The most significant change to the existing trail will be an expansion of the park space and rounding of the trail route at the mouth of Smith Cove. Design image from Expedia.
Expedia has been working on rebuilding a section of the Elliott Bay Trail near their under-construction future headquarters in Interbay for the past year, and they’re nearly ready to unveil the new trail and open space improvements.
They’re hosting a celebratory walk and bike ride Saturday morning with Cascade Bicycle Club. So if you want to be among the first to bike the new trail, get down there at 8 a.m.
The centerpiece of the remake is a wider curve where the trail transitions from the industrial Smith Cove area to the Elliott Bay waterfront. Formerly a sharp turn in the trail with a sudden, breathtaking vista, the new trail comes with new open space so people can actually stop and enjoy the view. And this view is one of the best in the city.
Map of the proposed changes from the city fact sheet (PDF).
Seattle is finally set to make some much-needed bike safety improvements to streets near Bailey Gatzert Elementary School, where many people have crashed on the First Hill Streetcar tracks since the line was constructed in 2014.
The First Hill Streetcar and Bicycle Safety Enhancements Project (fact sheet PDF) will add protected bike lanes to 14th Ave S between S Jackson and S Washington Streets and to E Yesler Way between 14th and 12th Avenues S. The improved bike lanes will have an extra level of separation between people riding in the bike lane and the streetcar tracks. It will also make it less likely that someone driving will be able to pull over and block the bike lane, sending people biking into the tracks as they try to pass.
The project will also relocate a Route 27 bus stop from the northwest corner of 14th and Yesler to the northeast corner. This will both make room for the improved bike lane and create a space for people biking down hill to merge right and enter the new bike lane.
The project does not address the more complicated changes needed to fix the dangerous 14th/Jackson/Rainier/Boren intersection nearby. That intersection was the subject of a lawsuit stemming from a separate terrible crash in May 2014, a year before McCloud’s death. The City of Seattle settled with Daniel Ahrendt for $1.55 million this summer, four years after the streetcar tracks on S Jackson St sent him crashing to the ground where he was then run over by a Metro bus.
Work to improve bike/streetcar safety is far from over. (more…)
UPDATE: The ordinance and both resolutions passed unanimously. Details on amendments in updates below.
The City Council will vote today on an ordinance and set of resolutions that would all but require the Seattle Department of Transportation to build planned bike lanes when repaving streets, would dramatically increase the bike parking supply and would request additional funding in the mayor’s budget to build key southend and downtown bike lanes that were left out of the mayor’s most recent short term bike plan.
The Council meets 2 p.m. at City Hall today (September 3). You can watch online via Seattle Channel. I will update this post after the meeting, so stay tuned. UPDATE: Passed!
As we reported previously, the bike lane ordinance (CB 119601) would effectively strengthen the city’s existing complete streets ordinance by stating, “Whenever the Seattle Department of Transportation constructs a major paving project along a segment of the protected bicycle lane network, a protected bicycle lane with adequate directionality shall be installed along that segment.”
The ordinance does create an out for SDOT if the department determines a bike lane to be infeasible, but they would need to justify the decision to the City Council’s Transportation Committee. (Full Disclosure: My spouse Kelli works as a Legislative Assistant to Councilmember Mike O’Brien.)
UPDATE: A Councilmember Lisa Herbold amendment (with Councilmember Debora Juarez’s support) to water down the ordinance did not make it to a vote. A note was added that requires broad community outreach.
The two resolutions up for a vote are budget requests to the mayor as city leaders head into its annual budget season. Resolution 31898 seeks funding to build an additional 3,000 bike parking spaces, mostly in the form of on-street bike parking corrals, to support parking private bikes as well as shared bikes and scooters. This is key to the city’s goal of reducing sidewalk blockages from dockless bikes (and, soon, scooters).
Resolution 31894 seeks funding to add a list of vital bike projects in the southend and downtown that did not make the mayor’s cut in her latest short-term bike plan. Specifically, the resolution highlights:
Beacon Ave S Segment 1 (S 39th St to Myrtle St)
Beacon Ave S Segment 2 (Myrtle St to S Spokane St)
Beacon Ave S Segment 3 (S Spokane St to Jose Rizal Bridge)
Georgetown to Downtown
Martin Luther King Jr Way (Rainier Ave to Henderson St)
Two-way protected bike lane on 4th Ave (Main St to Vine St)
Alaskan Way (Virginia St to Elliott Bay Trail)
UPDATE: Two amendments passed: Councilmember Herbold added the Georgetown-to-South Park Trail to the list. Councilmember Bagshaw added Vine St from 2nd Ave to Thomas St.
