Crown Hill will be getting a new asphalt walkway thanks to approval of it and 10 other projects funded through the Neighborhood Street Fund Large Project program this week.

The $200,000 asphalt walkway will run along 13th Avenue Northwest from Northwest 90th Street to Holman Road and along 90th Street from 13th Avenue to 14th Avenue Northwest.

The Neighborhood Street Fund Large Project Program utilizes funds from the voter-approved Bridging the Gap transportation levy. The city will invest $4.7 million over the next three years in the 11 new projects.

“The Neighborhood Street Fund is a great way for neighborhood leaders to identify and fund small projects that can make a big difference locally,” McGinn said in a city press release. “Every neighborhood plan identifies safe and walkable streets as a high priority - this fund supports that priority.”

Residents of Seattle’s neighborhoods proposed 37 projects, which were reviewed by the city’s 13 district councils and ultimately vetted by the citizen-driven Bridging the Gap Levy Oversight Committee.

McGinn approved the committee’s recommendation of 11 projects worth $4.7 million, ranging from new blocks of sidewalks to bike improvements and from pedestrian crossing enhancements to new planting strips

Projects were evaluated based on criteria, such as cost, investment impact, quality of life enhancement, safety, geographic distribution and Pedestrian Master Plan scoring.

“These projects went through a rigorous, competitive process and reflect the priorities of the neighborhoods,” Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen said in the press release. “Seattle taxpayers will soon see the projects underway in their neighborhoods.”

In January, the Ballard District Council looked at 12 project proposals and narrowed it down to three to send to the Seattle Department of Transportation for recommendation to the mayor.

The two projects not advanced this year are a sidewalk on 13th Avenue from Holman Road to Northwest 100th Street and sidewalks on 17th Avenue Northwest and 18th Avenue Northwest between 85th Street and 90th Street.

The Neighborhood Street Fund Large Project Program provides approximately $1.5 million annually to community based projects. The program is on a three-year cycle, allowing neighborhoods to build larger projects with greater impacts on walking and biking.

Works selected in 2010 will be designed in 2011 and constructed in 2012. During the first three-year cycle completed in 2009, the city invested $6 million dollars in 17 large projects across Seattle.

For more information on Bridging the Gap or to learn more about the Neighborhood Street Fund for Large Projects, click here.