Well this is an easy choice. Take the survey before May 10!
The city may close a three-mile section of Lake Washington Boulevard to most motor vehicles (people accessing homes and parking lots allowed) from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This would be like making every day Bicycle Sunday.
You can support this idea by taking SDOT’s online survey before May 10.
Seattle already has more than 50 years of experience with Bicycle Sunday on this stretch of the roadway, and the city’s experiments making it a Keep Moving Street in the past year have been popular. Seattle Neighborhood Greenways launched a campaign and petition in early April calling on the city to come up with a permanent concept for the street.
The survey has four options, but the permanent 3-mile options is obviously the best. Other options include a 1-mile option between Mount Baker Beach and Genesee Park, the 1-mile option plus the 3-mile option on weekends only and a weekends-only 3-mile option without any full-time routes.
Green Lake Keep Moving Street will allow parking access
The SDOT funding breakdown (left) vs the City Council’s proposed funding breakdown.
A City Council proposal would redirect $80 million over 20 years away from walking, biking and transit projects to finance a $100 million bond for roads and bridges.
With the West Seattle Bridge still closed and other bridges around the city in need to repair, replacement or removal, it is understandable that Council is seeking major funding for bridge work. However, the Vehicle License Fee is the wrong source because it is among the few transportation funding sources the city can invest in walking, biking and transit projects.
Seattle Neighborhood Greenways put out an action alert so people can contact City Council leaders and ask them to protect these funds:
Please support SDOT’s proposal for VLF funding.
Seattle is not making progress on Vision Zero, the city’s goal to reduce the number of road-traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2030, which has been brought into sharp relief by three tragedies in the last month in Georgetown, Lake City, and Seward Park.
The proposal from SDOT for VLF funding doubles the level of progress on Vision Zero, fixes hundreds of inaccessible sidewalks, repairs bike routes, and plans for a bright transit future.
Please support SDOT’s proposal for VLF funding. SDOT’s plan would move Seattle towards our climate goals, our equity goals, and keep Seattleites safe as we get where we need to go.
The Council amendment currently appears to have enough support to pass with Alex Pedersen, Lisa Herbold and Debora Juarez listed as sponsors, and Andrew Lewis and Teresa Mosqueda listed as authors. I’m hoping at least some of them are open to changing their minds.
The vast majority of transportation funds in our state and country go to roads, and there are more sources of funding for such projects than there are for walking, biking and transit. For example, Washington State law requires that gas tax revenue be spent only on “highway purposes,” which is often interpreted to exclude transit service. But vehicle license fees do not have this limitation, providing an ongoing source of revenue for the walking, biking and transit investments Seattle residents consistently and overwhelmingly support.
Despite voters approving the Move Seattle Levy by a landslide in 2015, the walking, biking and transit promises of the levy plan have fallen far short. The city prioritized an overbuilt and very expensive Lander Street bridge in Sodo, and then ran out of money to complete the walking, biking and transit promises. As Seattle Neighborhood Greenways notes, we are falling behind on our Vision Zero goals.
None of the projects listed in the Council’s news release (West Seattle High Bridge, Spokane Street Bridge, Magnolia Bridge, Ballard Bridge, Fremont Bridge and University Bridge) are in Southeast Seattle. (more…)
As a major event producer, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Cascade Bicycle Club hard along with so many other organizations and businesses. After Chilly Hilly in February 2020, nearly all of Cascade’s annual events were cancelled.
But after more than a year, the club is finally ready to start hosting events again. The lineup includes many long-standing events mixed with a lot of new ones, all designed around pandemic safety.
“We are trying to make our events as safe as jogging outdoors,” Events and Rides Director Dave Douglas said in a Cascade blog post. So, for example, the club has limits on how many people can start in each wave and how many people can start per hour.
Unfortunately, that means the club’s biggest events are still not possible. The Emerald City Ride, the Seattle to Portland Classic and the Ride Seattle to Vancouver and Party have all been cancelled. The club’s biggest rides can draw 8,000 to 10,000 people in a typical year, far beyond the scope of an event during the pandemic.
But the limitations have led the club to get creative, launching a new hub-and-spoke style of multi-day touring that starts and ends each day at the same place. They are calling these “Tour Lite” events, and the first one kicks of near Lake Chelan April 30 (registration is closed). They also have a Gig Harbor Tour Lite May 14–16 (registration open through May 7, as advertised on Seattle Bike Blog) and two tours in the fall. For the Gig Harbor tour, people will book rooms at the same inn, and Cascade will handle mid-ride food and support.
The lineup also includes a couple Bike-N-Brews rides, a DIY Wine Ride and classics like Flying Wheels, High Pass Challenge, Ride for Major Taylor and the Kitsap Color Classic, though many of the details are still TBD.
