Mercer Island Station is adjacent to the I-90 Trail, and could be one of the region’s most bikeable stations. From a Sound Transit station design PDF.
Mercer Island’s decision to sue Sound Transit and WSDOT in large part over HOV lane access on I-90 did not make the island a lot friends among people across the region who worried the lawsuit could delay and add costs to East Link light rail service.
But after dropping some serious city cash on the legal action, the agencies reached a settlement with the island totaling $10 million, more than half of which is earmarked for street safety and projects to make it easier for island residents to bike and walk to the station. The other half is for building a parking garage “for the exclusive use of resident commuters,” which is just … ugh.
I’m not here to justify the city’s lawsuit or the settlement details. But assuming the Sound Transit Board approves it, it is what it is. So people who live, work, play or travel across Mercer Island should focus on making sure Mercer Island to invest the funds wisely to help make their light rail station the incredible asset it should be for the community.
The train is expected to take ten minutes to get to either downtown Seattle or Bellevue.
The compromise route.Councilmember Mike O’Brien, a longtime trail supporter, and Warren Aakervik, the owner of Ballard Oil and a trail appellant, shook hands during a February press conference.
The smile on Councilmember Mike O’Brien’s face somehow grew even bigger than usual while listening to longtime trail opponents and advocacy staff at Cascade Bicycle Club praise each other for finally hammering out a Ballard Missing Link compromise after decades of arguments, expensive court battles and painful bike crash hospital visits.
“I’m kinda all smiles,” said O’Brien during the February press conference. O’Brien is a longtime trail supporter and the councilmember representing the district containing the missing 1.4 miles of trail near Ballard’s Salmon Bay waterfront.
“When designed properly, [the city] will create a safe facility next to a major truck street,” said Warren Aakervik, the owner of Ballard Oil and one of the longtime trail opponents who sued to delay the project to this point. “Hopefully we can move forward and make something safe.”
In addition to announcing a compromise route that includes parts of the South Shilshole Ave route trail advocates preferred and parts of the industry-preferred Market/Leary Way route, Mayor Ed Murray also announced the creation of a design advisory group much like the group that guided the Westlake Bikeway. This group includes business owners, bicycle advocates and neighborhood representatives who are sitting down together to go detail-by-detail to hash out details to make sure the trail design works as best as it can for everyone.
“Today’s major announcement ends 20 years of lawsuits, studies and counter studies,” Murray said.
So it was somewhat bewildering (though sadly expected) to read a Seattle Times editorial recently saying, “The city has stuck for too long with a route loved by Seattle’s biking lobby but potentially disastrous for its historic maritime sector. It is well past time to compromise and finally build the missing link on the alternative path.”
It’s pretty embarrassing that the Times didn’t even look at the city’s preferred route long enough to notice that it is practically the definition of “compromise.” About a third of the route follows Market Street, skipping the tight section between Shilshole and the Locks where the trail planners and businesses would have the hardest time working out solutions. That section would not have been impossible to solve, but Market is likely much easier to build. Moving the trail over to Market will make it slightly longer and includes a small extra hill to climb, but these changes are workable. And it is the key change that finally got parties together at the table.
The forum is free, but you should RSVP online soon as space is limited.
Though transportation is always an important issue in local elections, Seattle has passed a lot of major funding initiatives on the city, regional and statewide levels in recent years. With such major votes finally in the rearview mirror, other issues are likely to get more attention this time around.
But while it’s unlikely the next Seattle mayor and City Council member will be tasked with drafting and passing a major transportation investment bill in the near future, it will be their jobs to make sure the city delivers what the voters were promised.
The top mayoral and City Council Position 8 candidates will debate transportation and housing Thursday during the Growing Seattle Forum on Transportation and Housing organized by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and a long list of supporting organizations (including Seattle Bike Blog, though I have not done much more than attend an organizing meeting). The forum starts at 5 p.m. at the Impact HUB in Pioneer Square. Erica C. Barnett of The C Is for Crank will moderate. It’s free, but you have to RSVP online to reserve a spot since it will likely fill up. (more…)
A trail over the 520 Bridge will revolutionize biking in the region. Bicycle travel times between many parts of Seattle and major Eastside communities will be slashed. Biking from UW to downtown Kirkland, for example, will be cut in half. Instead of an hour and a half (including some serious hills), the 520 Bridge Trail will allow people to casually make the trip in just 45 relatively flat minutes.
Not everyone has three hours a day to spend commuting. But an hour and a half? That’s comparable to taking the bus or driving on a bad traffic day. But it will be more reliable, much cheaper and a hell of a lot more fun to bike.
But you’ll have to keep being patient, since WSDOT has not yet announced an opening date for the trail.
“We’re still anticipating a bike path opening date sometime in the fall,” said project spokesperson Emily Durante. “We should have a better understanding of that timeline as we get closer to switching westbound vehicles onto the new structure later this summer.”
Well, the hours of daylight can’t get much longer than this, so it must be time to get naked, paint your body and bike through Fremont with more than a thousand other people.
The 2017 Fremont Solstice Parade and Painted Bike Ride (AKA the “Fremont Naked Bike Ride”) is Saturday. People biking will crash the start of the official parade 12:30 – 1 p.m., entering the parade route at the corner of 3rd Ave NW and NW 36th St.
After 1, you won’t be able to enter the route because the totally awesome, human-powered Fremont Solstice Parade will be starting. The parade is powered by volunteers and donations from the public, and it’s one of the few parades that does not allow the use of any motor vehicles.
Many people host their own painting parties in homes across town, then show up at the start line between 12:30 and 1. But there is also a big, organized painting party at CSR Marine in Ballard. That party will be open 8 – 11:30 a.m., but don’t show up at the last minute. It takes longer than you’d think to get painted up, and the volunteers running the party want to have time to shut it down and join the ride. Bring $10 to donate. There are some communal paints, but bring your own if you need specific colors.
CSR Marine paint party participants usually bike around Ballard a bit before joining the parade route. So people who want to maximize their naked biking should either join the big paint party or arrive at CSR Marine by 11:30 to join. Learn more about the official paint party and get all kinds of paint advice at the Solstice Cyclists website.
People using the Westlake Bikeway can now, finally, get to and through South Lake Union via a mostly uninterrupted route of bike lanes.
It’s not the most direct route, and the connection into downtown is still incomplete. But for an interim solution, wow, it’s a lot better. And as a video by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways’ Tim Fliss shows, the bike lanes are getting a lot of use even though they aren’t fully complete yet:
