By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Lake City Way is a road with a dual identity. To neighbors and business owners who live nearby, it's their Main Street - a place where residents can walk to stores, and a place where customers can drive and park conveniently.

But Lake City Way also has another name: State Route 522, a state highway that is used by thousands of commuters a day.

This summer, and over the next two years, Lake City's main street will become a construction site.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Seattle Transportation department, also known as Sea Tran, have been talking about renovations to SR-522 for over two years, and it's been an issue of great local concern. Asphalt resurfacing got underway on June 12, starting at NE 110th St. At Jet City Maven press time, the project was expected to travel down to the freeway and then loop back up the other side. The DOT will also repave Lake City Way from NE 123rd St to NE 147th St.

The most recent DOT estimate says that this part of the project will be done in September. Resurfacing Lake City Way between NE 123rd and NE 110th will be done by the City, but not until 2003.

But repaving is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sea Tran will not only repave the road between NE 123rd and NE 110th, they will add queue jumps northbound at NE 123rd/30th Ave NE, and Southbound at NE 130th. According to Laura Scharf, senior project manager with Sea Tran, some parking may have to be removed at NE 123rd/30th Ave NE to make way for a bus pull-out which would go with the queue jump.

In addition, the City will add three right turn/business access/transit only lanes. Two will be northbound, one from NE 123rd to NE 110th and one from NE 130th to NE 137th. Both new northbound lanes will allow parking at off-peak hours. The other right turn/business access/transit only lane will be southbound from NE 123rd to Northgate Way and will be a no parking zone.

The City will also add medians to Lake City Way, according to Scharf.

"We currently have defined the general locations of the medians, but we aren't far enough along with design to know how long the median will be at each location. Scharf said. "The general median locations are from NE 115th Street to approximately 200 feet south, or approximately Northgate Way NE, from NE 120th Street to approximately 250 feet south, or to approximately the Thornton Creek crossing, from NE 130th Street to approximately 450 feet north, or north of NE127th Street, and from NE 145th to approximately 300 feet south, or approximately NE 140th Street."

The project will also include curb, gutter, sidewalk and drainage improvements from NE 123rd to Northgate Way. There will also be bus zone improvements at 24th Ave NE such as lighting, sidewalks and drainage work which will ideally make it safer and dryer for passengers to get on and off the bus. Sea Tran's work will be done during 2002 and 2003. Much of the Lake City business community has been concerned about Sea Tran's plans.

"We as a business community are against further dividing our town in half," said Dick Harris, owner of Alley Chevrolet, a car dealership located at 11550 Lake City Way NE. Harris is also a past president of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce. "We're not in favor of taking parking away because it hurts businesses and it hurts residences," he said. "We just flat disagree with medians that restrict access to our businesses."

Scharf said the project's key objectives are to improve access to transit for all users, improve vehicular safety, reduce congestion and traffic delays and improve transit operating efficiency and reliability.

Sea Tran is also studying the possibility of adding left turn lanes to 15th Ave NE and NE 80th St, and of restricting access to Lake City Way from some streets on the south end. Scharf said at this time the city only has money to study those ideas, a process which will likely be done in 2002.

In the meantime, many local business owners seem resigned to the repaving which will take place this summer.

"It's kind of like going to the dentist," said Tim Payne, vice president of Watch & Battery Center, a shop located at 12549 Lake City Way NE. "Yeah (we'll lose business), but there's nothing you can do."

For more information about transportation projects on Lake City Way call Laura Scharf, senior project manager at Sea Tran, at 685-5150. (