A Seattle Police officer driving a police cruiser turned in front of and struck a person biking near the East Precinct Tuesday evening.
The 31-year-old man was checked out by Seattle Fire Department medics, but was not transported to the hospital, according to SPD. Hopefully this means his injuries were not serious.
Wow so SPD just cut off a cyclist along their wall and caused the cyclist to collide with the SPD cruiser. @SeattlePD you never learn to check your mirrors? Morons. tear down your wall, both of you are a hazard to the community.#seattleprotestspic.twitter.com/WYgnxuoyUc
In the video, the officer appears to pass the victim near the Pine Street intersection, and both of them continue southbound on 12th Avenue. Then the officer makes a right turn mid-block directly in front of the man on the bike, who does not have enough time to stop and collides with the cruiser. It is the responsibility of the person turning to check for people biking and yield.
To make matters worse, there is technically a bike lane on 12th Ave, but the city constructed a wall out of concrete blocks that infringes on the usable bike lane space in addition to closing the sidewalk and decreasing visibility of the precinct garage entrance. Central Seattle Greenways has been trying to get the city to remove the wall, writing in November:
it was shocking to see SDOT fabricate this concrete and steel wall around the East Precinct, blocking sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes, seemingly overnight, with not a single word of outreach or advance notice.
SPD told Capitol Hill Seattle in early April that the department would remove the wall, but has not yet done so.
I have questions out to SPD to see if the officer was cited and to learn more details. I will update if I get more information.
But in the meantime, tear down this wall, Mayor Durkan. And send these concrete blocks to Stay Healthy Streets and bike lanes that need them for safety.
Aerial view of Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (Photo Courtesy of Civil Air Patrol)
After more than a year closed due to the pandemic, the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks will reopen its walking path connecting Ballard to Magnolia April 28. Gates will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Because crossing the Ballard Bridge is such an awful experience on foot or bike, the walkways across the Locks have long been a popular and useful option for people trying to get to the other side of the Ship Canal without going all the way to Fremont.
The Locks are far from a perfect option, since people are required to walk their bikes from the park entrance to the park exit and the pathways can be filled with tourists during warm weather. But it feels much safer than the Ballard Bridge, and you get to check for salmon in the fish ladder (though that area is currently closed for maintenance).
The park near the Locks will open April 23, but the walkways will remain closed until April 28.
2.5 miles of the Eastrail will be fully paved and opened next month between Ripley Lane N in Renton and Coal Creek Pkwy in Bellevue.
Sections of the EasTrail route between Gene Coulon Park and Coal Creek Pkwy have been opened on and off in recent years as King County works to transform the old Eastside Rail Corridor into a biking and walking trail that could some day rival the Burke-Gilman. Much of the trail will first be opened as a bikeable gravel trail before eventually being paved.
The 2.5-mile section opening in May is funded by WSDOT as mitigation for its massive $705 million I-405 freeway widening project. That widening project will swallow up the old Lake Washington Loop Trail that runs just west of the freeway, so the state is funding completion of the nearby EasTrail to replace it. The paved section will be 12-feet wide with an additional 2 feet of gravel on one side and 6 feet of gravel on the other.
Before it opens, the access point at Coal Creek Pkwy needs to be reconstructed. Thanks to a reader tip, Seattle Bike Blog reached out to the project team to ask about detour plans during the work, which was initially scheduled for ten days in late April. The project’s outreach team initially said there would be no trail access and no detour because “the surrounding area does not offer a safe alternative for bike and pedestrian traffic.” But a few days later, they reached out and said they had reworked the plan and would now only close trail access for two days in the middle of the week: May 4 and 5. From April 26 to May 3, a temporary path will provide access to the old trail.
I don’t know if this change is because of Seattle Bike Blog’s question, but it’s welcome news (thanks Nick van den Heuvel!). It’s also a reminder to you all that you can email questions and tips to [email protected]. (UPDATE: Apparently Bellevue’s permit for construction work limited trail closures to 2 days, a fact the project team realized late.)
May 4 and 5 are going to be rough for anyone who relies on this trail connection. From what I can tell, there is no pathway between Newcastle Beach Park and Cascade Key, which would sure be nice. My best guess at a detour is to stay east of I 405 between Coal Creek Pkwy and NE 44th Street. Instead of the trail, take (heading south) 119th Ave SE, SE 60th Street and Lake Washington Blvd, crossing the freeway at NE 44th Street. This route is very far out of the way, adds about 330 feet of climbing, and the bike infrastructure comes and goes along the way. Or you could add some backtracking distance (but cut out some street riding) by crossing I-405 at the Newport Hills Park and Ride. Neither option is comparable to the trail, but they’re something.
Let us know in the comments below if I missed an option or if you have any additional advice.
