 system after West Seattle was annexed. In 1911 John Charles Olmsted developed a “Proposed Line for Boulevard” in the vicinity of Schmitz Park,

West Seattle Parkway, intended to traverse northwest across West Seattle from the bluff top near today’s Puget Park to Alki Point, was one of 11 roads the Olmsted Brothers suggested the city add to its original 1903 system after West Seattle was annexed. In 1911 John Charles Olmsted developed a “Proposed Line for Boulevard” in the vicinity of Schmitz Park, achieving a 5% downhill grade using a half dozen sharp turns leading to an elevated bridge. Topographic challenges to executing the route rivaled those along Lake Washington Boulevard. It was intended to connect to Schmitz Boulevard to the west and tie into the existing boulevard sytem on Beacon Hill by means of a proposed boulevard swath dropping down thtough the Duwamish Valley.

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