Seattle Bike Blog

Downtown streetcar plans would make 1st Ave, Stewart more dangerous for biking

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 23, 2016

The proposed streetcar line imposed on a map of proposed downtown bike lanes, except with Stewart deleted.

Despite ample evidence that streetcar tracks injure and maybe even kill people biking, plans for a downtown streetcar line on 1st Ave and Stewart Street do not include any adjacent bike lanes or any other measure to make the tracks safer.

To put it bluntly, the $135 million Center City Connector Streetcar as currently planned would make downtown more dangerous for people on bikes than it is today. If constructed, people will be seriously injured or killed.

By providing no mitigation for the new biking dangers along its entire route, the plans also seem to disregard Seattle’s complete streets ordinance requiring major projects to consider the needs of all road users. In fact, the project would even remove an existing (if substandard) bike route on Stewart.

To make matters worse, no mitigation for bike dangers was even studied in the otherwise exhaustive draft environmental assessment released recently. It’s not as though bike lanes were studied and deemed impossible for this alignment. They weren’t even studied. An investigation into options for making tracks safer for bike tires — including skinnier flange gaps and options for filling gaps — would also be good to add to the study (UPDATE: This brand new study (PDF) out of the UK is a treasure trove on the topic).

Instead, planners determined that the streetcar “would not affect bicycle access along First Avenue” because there are bike lanes on 2nd. This is maddening logic, especially for a street with as many businesses and destinations as 1st Ave. You have to bike on 1st to get to destinations on 1st. That should be obvious. So saying this streetcar would not affect bicycle access along 1st Ave is simply not true. It doesn’t matter if 98 percent of a trip does not injure someone. It needs to be 100 percent.

SDOT consistently says that safety is the agency’s top priority, and the city’s Vision Zero policy calls for zero traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. Building a streetcar line that we know will cause injuries or death is in direct conflict with these policies. (more…)

tags: 1st ave, center city connector, sdot, stewart, streetcars

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Missing Link megastudy confirms: Build the trail already!

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 22, 2016

829 pages have been added to the already-towering mountain of documents studying the 1.2-mile Ballard Missing Link of the Burke-Gilman Trail.

An estimated 22 people have gone to the hospital due to crashes on this dangerous stretch just since work on this study began one year ago. More will go to the hospital before it is finished, and even more will go to the hospital before this safety hazard is finally fixed.

The draft environmental impact statement (“DEIS”) is an exhaustive study of the project’s alternatives. It’s the same study you would need to build a freeway, which is total overkill for a short extension of a biking and walking trail. But project opponents have been able to successfully sue and delay the project long enough that completing the costly and time-consuming study was the city’s only option.

So what did it find? In short: Just build the damn trail already!

“Completing this section of the BGT has been discussed and analyzed since the late 1980s,” the study notes. It is beyond embarrassing that this has taken so long.

You have yet another chance to comment on the Missing Link. The EIS team will host two open houses in July: 6 – 9 p.m. July 14 and 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. July 16, both at Leif Erikson Hall. You can also email comments to [email protected].

Hopefully, this will be among the last times you will need to weight in on this project, but nothing can be taken for granted with this trail. From the DEIS, it seems that whatever public debate may have once existed has long solidified in favor of a trail following the rail line just like the rest of the Burke-Gilman.

“Two themes were dominant in the comment letters: trail location and safety,” according to the document. “Shilshole Ave NW was the location most often indicated as preferred for the trail. When reasons were given for this preference, the most common reason was that it is the most direct route between the two ends of the existing BGT.”

That’s it. This isn’t hard, and it should not have required this exhaustive study. Make it direct, continuous and safe. That’s all the people want. But most importantly, stop talking and just build it already! (more…)

tags: ballard, burke-gilman trail, missing link

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Memorial walk for Desiree McCloud highlights her life, puts streetcar lines under scrutiny

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 21, 2016

What does a city say to a grieving family when they ask, What value is there in a streetcar if the tracks injure or even kill people?

Seattle officials did not have any adequate answers to this question during a meeting with the friends, family and neighbors of Desiree McCloud Monday. Desiree died in May following crashing while biking on Yesler Way at 13th Ave. The First Hill Streetcar tracks were likely the cause, friends said.

And it may be that there simply is no acceptable answer to give.

During a short memorial at the site of her ghost bike before the meeting, a friend described Desiree as “brash and brilliant, passionate and true.” The friend also said Desiree’s style was to “demand a better world, and act to make it happen.”

And that’s the challenge laid out for people working to make streets safer so nobody else crashes in this location and on these or any of the city’s streetcar tracks.

“If one of her friends had been hurt or killed, she’d be the one banging on City Hall,” her dad told the group gathered after the memorial.

