Seattle Bike Blog

Trail supporters, opponents and city leaders strike a deal to complete the Ballard Missing Link

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 28, 2017

Councilmember Mike O’Brien, a longtime trail supporter, and Warren Aakervik, the owner of Ballard Oil and a trail appellant, shook hands during the press conference.

UPDATE: Construction on the Ballard Missing Link of the Burke-Gilman Trail will break ground by winter 2018, Mayor Ed Murray announced Tuesday during a press conference flanked by both longtime trail supporters and business owners who have fought the trail for decades.

“I’m kinda all smiles,” said Councilmember Mike O’Brien, who in addition to representing Ballard’s district on the Council has been a longtime supporter of completing the trail. “I gotta check myself a little bit, because it’s not done yet,” O’Brien continued. “I know there are advocates who will say, ‘We’ve been here before.’”

But at the press conference, anyway, Cascade Bicycle Club and other longtime trail advocates were smiling, too. After decades of delays, lawsuits, big public meetings and a horrible number of broken bones, the path to building the trail finally seems free of major opposition.

“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.”

“I too have been working in this project for a decade, so it’s nice to see that soon I’ll be able move onto something else,” said Eugene Wasserman, President of the North Seattle Industrial Association, another party to the lawsuits.

Mayor Murray hailed the agreement as an end to the project’s endless limbo. (more…)

tags: ballard, ed murray, mike o’brien, missing link

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Bellevue officially approves funding to start ‘rapid implementation’ bike plan

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 27, 2017

The two-year project map Bellevue’s City Council just funded. See map below to see proposed facility types.

Amid all the other giant issues on the November ballot, it may have been easy to miss the news that the people of Bellevue approved a transportation measure that includes funding to kickstart a renewed effort to get their bike network plans back on track.

The city’s “Bicycle Rapid Implementation Plan” is based on Bellevue’s existing Bicycle Master Plan, which has never been significantly funded. But the political leadership on bicycle transportation has shifted in recent years. In December 2015, the Bellevue City Council unanimously endorsed Vision Zero. They also tasked their transportation staff with improving the city’s horribly-fractured bicycle network, which often requires people to bike mixed with fast-moving traffic.

Rather than create a whole new master plan, city leaders decided to create a near-term action plan that could be largely funded as part of a 2016 transportation vote. That decision has worked out well so far. A year and a half after they started planning work, the city has a five-year plan to create a mostly-connected network of bike routes, many of which will be protected bike lanes or trails. And thanks to voters, they also have the funding to make it happen.

Cascade Bicycle Club’s East King County Policy Manager Vicky Clarke has put together a handy online tool you can use to send Bellevue’s City Council a thank you note. (more…)

tags: bellevue, cascade bicycle club, Franz Loewenherz, vicky clarke

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Public Bikes will close Pine St shop

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 24, 2017

Photo from April 2015, just before the shop opened.

When Public Bikes opened at Summit and Pine in April 2015, we noted that the shop was “well-positioned to take advantage of Capitol Hill’s bike shop desert.” Velo Bike Shop had recently moved to the Denny Triangle area after decades on the Hill, and one of the city’s densest and bikiest neighborhoods was left without a bike shop in any of its main business districts.

But Public was a little different from a bike shop like Velo. For one, it only sold its own brand of bike (though it had a wide variety of stylish accessories). And it’s maintenance shop was largely focused on servicing Public brand bikes, though they did limited service on other brands of bikes.

Public bikes are largely sold directly to customers online, and the Seattle shop was among the company’s first attempts to open brick-and-mortar shops outside their Bay Area home.

Since Public opened, a new model of bike shop has broken out on Capitol Hill: The bike shop cafe. And that concept only shows signs of expanding. (more…)

tags: 20/20 cycle, branford bike, capitol hill, electric lady, métier racing and coffee, peloton, public bikes, rapha

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Rainier Ave safety project worked even better than planned, city will extend it south

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 23, 2017
Images from SDOT’s before and after report.

