Seattle Bike Blog

Joint Federal/SDOT report shows RapidRide J and new bike lanes would move far more people + Town hall Thursday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 27, 2020

It’s hard to think of many potential bike lanes in Seattle as important and fundamentally game-changing as Eastlake Ave. I would probably put it at number two behind only Rainier Ave. There is no other viable option for a quality bike route along the east side of Lake Union between the University Bridge and South Lake Union.

Not only is the route today is one of the most dangerous for people biking, but it will also some day connect to the 520 Trail once the state completes their new connection between Montlake and I-5. So if you think Eastlake Ave is important today, just wait a decade when it becomes the most direct bike route between much of the Eastside and Seattle.

But bike lanes on Eastlake are not just about people biking through the neighborhood. They are also about opening up the neighborhood to customers on bike and providing more residents with a safe way to bike to and from their homes. And this is a chance to support local businesses and build more capacity for people to get there by bus and bike.

The Eastlake Ave remake is part of the larger RapidRide J project, which would include major bus priority improvements between downtown and Roosevelt. Because the project is due to receive significant Federal funding, it is currently undergoing a Federal environmental assessment (PDF). That’s where you come in. You can voice your support for the project, especially the Eastlake bike lanes, via this online comment form and by attending an open house or town hall meeting this week. The biggest meeting is likely to be Thursday’s 6 p.m. town hall at TOPS Elementary with Councilmember Alex Pedersen. From Share the Cities:

Show up to CM Alex Pedersen’s town hall at TOPS elementary school tell your personal story and connection to Eastlake and to show support for climate friendly changes and safety improvements in Eastlake that help all of us move throughout our city.

Let’s gather at 5:50 pm in one section of seats to show support. Share The Cities will be bringing small hand held paper signs & stickers to show support.

Handmade signs are welcome.

There are also drop-in open houses about the project all week: (more…)

tags: eastlake, rapidride j, roosevelt to downtown hct

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Bike Route Alert 1/27: Awful 2-week sidewalk detour on Montlake Blvd near SR 520 starts Monday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 24, 2020

So you finally got used to biking around the SR 520 construction in Montlake, eh? I have bad news. It’s about to get way worse for two weeks.

Starting as soon as Monday, people walking and biking on the east sidewalk, the current designated route, will have to cross Montlake Blvd twice to use the west sidewalk to get around a closure of the sidewalk between E Lake Washington Blvd and E North Street.

This is especially rough because using the east sidewalk was already a poor bike detour ever since the state closed biking and walking access across the 24th Ave E bridge in September. The signal at Lake Washington Blvd only has a crosswalk on the south side and there’s a slip lane for traffic to turn right from Montlake Blvd to Lake Washington Blvd. So everyone will need to squeeze into this tiny little triangle surrounded on all sides by traffic and wait for the walk signal:

Once this is the only biking and walking option, is everyone going to fit in the little triangle?

(more…)

tags: Bike Route Alert, montlake, sr 520, wsdot

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The Daily: UW program offers students quarterly bike rentals

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 23, 2020

Photo from U Bike. Grocery basket is optional.

Imagine if instead of buying the cheapest bike you could find on Craigslist for getting around as a college student, you could rent a quality Kona complete with helmet, lock and lights all for just $75 per quarter. Well, UW students now can thanks to the U Bike bicycle library program.

This is a pretty solid deal, especially for students who aren’t sure whether they are going to bike enough to make buying a bike worth it. Throwing down the $600 a bike like the Kona Dew would cost new is a lot of money for many college students. Sure, DIY-minded folks can piece things together with much lower-cost used bikes, but many people aren’t interested in learning bike maintenance. They just want a fun, reliable and affordable way to get around.

The program grew out of a senior project in Community, Environment, and Planning by alum Cole Laush, according to The Daily:

“By providing students [with] a quarterly bicycle rental service, we hope to educate users on how a bicycle can fit into their everyday life,” Laush said. “I believe this experience will encourage users to continue cycling into the future, or at least give a user insight into the barriers cyclists face.”

While operating within the UW campus, the program’s overall purpose is to contribute to the growth of Seattle’s cycling culture, leading to a more equitable, livable, and sustainable city.

“More bikes on the road means a reduction in emissions, more connected cities, healthy citizens and safer streets,” Laush said.

Read more…

tags: cole laush, u bike, uw

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King County takes legal action to clear illegal use of East Lake Sammamish trail corridor

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 21, 2020

The North Segment of the E Lake Sammamish Trail was completed in 2015.

The County is preparing to construct the final section of the trail.

Last week, King County took action to reclaim public land in one of the wealthiest areas in the state: Sammamish. The County fought and won a very difficult legal battle to determine that, yes, the public does own the entire rail corridor along the east side of Lake Sammamish. And as it prepared to construct the final section of the East Lake Sammamish Trail, the County is trying to get lakeside homeowners to clear any structures or personal property from County land.

