About a mile and a half of California Avenue is scheduled for repaving this summer, from the Admiral District to the Junction and major changes to lanes and crosswalks.

Before they start work, representatives of the Seattle Department of Transportation want to meet with West Seattleites to discuss other aspects of California Avenue, such as its lane configurations, parking and crosswalks. Community meetings are to be scheduled soon, said Gregg Hirakawa, spokesman for the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Repaving is slated for the stretch of California Avenue from Admiral Way to Edmunds Street. While they're at it, traffic engineers want to find ways to "minimize public safety problems" in the same stretch of the busy arterial street. They'll have to repaint the street after repaving anyway.

The city is considering removing the mid-block crosswalks on California between Alaska and Oregon streets as well as between Alaska and Edmunds streets. The city Department of Transportation wants to discuss that with community members.

"Midblock crosswalks are not compliant," Hirakawa said. "Motorists aren't looking for them."

Midblock crosswalks also can mean legal liability for the city, he said.

Another issue for discussion with the public will be the Junction's unusual traffic signals at the intersection of California Avenue and Southwest Alaska Street. Like the traffic signals in front of Pike Place Market downtown, they stop all vehicles and allow pedestrians to walk in any direction through the intersection. Traffic engineers call such intersections "scrambles."

City traffic engineers want to discuss California Avenue's curbside parking too. There have been some rumors in the area about returning parking meters to the area.

The schedule for the public meetings has not been determined yet but repaving of California Avenue is expected in July or August.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at 932-0300 or tstclair@robinsonnews.com