It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! Here’s a look at some of the transportationy stuff going around the web lately.
First up! This spring, Russ at The Path Less Pedaled worked very hard to finally answer an enigma that has plagued non-French-speaking bike riders for ages: I bought these bike bags that attach to my bike rack, and the person at the store called them “pan-YAYS,” but then my friend called them “PAN-ee-yers,” and now I have no idea what to call them. How am I supposed to pronounce “panniers?” Well, even if you know (or think you know) the answer, Russ’s exploration of the question is surprisingly fascinating:
Hey, you! Bike to Pratt Park (20th/Yesler) tonight to watch Lilo & Stitch with Bike Works. Because free bike-in movies are awesome, and our city is awesome, and public music and art is awesome, and Bike Works is awesome, and what else were you gonna do?
There music and public art starting at 6, and the movie starts at 8:15.
Join Bike Works, NW Film Forum, Urban Artworks, and NW Folklife for our BIKE-IN MOVIE NIGHT in Pratt Park! Bring a blanket, snacks, and friends of all ages for this free summer event.
This year, through our partnership with Urban Artworks, we’ll have an interactive arts and mural activity for youth to participate in, as well as performances from a diverse group of musicians from Northwest Folklife before the film. We’re also screening 2 shorts featuring bicycles from Northwest Film Forum’s Children’s Festival before the feature film.
Music & public art start at 6 PM, the movie starts at 8:15 PM.
We’ll be screening Disney’s Lilo & Stitch about a young girl who adopts an ugly ‘dog’ who turns out to be an alien. They embark together on a raucous adventure via trike & surfboard around the Hawaiian islands.
Images from the display boards presented during a late July public open house (PDF).
The city is currently conducting an early, fairly high-level study of the options for replacing the Ballard Bridge. The actual project is pretty far away and has no funding, but this study is intended to outline the pros and cons of various options and gather public feedback.
For a while, long-term planning for the Ballard Bridge was on pause because there was a chance Sound Transit was going to route light rail line over the bridge, which would have been a good excuse to rebuild it at the same time. But Sound Transit will dig a tunnel for the Ballard light rail line instead, so now it’s on the city to figure out what to do about the bridge. UPDATE: I jumped the gun here, sorry. It’s still not clear whether Sound Transit will pick a tunnel or elevated crossing, as the Urbanist reported recently. Environmental review will study multiple tunnel and bridge options.
The Move Seattle Levy included $700,000 to start planning the next Ballard Bridge, and the team plans to wrap up that study by the end of the year. The study will not even recommend a preferred alternative, but will provide information needed to take the next step for deeper analysis. Projects of this scale typically move very slowly, and the bridge is not a serious earthquake risk thanks to a seismic retrofit a few years ago.
However, the bridge is a serious bikeability and accessibility barrier due to its very skinny sidewalks. And this was apparent from their survey results, which saw a lot of participation from people who bike and walk (good work!). (more…)
Details from Seattle Parks: On scheduled weekends from May to September, a portion of Lake Washington Boulevard will be closed to motorized vehicles from 10 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday. “Seattle Parks and Recreation[…]
Meet up in the center of the park at 7ish. Leave at 730. Every Thursday from now until forever rain or shine. Bikes, beers, illegal firepits, nachos, bottlerockets, timetraveling, lollygagging, mechanicals, good times.ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
This is a repeat of my July 6 ride for those that could not make the first offering. Join me for a 5 mile bike ride around Seattle’s current gayborhood (Capitol Hill) and historic gayborhood[…]
Meet up in the center of the park at 7ish. Leave at 730. Every Thursday from now until forever rain or shine. Bikes, beers, illegal firepits, nachos, bottlerockets, timetraveling, lollygagging, mechanicals, good times.ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Details from Seattle Parks: On scheduled weekends from May to September, a portion of Lake Washington Boulevard will be closed to motorized vehicles from 10 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday. “Seattle Parks and Recreation[…]