A 2015 safe streets redesign on Rainier Ave is working even better than expected by nearly every measure.

Just by repainting the lines on the major street, the city’s Vision Zero team was able to dramatically reduce the number of dangerous collisions, nearly eliminate high-end speeding, speed up transit, and fully eliminate serious injuries and deaths. Meanwhile, delays for people driving were minimal, clocking in well below pre-construction estimates, according to a new report (PDF).

In other words, Rainier Ave now works better for everyone.

The new report comes out as SDOT starts public outreach for an extension of the safety project from the current project boundary south of Hillman City all the way to Rainier Beach, where safety improvements were completed in recent years. When the new project is complete, Rainier Ave will be significantly calmed from Columbia City to the southend city limits.

Details on an upcoming meeting and a project online survey from SDOT:
We want to hear about your experiences traveling on Rainier Ave S. This will help inform Phase 2 of the project and let us know how Phase 1 is working.

Click here to take our survey.

Or come talk to us in person at this upcoming event! We’ll share Phase 1 results and talk about extending changes from S Kenny St to S Henderson St.
- March 7: We ❤ Southeast Seattle:Investing in Rainier Ave S Community Forum
  - Emerald City Bible Fellowship, 7728 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA
  - 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
(more…)
tags: rainier ave, rainier valley, road safety corridor, vision zero

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NE 65th Street will get autumn quick fixes, bigger remake in 2018-19

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 22, 2017

Andres Salomon, now a candidate for mayor, organizes neighbors to protest traffic dangers on NE 65th. The crane in the background marks the site of Roosevelt Station.

After years of community urging and protest, Seattle is about to kick off a road safety project on NE 65th Street to address the street’s serious ongoing safety problems.

People walking, biking and inside cars all continue to get seriously injured and killed on the street, which forms a barrier that splits the neighborhood in two.

Councilmember Rob Johnson joined a June 2016 neighborhood march and protest calling for a safe streets overhaul of the street. He was then able to add the project to the 2017 budget.

After more horrible collisions along the street that left people seriously injured, Johnson and community members behind the #Fix65th effort convinced Mayor Ed Murray to make the project a priority. Though SDOT fell short of Johnson’s call for a design plan to be in place by February 14, the department did have a public meeting and design schedule complete by that date.

The first big meeting about the project will be 6 p.m. February 28 at Roosevelt High School.

The department hopes to have some early safety fixes ready to be installed by Fall 2017, followed by a final design of the street and a more significant changes in 2018-19.

Inga Manskopf, a community member active in the #Fix65th effort, recently wrote a post for the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association blog outlining some cheap and quick fixes the city could make in the near-term. (more…)

tags: #Fix65th, andres salomon, ed murray, inga manskopf, ne 65th, rob johnson, sdot

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The 45th Chilly Hilly is Sunday on Bainbridge

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 21, 2017

The 2011 Chilly Hilly. Photo from Cascade Bicycle Club

Cascade Bicycle Club’s major event season kicks off Sunday with the 45th annual Chilly Hilly.

Thousands of people will meet up at Colman Dock to catch the ferry to Bainbridge. Numbers swell when weather is sunny and warm, but that’s not the point of this ride. It’s still fun to bike when it’s rainy and cold. And the colder it is, the better a bowl of chili tastes at the end.

Or so I’m told.

Online registration ends Wednesday ($35), but Chilly Hilly is one of the few major Cascade rides that allow people to register at the start ($45).

Folks on the Bainbridge side of the bay can skip the ferry ride and save some cash. Swing by the B.I. Cycle Shop or Classic Cycle during normal business hours Wednesday through Saturday to register.

And, as has been tradition alongside Chilly Hilly itself, there will be several adjacent events. You can expect the 12th annual Fucking Hills Race to happen on Bainbridge, as usual. There’s also the “Willy Nilly” ride on Vashon, as posted to our events calendar.

More details on the Chilly Hilly from Cascade Bicycle Club: (more…)

tags: bainbridge island, cascade bicycle club, chilly hilly

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