One course of action suggested: Bulldoze the tracks tomorrow.

Others pushed for low-cost improvements to Yesler the city could install very quickly such as paint-and-post protected bike lanes at least to 14th Ave where the tracks turn south. And the urgency of this cannot be ignored. This isn’t a demand to improve the street “someday,” it’s a demand for action now.

You can sign a petition pushing for quick action on Yesler and a revamping of how the city mitigates track danger citywide. (more…)

tags: desiree mccloud, first hill streetcar, yesler

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Memorial walk for Desiree McCloud tonight on Yesler Way

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 20, 2016

Friends and family of Desiree McCloud painted her bike white and decorated it with notes, flowers and Magic cards. Unlike most ghost bikes, this one is the bike she was riding when she crashed.

Family, friends and neighbors working for safer streets will hold a memorial walk for Desiree McCloud today (Monday) on E Yesler Way.

The walk starts 6 p.m. at Bailey Gatzert Elementary. The group will cross the street to the ghost bike memorial set up at 13th and Yesler where McCloud crashed last month while biking with friends. She passed away a week and a half later from a head injury.

Her passing prompted an outpouring of remembrances from friends. She clearly touched a lot of lives.

After a memorial at her ghost bike, the group will walk up the hill to Yesler Community Center for a meeting to discuss solutions so it does not happen again.

It is not yet clear if the First Hill Streetcar tracks on Yesler played a role in her crash, but concerns about track safety have been heightened since she passed away. About a week after McCloud crashed, a woman on a Vespa crashed and was seriously injured on the tracks at 12th and Jackson.

One year ago, Daniel Ahrendt crashed on the streetcar tracks at 14th and Jackson, just three blocks from Desiree’s ghost bike. Like Desiree, Daniel had moved to the left to pass someone (in his case a stopped bus). His wheel hit the tracks and he fell, then the bus ran over him and seriously injured him. (more…)

tags: desiree mccloud, first hill streetcar, memorial walks

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Neighbors march for a safer NE 65th Street

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 16, 2016

Seattle City Councilmember Rob Johnson (District 4) addresses the crowd.

Standing next to the ghost bike painted white in memory of Andy Hulslander, Councilmember Rob Johnson (District 4) lamented that the city had not acted fast enough to make NE 65th Street safer.

“I stated [in my campaign] that we needed to take action before something like that happens again,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, we missed that window.”

In May — ten months after Lucas McQuinn drove drunk and killed Hulslander at NE 65th St and 15th Ave NE — another man biking on 65th was critically injured in a collision with someone driving a Metro VanPool.

Yet the street remains dangerous, and neighbors are no longer content waiting for the city to get around to fixing it.

Around 60 people, including many children, joined an 8 a.m. walk and rally calling on the city to make the street safer for everyone. And they have a champion on the City Council in neighborhood resident Johnson.

“This street is not safe if you’re in a car, this street is not safe if you’re a pedestrian, and this street is not safe if you’re on a bike,” said Johnson. He talked about how unsafe his young daughters feel around the street and noted that there are so many kids who need to cross the street to get to area schools. The need for a safer street is big today, but it will get much more so when the under-construction Roosevelt Station opens in a few years. (more…)

tags: #Fix65th, andres salomon, city council district 4, ne 65th, ravenna, rob johnson

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Your guide to biking in the 2016 Fremont Solstice Parade

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 15, 2016

Optional ride around Ballard before the parade.

Will 2016 be the year you finally go for it and ride in the Fremont Solstice Parade?

The iconic tradition where everyone is invited to strip down “as bare as you dare,” paint their bodies and bike ahead of the official parade continues to grow with an estimated 1,500 participating in 2015.

In essence, all you have to do to ride is get painted and show up with your bike at NW 39th and Leary Way NW between 2:30 and 3 p.m. Saturday. You do not need to register (see below for an update on the Fremont Arts Council’s decision to back off their registration plans).

Some people get painted at home or private paint parties. For anyone else looking for a spot to get painted, volunteers are again hosting their popular painting party at CSR Marine on Shilshole Ave in Ballard. Bring $10 to donate at the door, along with some extra bucks if you also want to borrow paint.

More details on the Solstice Cyclists website. Here’s the day-of schedule:

9:00-1:30 Painting at CSR Marine or satellite locations.

1:30-2:00 Clean up and organize for ride.

2:00-2:30 Ride to parade.

2:30-3:00 Enter the parade route.

3:00-?? Loop back through the parade route as often as you like, always keeping ahead of the parade, and always keeping to the right side of the street.

(more…)

tags: fremont, fremont arts council, fremont solstice parade 2016, solstice bike ride

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