Seattle Bike Blog

Seattle’s safer speeds plan heads to Transpo Committee + Housing is more important than parking

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 20, 2016

Slide from the presentation to the Transportation Committee.

Seattle’s plan to lower default speed limits across the city heads to the City Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee today. The plan — which has support from the Mayor’s Office, SDOT and the City Council — needs to make it through the committee and the full City Council before getting the Mayor’s approval and going into action. If all goes smoothly, that could be as soon as November.

That change itself is pretty simple, but the implications for safety could be huge as we reported when it was announced. All it really does is change a bunch of signs near the city limits to spell out the new default speeds. For “non-arterial” mostly residential streets, the default limit would be lowered from 25 to 20 mph. For busier “arterial” streets, the speed would drop from 30 mph to 25 mph unless marked otherwise, as is often the case.

But when speed limits are lower on a street (and people know about the limit), the majority of people who want to follow the law will limit their top speed to that new limit. And that alone could improve safety, according to a city legislation document (PDF): (more…)

tags: speed limits, transportation committee

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9/20-22 Trail Alert: E Lake Sammamish Trail

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 20, 2016

This Bike Route Alert is a new feature for Seattle Bike Blog. I will be posting official notices about bike route closures and detours that we receive. Some will be a significant hassle, some will be no big deal. But the hope is to keep them organized in one place as best we can to help keep people informed. You can easily find the alerts by clicking “Bike Route Alerts” in the navigation bar above.

From King County Parks:

Temporary Trail Re-Route – 9/20 & 9/21:

On September 20 and 21 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., a portion of the East Lake Sammamish Trail near 190th Pl SE will be closed due to the installation of a storm sewer at a nearby residence. A short detour around the work site will available, look for signs along the trail indicating detour route.

Tree Removal – 9/22:

On Thursday, September 22, crews will remove several trees along the East Lake Sammamish Trail at SE 33rd St and Waverly. The trail will remain open during this work, but please use caution and look out for flaggers, cones and construction signage.

Thank you for your patience on the East Lake Sammamish Trail this week. Please use extra caution when passing through these two areas.

tags: Bike Route Alert

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The Westlake Bikeway is officially open, and it was worth the compromises

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 19, 2016

SDOT Director Scott Kubly speaks to the big crowd gathered to celebrate the bikeway opening

The Westlake Bikeway officially opened Thursday, finally creating a flat and separated bike route from the Ship Canal to the city center.

“This project is really going to make this corridor safer and more predictable for everyone,” SDOT Director Scott Kubly told the crow gathered in Lake Union Park at the south end of the new bikeway.

“The very first time I was in City Hall was about eleven years ago when I was a new bike commuter,” Councilmember Mike O’Brien said. The reason for his visit? The city was doing heavy work on the Westlake parking area, and O’Brien was pushing to get bike lanes included.

He was not successful eleven years ago, but the new bikeway is “much better than the bike lane I envisioned,” he said.

Much like O’Brien, the movement to build political support for the new bikeway found a lot of supporters, many of whom had never been involved in a city campaign like this one.

“Thousands of people had input over time because this is Seattle,” Mayor Ed Murray said, poking fun at the often arduous Seattle Process. But it’s true. (more…)

tags: ed murray, elizabeth kiker, mike o’brien, scott kubly, tom rasmussen, westlake, westlake cycle track, westlake lawsuit

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Man biking in NE Seattle seriously injured – UPDATED

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 19, 2016

UPDATE 9/21: Seattle Police say there is not yet evidence that this was a hit and run, as KOMO reported. Traffic collision investigators are still working the case and do not have more details at this time.

UPDATE 2: Rollin “RC” Rogers passed away from his injuries. Our condolences to his friends and family. See our updated post here.

Original post:

Approximate location of the hit and run, according to the Seattle Fire logs. Image from Google Street View.

A person driving struck and seriously injured a 55-year-old man Saturday evening, then fled the scene.

The hit and run happened on NE 98th Street near 27th Ave NE shortly before 7 p.m., according to Seattle Fire Department logs.

KOMO TV reports that it seems no neighbors saw the collision, and police are still trying to put together a description of the suspect and vehicle.

We send our best wishes to the man injured.

The person responsible must do the right thing and turn themselves in.

From KOMO:

The 55-year-old victim suffered injuries to his head and arm, Seattle police said. The driver that hit him was no where to be found by the time firefighters and medics arrived, neighbors said.

“It’s horrifying,” a neighbor said. “To do that and to leave… I can’t imagine somebody that could do that.”

With no sign of the person responsible, police are trying to develop a description of the vehicle they were driving. It appears no one in the neighborhood actually saw the cyclist get hit.

tags: 27th ave ne, injuries, komo, ne 98th street

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9/26-27 Trail Alert: Sammamish River Trail delays near I-405

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 19, 2016

This Bike Route Alert is a new feature for Seattle Bike Blog. I will be posting official notices about bike route closures and detours that we receive. Some will be a significant hassle, some will be no big deal. But the hope is to keep them organized in one place as best we can to help keep people informed. You can easily find the alerts by clicking “Bike Route Alerts” in the navigation bar above.

From King County Parks:

On September 26 and 27, expect delays of up to 10 minutes along the trail between Wilmot Gateway Park and I-405 in Woodinville. As part of an upcoming riverbank repair project, crews will be conducting soil sample drilling in the vicinity of the Sammamish River Trail. Traffic control and safety measures will be in place as equipment is moved between sampling sites.

From Google Maps.

tags: Bike Route Alert

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Happy Park(ing) Day 2016!

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 16, 2016

It’s Park(ing) Day!

Today is basically tactical urbanism Christmas, a day when 50 new parks and temporary street improvement ideas pop up around Seattle. And if you haven’t been able to get to the parks in previous years, the city is trying something new in 2016: The parks will be allowed to stay open later and reopen Saturday.

The official hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The city even has a handy online map for you (also posted below).

Park(ing) Day is an international event that began in San Francisco in 2005. In many places, people simply pay the meter for a car parking space and park a park there instead. Seattle not only sanctions the day, it organizes it.

The day highlights different ways to use public space, and in recent years has expanded from “parks” to trial street changes. One year before the 2nd Ave protected bike lane opened officially, Cascade Bicycle Club demonstrated a one-block stretch of the idea on Park(ing) Day, for example.

As usual, we will be touring parks and posting updates to this page throughout the day, so be sure to check back later.

UPDATES: (more…)

tags: park(ing) day, park(ing) day 2016

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