Citizens ponied up $6,000 to help pay for "traffic-calming" devices on 59th Avenue Southwest, the street that goes by Alki Elementary School and Alki Playfield, with tennis courts, Whale Tail Park and the Alki Community Center a soccer kick away.

Rubber bumps are now anchored to the pavement at four places on 59th Avenue between Admiral Way and Alki Avenue. The bumps extend across both lanes at two points by the school. Two other bumps near the playfield are in the northbound lane only.

The Seattle Department of Transportation has a program through which residents can get speed cushions, traffic circles, chicanes and other speed-control methods installed in their neighborhoods. It has to be for a residential street, not an arterial thoroughfare, said Gregg Hirakawa, department spokesman. A 60-percent majority of neighbors must agree to the project and be willing to split the cost with the city through a neighborhood matching grant.

There's a lot of competition for traffic-calming devices with more requests than the city can handle. The Department of Transportation builds about 30 such projects a year, Hirakawa said. Generally the projects cost $10,000 to $15,000, he said.

Alki resident Steve Cuddy became concerned about speeding motorists on 59th Avenue. The street gets a lot of traffic because it's the first straight connection to Alki Beach for motorists headed west on Admiral Way. In July, the Seattle Department of Transportation counted 2,000 vehicles a day using 59th Avenue, said Vincent Prince, who heads traffic counts for the department.

"I've seen lots of kids hop the fence (at Alki Playfield) to chase balls," Cuddy said. "I've seen a couple of really close calls."

Cuddy asked the Department of Transportation about installing speed cushions on 59th Avenue. He also contacted City Councilman Tom Rasmussen, whose staff has been working on the project for more than a year.

Rasmussen pointed out the two speed cushions installed on Beach Drive Southwest more than a year ago have been a successful experiment that paved the way for the use of speed cushions elsewhere, such as on 59th Avenue.

"They made a huge impact," Rasmussen said.

Traffic-calming methods are intended for nonarterial streets where traffic frequently moves 8 to 10 mph faster than the speed limit, Hirakawa said. A survey of traffic on 59th Avenue showed motorists were indeed speeding, but only 4 to 5 mph over the 25 mph limit. However the comparatively high volume of traffic convinced traffic engineers to OK speed cushions on 59th Avenue, he said.

Cuddy got 78 percent approval of the speed cushions from residents who were surveyed.

Organizations and individuals donated money to meet the matching grant requirement. The Alki Community Center Advisory Council contributed $2,000, Alki resident Randie Stone gave a sizeable sum, and the Alki Elementary School Parent Teacher Student Association put in $500.

The Magnolia Community Center Advisory Council surprised people by contributing $2,000 to the project.

"We're kind of family here in the city," said Darrell Drew, president of the Magnolia Community Center Advisory Council. In the early 1960s, he lived at 59th Avenue and Alki Avenue.

"Fifty-ninth is an absolute thoroughfare," Drew said.

The Magnolia Community Center Advisory Council spreads its help to other parts of Seattle too. The group gave $5,000 to the new Northgate Community Center, which opened in July.

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