Seattle Bike Blog

Watch: The Path Less Pedaled visits Seattle (4 videos)

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 12, 2019

Russ and Laura from the wonderful bike adventuring YouTube channel the Path Less Pedaled were in town recently and made four videos documenting their time. And they are all great, of course.

First, they toured R&E Cycles in the U District/Ravenna and the legendary Rodriguez Cycles manufacturing area in the basement.

Then they joined a Swift Industries community bike ride:

And Russ did a solo adventure on the ferry to “Painbridge” Island trying to follow the grueling Chilly Hilly route.

And after someone stole Russ’s bike tools from his frame bag (bummer), he biked to Counterbalance Bicycles near U Village and Free Range Cycles in Fremont to buy replacements.

Our city really does have some incredible bike shops.

tags: bainbridge island, counterbalance, free range cycles, path less pedaled, rodriguez bicycles, swift industries

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520 construction in Montlake will close cross-lake trail Sat and Sun, 24th Ave bridge until late this year

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 11, 2019

11 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday morning

The 520 Bridge replacement project’s final set of projects kicks into high gear this weekend with a set of major closures in Montlake, including the 520 Bridge Trail and the 24th Ave E bridge.

To make matters worse, the ramp closures mean no westbound bus access to Montlake. So you might not even able to put your bike on the front of a bus on the Eastside and expect to get off at Montlake (there will be some access on Saturday for the Husky football game).

The 520 Bridge Trail is scheduled to reopen by 5 a.m. Monday morning to serve the morning commute.

24th Ave E bridge is closed to biking and walking for good

Starting Monday, trail users will connect to the east sidewalk of Montlake Boulevard if headed south.

(more…)

tags: montlake, sr 520

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How to help fight for transit and local transportation funding by defeating I-976

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 10, 2019

Don’t let Tim Eyman steal light rail, too! See the original footage.

Washington’s most famous Office Depot chair thief also wants to take our voter-approved transit and local transportation funding. We must defeat I-976.

Basically, Tim Eyman’s initiative would preempt local governments and agencies in places where voters have approved using vehicle license fees as a way to help fund everything from Sound Transit light rail expansion to basic bus service and street improvements in communities all over the state, including Seattle.

Getting a NO vote on I-976 is pretty much as important as passing Sound Transit 3 in 2016 or Seattle’s Metro-route-saving 2014 vote, both of which voters passed with comfortable margins. But those were local efforts, and we don’t really know how the entire concept of vehicle license fees will fare statewide.

That’s why Transportation Choices Coalition is leading an effort to fight the initiative and urge a NO vote. And they could use your help.

Details from TCC: (more…)

tags: 2019 general election, i-976, sound transit, tim eyman, transportation choices coalition

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Crews set to start building Pike Street bike lanes on Capitol Hill

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 6, 2019

Layout on Pike pic.twitter.com/RcvPoDYqH1

— Dongho Chang (@dongho_chang) September 4, 2019

SDOT crews are set to start work on Pike Street bike lanes this weekend between Broadway and 9th Ave, Capitol Hill Seattle reports. Work is expected to last a week.

Community groups like Central Seattle Greenways have led outreach for this project to an almost unprecedented degree. In addition to a big public workshop in 2018, groups have conducted a ton of business outreach in recent years. Community groups even helped secure funding for a much grander future reimagining of Pike and Pine Streets as part of the Washington State Convention Center expansion’s “community package” of public benefits.

The bike lanes going in this week are largely thanks to a City Council resolution last summer that listed it as a 2019 priority. The project will almost connect the Broadway Bikeway to the 2nd Ave protected bike lane with frustrating gaps between 6th and 9th Avenues. It will be particularly frustrating heading westbound because 9th Ave is one-way southbound and Pike is one-way eastbound. So people biking will have to use the sidewalk, which is bad for biking and for people walking. I anticipate that a lot of people will continue using Pine Street instead because of this gap.

Pike Street bike lanes are extremely exciting. Pike and Pine are already heavily biked despite having very inadequate and incomplete bike infrastructure because these streets connect some of the city’s most densely-populated neighborhoods with the downtown core. A complete and connected bike lane will be a major and instant success.

But it is also extremely frustrating that city efforts to build bike lanes on these routes keeps falling short of actually connecting. The existing pilot bike lane on Pine disappears between 5th and 4th Avenues, for example. And now the new eastbound Pike bike lane will disappear at 9th Ave, one block short of 8th Ave, which at least connects to Pine St without needing to bike on the sidewalk. And the existing eastbound bike lane on Pike downtown will remain disconnected from the new bike lane by a stressful three blocks of uphill mixed traffic biking next to the convention center.

tags: capitol hill, pike/pine, sdot, WA State Convention Center

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Saturday: Expedia will open revamped Elliott Bay Trail with celebration and bike ride

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 5, 2019

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.

Details from Expedia: (more…)

tags: elliott bay trail, expedia, interbay

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City will add protected bike lanes to sections of Yesler and 14th Ave near streetcar tracks + Broadway/Denny bike turn lane

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 4, 2019

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…)

tags: 14th ave s, broadway bikeway, capitol hill, central district, desiree mccloud, first hill streetcar, yesler

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