With a preferred route for the Madison BRT project selected, now it’s time to dig into the specifics. The same goes for the so-called “parallel” bike network improvements that are part of the corridor redesign.
You can get a look at the latest updates and make sure the changes will be bold and ambitious during a set of open houses next week: 5 – 7 p.m. August 3 in the Seattle University Campion Ballroom, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. August 4 at Town Hall Seattle and 5 – 7 p.m. August 9 at Meredith Mathews East Madison YMCA.
Obviously, the bulk of the project’s funding and attention is centered on the rapid transit service planned for the growing Madison corridor. But this is Seattle Bike Blog, so we’re going to highlight the bike stuff.
We’ve reported on the possible bike connections previously, including protected bike lanes on Spring/Seneca downtown, a neighborhood greenway across First Hill, protected bike lanes on Union and other neighborhood greenway connections in the Central District and Capitol Hill. The preferred alternative report (PDF) commits to some of these elements, but it’s still going to take a lot of support to make sure comfortable, complete and connected bike improvements are included.
As noted on page 15, some key sections (especially Union Street bike lanes) are noted only as “potential.” These complete connections need to be baked into the project as part of the project’s complete streets requirement. From the document: (more…)
