There’s something very different about the new protected bike lanes on Pike Street on Capitol Hill: Community groups led the process every step of the way. When former mayor Ed Murray slammed the brakes on the Center City Bike Network in 2016, which included bike lanes on Pike and/or Pine streets between downtown and Broadway, the volunteers at Central Seattle Greenways were not going to just allow progress on the lanes to wallow.
Pike and Pine Streets connect the city’s densest employment, transit and destination center with some of the city’s most densely-populated neighborhoods, and the streets are lined with popular businesses. And though they are hilly, Pike and Pine are by far the least steep options available. So the potential on these streets is huge.
The city just competed new bike lanes on Pike Street between 9th Ave and Broadway, that latter of which has a protected bike lane already. There is still a very tough gap between 6th and 9th Avenues, so effectiveness of the lanes will be held back until that is completed. But the sections that have been finished demonstrate the potential of safe and comfortable bike lanes in this corridor, and that’s exactly why community members have been working so hard to make sure they become reality. (more…)