Do you often find yourself reluctantly biking on busy 8th Ave NW and its incomplete and skinny door zone bike lanes? Well then, you have something to celebrate Saturday.
SDOT will cut the ribbon on a new neighborhood greenway on 6th Avenue NW from Leary Way to the NW 58th Street neighborhood greenway Saturday (October 19). Meet 10 a.m. at the intersection of NW 58th Street and 6th Avenue NW near West Woodland Elementary to join a family-friendly celebratory bike ride to the ribbon cutting about 10 block away at NW 48th Street.
The route is more winding than 8th Ave, but it includes new and improved crossings at both Leary Way and Market Street, offering what is hopefully an all ages and abilities connection from West Woodland Elementary and the NW 58th Avenue neighborhood greenway to the Burke-Gilman Trail. I am particularly interested to see how the Market Street crossing works in action since it has a unique design due to the intersection’s awkward offset.
To celebrate the completion of construction, we are hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony and bike ride for the community! There will be speakers, refreshments, treats, and giveaways – you won’t want to miss it. Before the ribbon cutting, Councilmember Dan Strauss and SDOT Director Greg Spotts will lead a celebratory bike ride along the new Greenway.
WHAT: Ribbon cutting and bike ride to celebrate the 6th Ave NW Neighborhood Greenway. You will hear from city officials and residents who were advocates for this Greenway.
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 19 from 10 AM – 12 PM (speakers start at 10:30 AM)
WHERE:
- For those who would like to join us for the bike ride, we will meet at the southwest corner of 6th Ave and NW 58th St at 10 AM. We will then ride to the ceremony location at the intersection of 6th Ave NW and NW 49th St (see route map below).
- For those of you who would like to meet us at the ceremony, please arrive to the intersection of 6th Ave NW and NW 49th St by 10:30 AM to join the festivities.
Comments
6 responses to “Saturday: Celebrate the opening of the 6th Ave NW neighborhood greenway with a community bike ride”
This makes a lot of sense! I will continue to bike down 8th Ave NW (controlling the general-purpose lane, not in the bike lane), but uphill I will prefer 6th Ave NW.
I currently take 8th Ave NW northbound from NW 44th all the way to NW 83rd before turning east. The worst conflict point on 8th NW is the entrance to Goodwill, where a string of cars wait in line to block the cycle lane. This new greenway, while looking great, won’t help solve that issue.
Agreed that’s a safety problem area for sure. You can easily just continue up 6th to bypass Goodwill tho….
Congratulations to the neighbors who put in years of work getting this done!
A few years ago I discovered 6th as an alternative to 8th for getting home each day. The primary reason I go that way is because crossing Leary, Market, and 65th are all much easier. I was excited to see the bike push button go in at Market because that was very much missing at that intersection. I love how the light there recognizes bikers and pedestrians almost immediately. If you don’t use that intersection every day the non-standard flow could definitely be confusing (it took me several tries to figure out how to cross Market going south on 6th even after going north daily for months).
I have fully shifted from 8th ave to 6th ave in both directions from 58th. 6th ave is slightly slower speed but the pedestrian light at Market is very fast and I rarely have to wait more than 20 seconds for a green. So, overall, I don’t think it is much slower. It also feels much safer and enjoyable than 8th where you are in mixed, higher speed traffic.