Seattle’s newest protected bike lane connects a future light rail station on NE 65th Street to the University Bridge and beyond. But it wasn’t created specifically as a bike improvement project. Instead, Seattle’s Department of Transportation was preparing to repave the street, and they used that work as an opportunity to build out bike and bus reliability improvements at much lower cost.

Of course this makes sense. If the city is investing in a street that is also slated for other improvements, it is cheaper to do all that work at the same time. Aside from saving money, it also means fewer construction projects that interrupt traffic and business access.

But despite a nearly decade-old complete streets ordinance on the books, Seattle still does not always use its paving investments as an opportunity to improve safety and access for all road users. In fact, it took a strong effort by neighbors and safe streets supporters to get the bike lane into the Roosevelt plan. Then it took another strong push to make sure the bike lane extended all the way to the planned light rail station. The Mayor’s Office and SDOT ultimately made the right call.

But people should not need to organize campaigns to get the city to pair their paving investments with planned safety and transit improvements. It should simply be the way the department operates by default. Roosevelt should set the standard.

You have two chances next week to tell SDOT that pairing paving investments with safe streets improvements is not only cost effective, it is the right thing to do.

• Monday, 5:30–7:30 p.m. at Roosevelt High School to discuss NE Seattle.
• Wednesday, 5:30–7:30 p.m. at Southside Commons to discuss SE Seattle.

(more…)