Seattle Bike Blog

People get organized to restore bike lanes cut from Madison BRT project

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 22, 2017

This slide is from a Madison BRT project team presentation to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board in June 2015 (PDF). Nearly all these bike connections have since been deleted from the plan.

The latest plans out of the Madison BRT project (RapidRide G) cut nearly all of the planned bike improvements that were originally planned nearby as part of the high-budget so-called “multimodal corridor” project.

We reported in depth about the cuts last week, and safe streets groups and upset residents are pushing back. There are several ways you can get involved right now to make sure the project team, city leaders and the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee know you want the deleted bike lanes and neighborhood greenways back in the project as was presented during public outreach that began more than two years ago.

First, today (Wednesday) is the final day to comment on the project’s online open house. It takes quite a few clicks to get to the comment area, but stick with it.

Second, Seattle Neighborhood Greenway put out an action alert today urging people to email the project team and SDOT leaders urging them to keep the promises made early in the outreach period and during the Move Seattle levy campaign. They even have a handy online form you can use to send your message. UPDATE: Cascade Bicycle Club also has an action alert.

Third, reader Zach Lubarsky is urging people to provide public comment at the start of Thursday‘s Move Seattle Oversight Committee meeting. Show up at Seattle City Hall Room L280 before 5:30 p.m. to provide a short comment asking the committee to hold SDOT accountable for promises made leading up to the levy vote. (more…)

tags: madison brt, rapidride g

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Dispatches from the WA Bike Summit: Transpo Secretary Roger Millar: ‘We’re not just about moving cars and drivers, we’re about moving people’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 21, 2017

WA Transportation Secretary Roger Millar

Be sure to check out our other notes from the 2017 WA Bike Summit.

State Transportation Secretary Roger Millar kicked off the Monday keynote with some solid jokes about job security, a reference to the sudden, politically-motivated firing his predecessor Lynn Peterson one year ago.

Millar, who walks to work every day, talked about the state’s responsibility to see beyond just personal cars.

“We’re not just about moving cars and drivers, we’re about moving people,” he said.

And he emphasized that “active transportation isn’t just for urban centers.” People in communities of all sizes across the state are either choosing to biking and walk or can’t afford another option. (more…)

tags: roger millar, washington bike summit 2017, wsdot

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Dispatches from the WA Bike Summit: Dr. Adonia Lugo on ‘fighting for the better world we know when we’re out on a ride’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 21, 2017

Dr Adonia Lugo was the Monday lunchtime keynote speaker

I’m at Cascade Bicycle Club’s Washington Bike Summit, a two-day conference that coincides today with Active Transportation Lobby Day.

As I write this, people from all over the state are volunteering their time to meet with their state Representatives and Senators and urge them to support biking, walking and transit during the legislative session. That’s pretty cool.

Below is the first of several notes from the summit. I’ll keep posting as I get them written, so be sure to check back.

Dr. Adonia Lugo:

Just a couple days after Donald Trump was elected President, Dr. Adonia Lugo flew from L.A. to Atlanta to attend The Untokening, a conference she helped organize that was designed to be a majority-people-of-color event for people working “for just and accessible streets and communities.”

But the election took the wind out of her sails as the headed to the conference, Lugo said during her keynote speech Monday. The work seemed so small in comparison to the threat Trump posed to so many communities in the nation.

Yet bicycling can be a part of the movement for a different vision of the world than the one Trump campaigned for. (more…)

tags: adonia lugo, cascade bicycle club, wa bikes, washington bike summit 2017

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Bike News Roundup: A 1996 PBS doc on the auto industry’s demolition of public transit

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 17, 2017

It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! Here’s a look at some stuff floating around the web lately. This is an open thread.

First up, a PBS documentary (fresh out of 1996) on the auto industry’s conspiracy to destroy public transit and create the urban traffic headaches we have today and continue to make worse through further highway spending. Interesting that Trump’s proposed budget would not only cut public transit funding, but also PBS…

(more…)

tags: bike news roundup

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Banel: How neighbors in 1970s took action and created the Burke-Gilman Trail

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 16, 2017

Photo from MOHAI: Rally Against the Burke Gilman Trail, Seattle, 1971. Photographer: Tom Barlet
As you pedal or stroll along the Burke-Gilman Trail today, it feels like such an integral part of the city that it is hard to imagine the north end without it (unless you’re in Ballard, of course).

But that trail isn’t there by accident, and it isn’t there because of smart City of Seattle transportation policy. It’s there because neighbors — with the help of a supportive mayor — took action and made it happen, culminating in a 2,000-person “hike-in” along the railroad line calling for the city to preserve the decommissioned line as a public biking and walking path rather than splitting it up into many privately-owned parcels.

Half a century later, the Burke-Gilman has inspired rail-trail across the nation and remains a jewel of the city. During peak commute hours, the trail can move as many people as a lane of a major freeway, but it also serves as a unique way for people to quickly feel very far away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

KIRO Radio’s Feliks Banel caught up with trail activist Merrill Hille and former Mayor Wes Uhlman recently to talk about the effort to create the trail (it also includes a fantastic first-person account of train worker Jack Christensen traveling the route shortly before it was decommissioned). It might be hard to imagine today, but the plans were very controversial back then. But Uhlman and other leaders saw the vision and potential the trail held for the city and spent a lot of political capital making it a reality.

But none of that could have happened without neighbors organizing and pushing hard to make sure the positive vision outweighed the pushback.

The story is familiar, yet also feels fantastical. How could people have ever been against the Burke-Gilman Trail? Perhaps in a half century, people will be asking the same question about the downtown bike network and the protected bike lanes down Rainier Ave…

From MyNorthwest: (more…)

tags: burke-gilman trail, feliks banel, merrill hille, wes uhlman

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Neighbors submit 900 ideas for park and street improvements, but city can only fund a small percentage

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 15, 2017

From an interactive map of submitted ideas.

Seattle is trying a whole new method for gathering community ideas for small park and street improvements, and the people have responded. Loudly.

Neighbors from all over Seattle submitted nearly 900 ideas for street and park improvements (up to $90,000 in cost), which is a huge success for the new community outreach process. And a look at the interactive map of submitted ideas shows that ideas are distributed well across the city, which is a strong marker of success for a brand new citywide outreach effort.

But it’s also maybe a bit of a problem since the city only budgeted $2 million to go around.

I know $2 million sounds like a lot of money, but it is only enough to fund 23 projects if each project uses the maximum budget allowed (of course, not all will do so). That’s only enough for a small percentage of ideas to become reality.

A lot of the ideas are about making streets safer and more friendly for people walking, biking or just trying to spend time hanging out and enjoying their neighborhood. Not all the 900 ideas submitted are feasible, but they are a place to start.

The “Your Voice. Your Choice; Parks & Streets” process has replaced the old Neighborhood Park and Street Fund, which went through the city’s various District Councils. The hope is that the new process will be more inviting to more people with city staff reaching out to many different groups directly. A growing and changing city needs a versatile outreach process that can find people where they are rather than requiring people to go through their District Councils. (more…)

tags: your voice your choice parks & streets

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