Seattle Bike Blog

Turn your downtown bike lane frustration into fun at Cascade’s ‘Hidden Gem’ scavenger hunt

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 9, 2016

We’ve been writing a lot recently about Seattle’s delayed downtown bike lane plans in large part because it is the biggest employment center in the state and the single biggest missing piece in so many city-wide and regional bike routes.

But downtown is also its own unique and interesting place, packed with wonderful small business, works of public art and hidden public spaces.

In that vein, Cascade Bicycle Club is hosting a free after-work scavenger hunt May 16, sending people out to find downtown’s “hidden gems” before ending at the Crocodile for music and drinks (Full disclosure: My spouse Kelli is an organizer, and Cascade is a SBB sponsor).

Meet at Westlake Park for a rolling start between 5 and 5:45 p.m.

And since the event will mostly (entirely?) take place in the Pronto Cycle Share service area, you don’t even need to bring your own bike to participate. There aren’t too many bike events that can say that!

In addition to exploring downtown in a way you perhaps haven’t before, you will also help Cascade’s advocacy team collect data on preferred bike routes between various points. So this event could be a chance to take your frustration about the city’s downtown bike lane delays and channel it into fun.

The event also happens to be the evening before Seattle City Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee is scheduled to discuss the slashed short-term bike plan (2 p.m. May 17 at City Hall).

More details from Cascade: (more…)

tags: cascade bicycle club, center city bike network, downtown, hidden gem scavenger hunt

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Support a developed and accessible John Wayne Trail at Tuesday meeting in Preston

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 6, 2016

The John Wayne Pioneer Trail (AKA the Iron Horse Trail) is a magnificent statewide asset stretching from Rattlesnake Lake to Tekoa and the Idaho border.

Or at least it should be.

Important sections of the trail are impeded by closed trestles and tunnels. General disrepair to the unimproved railbed makes biking, hiking and horse travel difficult. And there is are big stretches with irregular water access and other necessary facilities.

But the dream of a fully-functional statewide trail is alive and powerful after a brush with closure last year woke people up across Washington. Thanks in large part to the hard work of the Tekoa Trail and Trestle Association (“TTTA”), talk of giving the trail to adjacent landowners seems to have mostly disappeared.

Instead, the state’s Parks and Recreation Commission is looking to invest in the trail, both to improve public access to the trail and to get noxious weed problems under control (a concern from adjacent landowners). You can join in the second round of meetings 6–8 p.m. Tuesday at the Preston Community Center (right off the Preston-Snoqualmie Trail, a nice ride if you’ve never done it).

Ted Blaszak from the TTTA penned an op-ed in the Seattle Times recently outlining his group’s asks: (more…)

tags: iron horse trail, john wayne pioneer trail, preston, washington state parks and recreation commission

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SDOT backpedals even further on already-slashed bike plan, cuts 9th Ave

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 5, 2016

It took only two weeks for Seattle’s Department of Transportation to cut the only significant center city bike lane from their already-scaled-back 2016 plans.

The 9th Ave N bike lane would have connected the new Westlake Ave bikeway (due to open in late July) though South Lake Union and into downtown. For a decade since the city installed injury-causing streetcar tracks on Westlake Ave — the most direct and flat route from the lake to downtown — 9th Ave N has been promised as a major bike route alternative. So bike lanes there in 2016 was the only silver lining when the city made baffling and devastating cuts to the downtown bike plans earlier this year.

But now SDOT says the 9th Ave N bike lanes can’t be installed south of Mercer any earlier than 2018 due to construction (even though construction on a major bike route should be an argument in favor of building safe bike lanes). SDOT staff also said a needed bike connection from 9th Ave N to 2nd Ave via Bell Street can’t be installed until after the SR 99 tunnel highway opens (and who knows when that will be).

So in just one year, the city went from plans to build a grid of bike lanes downtown that connect to neighborhoods north, south and east to plans to build essentially no complete connections until at least 2018.

This change even calls into question Pronto Cycle Share expansion funding. The City Council mandated that bike lanes on 9th Ave N from Westlake to Denny be “on schedule to be completed” before they release funds to expand the bike share system (PDF). This amendment bit off only the lowest hanging fruit in the city’s scaled back bike plan, but now it appears SDOT won’t even meet that goal. (more…)

tags: bicycle master plan implementation plan, center city bike network, downtown, ed murray, mike o’brien, sdot

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New signal to help Ballard buses could also create a new bike/walk connection

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 4, 2016

Taking advantage of a new traffic signal planned as part of an effort to speed up buses on 15th Ave NW, SDOT is planning a short neighborhood greenway to help connect homes and destinations long divided by the freeway-like 15th.

The mega-street is a fossil of the mid-century freeway craze and currently has no safe crossings between the bridge underpass at Leary Way and NW Market Street, so this new signal could be a big deal for neighbors and for walking and biking travel.

The greenway route would also connect the brand new 17th Ave NW neighborhood greenway to the Burke-Gilman Trail through an out-of-the-way route via Gilman Playground. For people heading north , this could be a good way to avoid the notorious Missing Link. But for people heading to the historic downtown, the Missing Link will still be the most direct (and therefore most popular) route.

At this early stage, SDOT staff is looking at a variety of route options, though they only noted NW 53rd Street for the new signal (several open house attendees said it would be even better if it were a block or two further south).

Of the options presented, 11th Ave NW is the most direct option to the Burke-Gilman Trail and also the least steep: (more…)

tags: 11th ave nw, ballard, ballard bridge, nw 53rd street, summer jawson

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Bike trips from West Seattle spike 80 percent Monday, crushing record

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 3, 2016

Bike trips counted over the Spokane Street swing bridge

On the first Monday commute since the Alaskan Way Viaduct closed, bike trips across the Spokane Street swing bridge to West Seattle went through the roof.

Compared to average weekdays in recent months, Monday’s bike count was up an unprecedented 80 percent, adding more than 1,000 trips compared to average weekdays in April.

And as West Seattle Blog noted, Monday’s 2,525 count crushed the previous record by 37 percent:

Another big number just in: 2,525 bicycle trips across West Seattle “low bridge” Mon., smashing old record of 1,847. #99closure

— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) May 3, 2016

(more…)

tags: bike counter, bike month 2016, viadoom, west seattle, west seattle blog

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Missing Link claims another victim ahead of tonight’s Ballard safe streets open house

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 2, 2016

This morning, the train tracks on the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link claimed yet another victim. Reader Ted came across a woman who took a very bad spill in the same spot so many people have crashed before her. After helping her and waiting for medics to arrive and take over, he took this photo and sent us the following note:

Hi Tom,

Sorry for the downer but I gotta vent.

Real shitty start to bike to work month this morning. This woman’s face was so bloody she could hardly talk. She couldn’t tell me her name.

I started riding again after the paramedics got there and just started bawling out of nowhere. It is really a crime to make a “bike trail” in such a dangerous spot.

Ted

He’s right. It is a crime that plans to fix this dangerous missing link in such a popular bike trail has lingered now for two decades. This isn’t a game. People are getting hurt. (more…)

tags: ballard, injuries, missing link

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