I have been putting off this post for a couple weeks now, but I can’t avoid it any longer. The rigors of parenting during a pandemic have reached a point where I cannot keep up with the demands of running a full-time news site. So for the foreseeable future, I am pulling back to part-time.
I am not quitting, and Seattle Bike Blog is not going away. But I am letting go of the drive and pressure to have posts every weekday. And that necessarily means that I am also letting go of my vision of Seattle Bike Blog as a comprehensive news source about biking and safe streets news.
I have been missing so many stories because I just do not have the capacity to cover them, and being constantly behind is a huge source of stress in my life. Every day I go without writing about, for example, the city’s plan to connect the Duwamish Trail to the low bridge, the stress builds up more. I know I need to write this story and many others, but I just don’t have the time and energy after childcare. And the stress is turning into depression, which is immobilizing and makes it even harder to pick myself up and work during the limited time I get.
These times are very hard for everyone. There are so many sources of stress. And I need to let this one go. (more…)
Note: The Census survey only accepts a binary gender selection.
The number of people biking as their primary mode to work hit a new high water mark in 2019, crossing the 17,000 mark for the first time in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The survey results confirm that before the total shitshow that is 2020 hit, door-to-door bike commuting was still on the steady climb it had been on for well more than a decade.
We have no idea what these numbers are going to look like in 2020, 2021 or beyond, but we know they will be different. Bikes effectively sold out nationwide this year, and shops are still having a hard time stocking them. Interest in biking is up, but so many workplaces are closed or have gone virtual. Counting work commute trips has always been severely lacking as a measure of biking, and 2020 will make that especially true.
The main reason commute stats are cited so often is because this survey is among the only consistent datasets we have. But so many bike trips are not counted. People biking to run errands or see friends or just have fun are not counted. Neither are most people who bike to transit since the survey only counts the mode used for the most distance. (Exact wording via Bike Portland: “How did this person usually get to work LAST WEEK? Mark (X) ONE box for the method of transportation used for most of the distance.”)
But overall, transportation trends in Seattle were headed in the right direction. Though the number of drive alone commuters reached 205,000, the mode share for driving alone remained near its all-time low at 44.5%. Meanwhile 25.1% took transit (the first time in recent history transit has reached the 25% mark), 10.7% walked, 7.9% worked at home, 6.8% carpooled and 3.7% biked. Because the total number of workers increased so much, the raw number of people driving and door-to-door biking both increased while their mode shares stayed about the same compared to 2018.
But what now and what next? Obviously working from home is going to be off the charts in the 2020 survey, and it is very likely that a lot of jobs (that still exist) will never come back from the home. But transit is also going to face a funding crisis and likely a ridership crisis, and without serious intervention service will be much less frequent than it was in 2019. A lot of people are buying bikes, but a lot of people are buying cars, too. Meanwhile the West Coast is burning and choking in smoke, and the urgency to reduce emissions from driving is extremely urgent. Our planet cannot bear us going back to driving.
The chart above comes to you from the before times. Essentially every foundation of society is shifting right now, and it’s never going back to the way it was before. I’ve been writing about these survey results every year for a decade, and this one feels like writing on the last page of a notebook. Time to put it on the shelf and grab a crisp new blank one.
Crews have finished work on the first phase of the 4th Ave bike lane downtown.
The new two-way bike lane connects the six block from Pine St to Madison St, directly connecting Westlake Park and the Central Branch Library.
Future phases scheduled for 2021 should connect the bike lane through Belltown and into Pioneer Square. See our previous story for more on those plans.
This bike lane has been a long time coming after Mayor Ed Murray delayed it in 2016, then Mayor Jenny Durkan delayed it again in 2018. Safe streets supporters have protested on the street several times to urge the city to take bike safety and transportation seriously.
Because of downtown’s severe grades when headed east-west, 4th Ave is a very necessary complement to 2nd Ave because some of the steepest streets in the entire city separate these two streets. So they look close together on a map, but when you’re on the ground, they sure feel very far apart.
This is an odd time to make safe streets improvements downtown because so many of the destinations they reach are closed right now due to the pandemic. But that also makes it a very smart time to make these changes. When the central library and City Hall and all those other government and office buildings reopen, this bike lane will be there to help keep people safe and provide a non-motorized way to get there.
Have you ridden the 4th Ave bike lanes yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
A Seattle Police officer was caught on video intentionally rolling their police bicycle over the head and neck of a man lying face down in the street last night as people protested the lack of charges against the officers who murdered Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.
The officer was walking the bike and stepped over the man lying face down, then purposefully rolled the bicycle first over the man. The front wheel goes over his head, then the rear wheel goes over his neck. The man is in obvious pain as it happens. CJTV captured the moment during a live stream.