This is a persistent problem across Seattle and King County, especially near very valuable shorelines and parks. Sometimes, adjacent homeowners try to reserve public land for their own private use, and it’s often hard for the public to know when their land is being illegally seized. There may even be times when homeowners thought that public land belonged to them, and are dismayed to learn the truth.

But it’s hard for me to imagine fighting to keep public land for myself. Then, after losing a long and difficult court battle, to go to the Seattle Times and try to pretend that letters from the County telling me to move my stuff off public land within 9 months were “heavy handed.” The county is giving them until the end of September, which is frankly far too generous. This land is not just theirs, it belongs to all of us. How selfish can they be?

When people who have nowhere else to live set up a tent on public land, Seattle policy gives them 72 hours of warning time to remove their belongings before bringing in crews to throw everything they own in the garbage. Often, the city doesn’t even give that much time. These sweeps are ineffective and cruel. But isn’t it strange that people with million-dollar homes to live in get 9 months to move their decorative landscaping or whatever, but people who have no homes get 72 hours (at best) to move their whole lives? The disparity in how people are treated in our county based solely on how much money they have is galling.

My willingness to have sympathy for Sammamish property owners who have to move their things off public land ended when a group of them tried to blow up “rails to trails” nationally by challenging it at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court decided not to hear their appeal, luckily. But wow. Rail-trails have done so many wonderful things for so many communities big and small across our nation. To attempt to undercut the entire concept just so you can keep your damn cabana on King County land, that’s downright evil. (more…)

tags: e lake sammamish trail, king county, king county parks

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Councilmember Pedersen outlines his vision as the new Transportation Committee Chair, offers an olive branch to safe streets advocates

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 16, 2020

Alex Pedersen won District 4 by 1,386 votes, narrowly defeating Seattle Bike Blog’s endorsed candidate Shaun Scott in one of Seattle’s closest races in the 2019 City Council election. In addition to this site, Scott was also endorsed by Washington Bikes, Seattle Subway, The Urbanist and the Transit Riders Union. That’s a pretty wide coalition of groups working to support more and safer transit, walking and biking.

But the election is over, and Pedersen has since been named Chair of the newly reformatted Transportation and Utilities Committee. Combined, Transportation and Utilities are responsible for more than half the city budget.

I sat down with Pedersen at Irwin’s Cafe in District 4 to talk about his vision for the committee and how he plans to build bridges to folks like Seattle Bike Blog readers and transportation advocates who may have supported his opponent during the 2019 campaign.

“I am really excited now as Councilmember to let my actions speak for themselves,” he said. “I will be doing a lot of things in favor of transit and environmental policies.”

An early win he hopes will bring people together is an environmentally-focused idea Seattle Neighborhood Greenways Founder and 2019 District 4 primary candidate Cathy Tuttle has proposed: Require all proposed city legislation to include a memo about it’s impact on the environment.

“Not only how would it impact emissions, but would it allow us to adapt?” he said, describing the intent of the proposed rule. And no, we’re not talking about “environmental impact” the way Washington’s State Environmental Policy Act (“SEPA”) does, which considers things like slowing car movement as an environmental negative. This memo would focus on the actual environment, meaning “carbon and climate resiliency,” he said. (more…)

tags: alex pedersen, transportation committee

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People who don’t let snow stop them from biking offer some advice

By

Emma Scher

| Posted

January 14, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is by Emma Scher through our partnership with UW’s Community News Lab journalism course.

MBA student Vehro Titcomb unlocks his bike and prepares to commute from the University of Washington to pick up his three-year-old daughter from preschool. He was one of the many Seattle bicyclists who chose to commute through this week’s snowy weather conditions, an option that SDOT has recommended over driving. Photo by Emma Scher.

Heather Eliason wore spikes on her shoes to help her slow down and gain traction on the ice when she biked on snowy and icy Seattle streets in years past. Eliason used her bike as transportation around Seattle almost exclusively before moving to Germany last year. She also kept her tires deflated to increase traction when biking in winter weather and knows other Seattleites who have begun using studded tires.

“If it was too slushy or icy I’d go in the car lane and typically go in the middle. If you go too far to the right they will pass you too closely but if you go in the middle, they’re more likely to go completely around you,” she said.

This week’s snowy forecast doesn’t mean you need to stop biking to work, but locals and experts recommend using caution, bundling up, and buying appropriate gear to make your commute successful.

SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson said to slow down, be cautious of lower visibility, and be aware that drivers may be navigating unfamiliar conditions. He also noted that as temperatures drop below freezing, black ice may be a cause of increased concern for both bikers and drivers.

“One of the biggest concerns over the next few days is going to be ice,” he said. “This morning we had a lot of bare and wet pavement which means that the roads and bike trails were wet but didn’t have snow accumulated on them, which is good for right now but when the weather drops below freezing black ice can be really dangerous.” (more…)

tags: emma scher, ethan bergerson, heather eliason, lisa enns, snow

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