Seattle Bike Blog

Summer Parkways kicks off with huge Rainier Valley event Saturday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 9, 2016

Summer Parkways 2016 kicks off with what is shaping up to be one of the biggest open streets events in recent Seattle history. Head down to Rainier Valley from 12:30 to 4:30 Saturday afternoon for car-free community fun.

Teaming up with the long-running Rainier Valley Heritage Parade in Columbia City and the Big Day of Play, Summer Parkways will connect Rainier Playfield and Othello Park partially via residential streets and partially right down the middle of a car-free Rainier Ave.

Both ends of the route will be packed with activities (seriously, see the *partial* list below) from food trucks to trampolines to a car show (hey, if its an open streets event then even Seattle Bike Blog can get into a car show).

The Parkways team has learned from last year’s events in the Central District and Ballard and say they have a better traffic control plan this time around (both events had issues with people driving on the route and volunteers who had a rough time trying to stop them).

But perhaps the biggest change for the Rainier Valley event is the amount of community partnership building that went into the planning, thanks in large part to Rainier Valley Greenways organizer and Seattle Bike Advisory Board member Phyllis Porter. And it shows in the number of organizations on board to participate.

Because while open streets are on the surface about bicycling (and walking), they’re actually about community. When car traffic is diverted from a street, the people who live, work and play there can fill the space and have fun together. A bike is just one fun way to experience it.

Meet at Othello Park at noon to ride at 12:45 with Mayor Ed Murray and other community members.

Get more details on the event page. You can also sign up to volunteer. From SDOT: (more…)

tags: phyllis porter, rainier ave, rainier valley, summer parkways

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Big deal for UW Station access, remade Burke-Gilman opens today

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 8, 2016

Opens today! Photo from UW.
If you biked the UW Burke-Gilman Trail detour today, that was likely the last time you will have to do it.

The key stretch of trail from 15th Ave NE to UW Station is set to open today (~~exact time TBD, stay tuned for updates~~ UPDATE: It’s open!), UW Transportation Services said in an email Friday.

The trail segment closed for construction in October, just three months after the bridge to Husky Stadium opened. It has been under construction for the entire operational life of UW Station.

Even without the trail, bike access to light rail has been high. Now the Burke-Gilman will be the easiest and more direct route between the U District core and UW Station.

And Pronto Cycle Share announced last week that they will have a bike share station at UW Station by the end of the month. Anything UW, Sound Transit, SDOT and Pronto can do to speed up this station move would go a long way.

Aside from essentially doubling the width, the trail work fixed some tricky spots and blind pathway intersections in the old trail. It also created separate walking and biking spaces to reduce conflicts and added lighting. Even before UW Station, this section of trail could be very crowded. So though the detour was a pain, this should prove to be a big update.

More details from UW: (more…)

tags: burke-gilman trail, uw, uw station

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Weekend Guide: Dead Baby Downhill XX, Peddler AdventureCat + Half-off Seafair if you bike

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 5, 2016

As always, your bike is your ticket to summer fun in Seattle. Here’s a look at some places it can take you this weekend:

Dead Baby Downhill XX – Saturday

It’s the first weekend of August, and that means it’s time for the wild and raucous “Greatest Party Known to Humankind.”

In case the bike club’s name didn’t tip you off, the Dead Baby Downhill is not for everyone. But if you watched Beyond Thunderdome and thought, “Hey, that would be even more fun on a tall bike,” then you probably already know about the legendary Dead Baby Downhill.

The event turns 20 this year. The race starting at 6 at The Neighbor Lady in the Central District is only part of it. The party in Georgetown goes from 6 to late. Details:

Get ready… THE RACE IS COMING!!!

The Greatest Party Known To Humankind! Dead Baby Bikes 20th Annual Downhill and Messenger Challenge is upon us! (more…)

tags: dead baby downhill 2016, peddler adventurecat 2016, seafair 2016, weekend guide

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Thursday is SAM’s Bike Night at the Olympic Sculpture Park

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 4, 2016

The Seattle Art Museum is hosting a free Bike Night at the Olympic Sculpture Park Thursday (tonight!), featuring music, talks, workshops, food, a kids zone and more.

Want to learn about independent publishing? Learn to make your own zine with Microcosm Publishing’s Elly Blue and Joe Biel. Take a tour of the sculpture park with G&O Family Cyclery’s Davey Oil. Janet Fagan will teach you to make upcycled belts and bracelets using bicycle tubes, and the Bikery will help you fix your ride.

The parking garage at Broad and Western will be “filled with bicycle racks” and staffed by Bike Works. There will be beer, wine and food trucks.

Basically, you gotta be there. More details from SAM: (more…)

tags: boyfriends, chastity belt, davey oil, elly blue, events, janet fagan, joe biel, olympic sculpture park, seattle art museum

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Support more safety changes to calm West Seattle’s ‘I-35’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 3, 2016

Between 2011 and 2014, people driving on West Seattle’s 35th Ave SW (AKA “I-35”) crashed 294 times, injuring 128 people and killing two. That’s an average of two crashes and one injury nearly every week.

This high rate of collisions and injuries will not stop until we do something to stop it. And that’s exactly what Seattle’s highly-successful Road Safety Corridor program aims to do.

You can support the city’s street safety plan at a public meeting 7 – 9 p.m. Thursday at Neighborhood House High Point.

The southern section of the street already received safety improvements last year. Let’s finish the job.

Unfortunately, the plan does not include bike lanes on the street. Instead, the city has committed to build a “parallel” neighborhood greenway. As usual, it’s important to push back on this idea that a parallel greenway meets the safety and access needs of people on bikes, especially when the options are less direct and more hilly than the arterial street near it.

In this case, calming the street to reduce injuries is the primary goal, and bike lanes are not on the table. It’s important to support the safety changes and not let perfect be the enemy of good (this is a compromise). And there are some people in the neighborhood who don’t want any changes at all, which would maintain the unacceptable collision and injury rate on the street. (more…)

tags: 35th ave sw, road safety corridor, west seattle

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Habitat work will disrupt Sammamish River Trail starting August 10

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 2, 2016

The City of Bothell is working to restore habitat along the Sammamish River just beyond the Burke-Gilman Trail, and that means temporary closures of the Sammamish River Trail.

Starting August 10, plan for delays when biking through the area. Flaggers will be on site to control trail traffic. Users may also need to detour via nearby streets or paths. But note that the sidewalk next to 102nd Ave NE is very skinny, and there will be no temporary trail or bike lanes.

Details from Bothell (emphasis theirs): (more…)

tags: 102nd Ave NE, 2016 construction, bothell, burke-gilman trail, riverside drive, sammamish river trail

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