In a statement, SPD said they are “aware of a video circulating on the internet that apparently shows an SPD bike officer’s bike rolling over the head of an individual laying in the street. This matter will be referred to the Office of Police Accountability for further investigation.” Of course, the bike didn’t roll itself over an individual, an officer intentionally rolled the bike over the person’s head and neck. UPDATE: The King County Sheriff’s Office will investigate the incident, according to the SPD Blotter.
It’s assault, it’s violent and the officer did it knowing that cameras were rolling and that we were all watching. It’s shocking to see just how comfortable this officer is while casually hurting someone who could not possibly pose any threat. These police bikes, made by Washington State bike maker Volcanic, are heavy both in design and because they are carrying lots of equipment.
The police are out of control, and Mayor Jenny Durkan is doing nothing to stop them. Instead, she is spending her time and effort protecting the department from any budget cuts. The City Council this week defended its mid-year budget, which included very modest cuts to the SPD budget, by voting 7 to 2 to override Mayor Durkan’s veto. The vote was a moment of victory for people who have been pouring their hearts out in the streets all summer protesting against racist police violence and advocating for investments in community, especially Black community. (more…)
Sound Transit has closed a short trail connection between NE 116th St and the 1st Ave NE I-5 overpass to N 117th St.
This trail will never reopen. Instead, the agency will construct a new trail under the light rail tracks a block away at NE 115th St.
The official detour is fairly out of the way and uses busy NE Northgate Way for a block. There are no bike lanes on Northgate, and the detour map suggests using the sidewalk. However, I suspect most people biking and walking will find their own unofficial ways through, likely using shorter routes through nearby apartment building parking lots.
As early as September 21st, Sound Transit is closing the Northeast 116th Street bicyclist/pedestrian path to construct the Lynnwood Link Extension light rail guideway. The NE 116th Street trail will be closed permanently. The Lynnwood Link rail-track alignment in this area changes from aerial (supported by columns) to at-grade (supported by retaining walls), similar to guideway being constructed just south of Northgate. Sound Transit will be constructing a retaining wall and track guideway for the Lynnwood Link light rail through the existing NE 116th Street trail. Sound Transit plans include a new pedestrian/bicyclist trail at NE 115th Street crossing under the new light rail aerial guideway.
The Fremont Bridge is Seattle’s busiest bike route pinch point. Routes from all over the region converge here to cross the Ship Canal, which is why the bridge’s bike counter registers the highest number of trips in the city. A record 1,187,146 bike trips crossed the bridge in 2019. It may the the region’s most important bike route, serving local trips and the Interurban North bike route that connects all the way to Everett.
But that 1.2 million bike trips have to squeeze by each other and all the people walking across the bridge on two skinny sidewalks. The crunch is not comfortable for anybody.
That’s why neighbors with Ballard-Fremont Greenways have put together a proposal and petition you can sign calling for bike lanes on the Fremont Bridge. The pandemic has made this need far more acute since social distancing is impossible on the skinny bridge sidewalks, but it’s a necessary improvement even without the threat of spreading a deadly virus.
The bridge is historic and, unlike with the Ballard Bridge, there is no plan to replace it any time soon. The sidewalks have been beyond their comfortable capacity for a long time now, and they will only get worse. There’s no reason to put off this improvement.
The biggest challenge is almost certainly transit. The bridge raises and lowers often, leading to a build-up of traffic that then needs to clear in a big and often scary rush. As it is now, buses that serve downtown Fremont (31, 32, 40 and 62) simply get in line with cars. So the key to making a bike lane work here is to also give buses priority, especially during the moments when the bridge reopens. This likely means bus lanes and queue jumps that get buses to get to the front of the line before they even reach the bridge. Signal changes could also give buses a head start before allowing cars.
Changes like this will impact drive times for people in cars, but most people with cars have other options. The Aurora Bridge is right overhead and they also have free reign on the Ballard Bridge. Sure, these are not the most direct routes for all trips, but at least there are options. For people walking, biking and taking Fremont buses, there is no other option. So walking, biking and transit should be the priority here. The group’s proposed design (or some other design that meets these needs) still provides car and freight access, it’s just not the top priority anymore. And that’s the way it should be.
I think another major advantage of creating bike lanes on the bridge deck is that the sidewalks can become the iconic spaces they should be. People walking across should be able to stop in the middle and take a moment to take in the incredible view down the Ship Canal or out to Lake Union. People should be able to take a selfie. I know that sounds like a silly reason, but the Fremont Bridge is so cool and should be the kind of space that belongs to the people on the ground living life. It’s so much more than yet another pipe funneling cars.
My dearest Seattle Bike Blog readers,
