For the 49th year, Seattle kicks off Bicycle Sunday today (May 21).
Three miles of Lake Washington Blvd will go car-free 12 Sundays in 2017. It’s a great chance to experience of the most beautiful urban streets in the world without stressing about car traffic. Literally generations of Seattleites have learned to ride a bike during Bicycle Sunday, and this year will be no exception.
So bring the kids. Invite your friends who are nervous about getting back on a bike. And most of all, have fun in some much-needed sun.
From Seattle Parks:
On scheduled Sundays from May to September, a portion of Lake Washington Boulevard will be closed to motorized vehicles from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Seattle Parks and Recreation invites everyone in the community to bike, jog or stroll along the boulevard between the Seward Park entrance and Mount Baker Park’s beach during these times.
The 2017 event dates are:
- May 21 and 28
- June 4, 25
- July 2, 9, and 16
- August 13, 20, 27
- September 3 and 17
Comments
5 responses to “Lake Washington Blvd goes car-free 12 times in 2017, Bicycle Sunday starts today”
This is a great tradition. Meanwhile, Alki Ave SW turns into a car sewer (or worse, a parking lot) whenever the weather gets nice on weekends and evenings. Lots of cars that come are the “muscle” variety, with smelly, noisy, brown looking exhaust. Cars circling around the neighborhood looking for parking. Ironically, when you have a parallel dedicated bike/stroller/skateboard/rental bike surrey trail, you are evidently not eligible for car free days. Plus the trail is hardly navigable by bicycle on nice weekends due to pedestrian spillover from the sidewalk. As far as I can tell, there are no car-free days planned this year (other than fun runs) for Alki.
I agree – I avoid Alki whenever it’s nice out. I have a loop that involves biking to the south end of the greenway east of Delridge, then over to Lincoln Park and back home to Wallingford. If it’s cloudy, I’ll go via Alki, but if it’s nice I find it’s more pleasant (!) to go via Fauntelroy or California back to the West Seattle Bridge Trail.
I think Alki must take the cake for Worst Sharrows Ever – whoever thought that sharrows are appropriate on a road with a 35mph speed limit really needs a different job.
P.S. There will be a Costumed Bike Parade in Alki at 2 PM today starting at 63 Ave SW and Alki Avenue SW (near Cactus and the Denny Monument). People on bicycles will be taking the lane by critical mass from Alki Point to Don Armeni Park (boat launch) and back.
Please come and help us send the message that cars do not always have to rule the road.
I would like to see a critical bicycle mass take over Alki Ave SW more often.
So sad that we didn’t hear about this yesterday. We’ve enjoyed it in the past.
I am sorry, I only found out about it the morning of the parade. There were about 50-60 participating this year, the weather was perfect for it. We took the lane from Alki Point to the boat launch, then took the trail on the way back. Lots of smiles and waves from the people we passed. We have to keep a close eye on the West Seattle Blog to learn about this next year. It’s usually the afternoon on same day as the West Seattle 5K Run/Walk.