Seattle Bike Blog

Hey you! The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board needs new members

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 28, 2016

The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board (AKA the “Bike Board”) is a volunteer crew of advocacy group representatives and everyday residents who serve as a sounding board and watchdog group for efforts in the city that affect bicycling.

I’ve been going to their monthly meetings for nearly six years, and members of this Board really can have a big impact on how projects evolve. You get a chance to hear about projects early (often news is first announced publicly at these meetings), and comments from the Board hold sway with both the Mayor’s Office and City Council.

And fun fact: Bill Nye was once a member of the Bike Board. How cool is that?

The Board is seeking two new members. Terms are two years with an option to serve a second term. You need to commit to meeting the first Wednesday of most months downtown (typically 6–8 p.m. at City Hall).

No expertise with bike policy or engineering is needed, and you don’t need to be a die-hard bike commuter (in fact, people who ride a little but want to ride more may be best). You just need to be a Seattle community member who wants it to be safer and more welcoming to bike in our city.

Anyone can apply, but in my opinion the Board especially needs more people of color and people from immigrant communities. The Board keeps getting more and more focused on safe streets as a race and social justice issue, so this could also be a great chance for someone who wants to help push our city’s bicycling conversation in that direction to jump on board.

Big issues the Board may (or should) discuss in the next two years: Downtown protected bike lanes, bike connections to and within Rainier Valley, and (I hope!) intersections of biking and affordable housing as part of the city’s HALA debate.

More details and how to apply from SDOT: (more…)

tags: seattle bicycle advisory board

— Advertisement —
Work begins next week on Arboretum Trail set to open late 2017

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 25, 2016

Construction is set to begin Monday on a new trail along the western side of the Arboretum, providing a safe space for walking and biking next to Lake Washington Blvd and improving access to more of the Arboretum grounds.

Kicking off a year later than planned in early 2015 (PDF), construction on the $7.8 million trail is expected to take more than a year and a half, opening for use in December 2017.

Funded by WSDOT as part of the traffic mitigation efforts attached to the 520 Bridge replacement project, the trail has long been part of the Arboretum’s planning. On one hand, the project will become a part of the Arboretum’s trail system, restoring wetlands and allowing visitors to see parts of the park that have been inaccessible.

But it will also become a popular bike route that connects to the new trail across the 520 Bridge (also opening in 2017) and to UW Station/the Burke-Gilman Trail via the Montlake Bridge.

With smart planning in the Montlake section of the 520 Bridge project, it could be possible to bike from the Burke-Gilman Trail to E Madison Street entirely on separated bike lanes and trails.

And if the city builds protected bike lanes on E Madison Street to the MLK junction, the new Arboretum Trail could connect to neighborhood bike routes into the Central District like the promising 27th Ave neighborhood greenway planned as part of the Madison BRT project. And since the 27th Ave greenway will connect to the existing neighborhood greenway on 25th Ave, which connects to the I-90 Trail and Beacon Hill and OMG EVERYONE IT’S ACTUALLY BECOMING A CONNECTED BIKE NETWORK.

Deep breath… alright. I got a little ahead of myself. First, crews gotta start work on the trail so it can be ready to ride by the end of 2017. Details from the construction notice (PDF): (more…)

tags: arboretum, arboretum trail, wsdot

— Advertisement —
Tonight: Help Beacon Hill Safe Streets improve area near the light rail station

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 24, 2016

Beacon Hill is a growing walkable and bikeable community, but there’s one big safe streets challenge: Beacon Ave. (OK, fine, there are a couple more, too.)

Beacon Ave cuts a diagonal across the neighborhood grid, creating many awkward or extra-long crossings.

And unfortunately, people keep getting seriously injured or killed. Most recently, a 58-year-old woman was killed crossing Beacon Ave at S McClellan Street in January.

But it doesn’t need to be this way, and neighbors are organizing to prevent it from happening again.

Beacon Hill Safe Streets was formerly known a Beacon B.I.K.E.S. (“Better Infrastructure Keeping Everyone Safe”) but recently changed names to emphasize that they work to “make clear that our focus is on making streets safe for people of all ages and abilities, whether they walk, bike, or drive.” They are meeting 6 p.m. tonight (Thursday) at Beacon Hill Library.

This group was among the first neighborhood safe streets groups that formed during Seattle’s great safe streets awakening back in 2010 and 2011. The Beacon Hill Neighborhood Greenway — among the first in the city — only happened due to a strong and organized push from these neighbors.

Now the group has focused its attention on the area around the light rail station, library and new housing development where the fatal January collision occurred. They are working on a Neighborhood Street Fund application that will help the area grow safely and improve safe access to these major destinations for all road users, but especially people walking and biking.

So if you live in the area and haven’t yet gotten involved, this is a great opportunity to get plugged in and help out.

Details: (more…)

tags: beacon ave, Beacon BIKES, beacon hill, beacon hill safe streets, s forest street, s mcclellan street

— Advertisement —
Pronto buyout draws ethics investigation against SDOT Director

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 23, 2016

Was it an improper conflict of interest when SDOT Director Scott Kubly started negotiations for the city to buy Pronto from the non-profit Puget Sound Bike Share?

Did SDOT staff mislead the public and City Council by overstating annual member ranks during the buyout legislation process?

These and other questions will be part of an independent investigation the Ethics and Elections Commission has ordered. Former King County Prosecutor Marilyn Brenneman has been contracted for $20,000 to lead the investigation, which she said will take a few weeks.

King 5’s Chris Daniels broke the story Tuesday evening, and focused on discrepancies between the 3,000 annual members cited repeatedly during Council deliberations and the around 1,900 annual members currently registered with the system.

The system ended its first year with more than 3,000 annual members, but many have not renewed. The non-profit that owned the system — Puget Sound Bike Share — all but disbanded shortly before the one-year mark hit, so much of the work to sell the $85 memberships to new and expiring users likely didn’t happen.

And for the first few months of 2016, the future of the system was very uncertain as the Council debated whether to buy the system or let it die. So numbers likely continued going down since nobody is going to buy a year pass for a system that might close in a month or two.

I requested monthly membership information from SDOT and Pronto to get a picture of when membership declined. Below are the monthly totals from launch through January, 2016 (I have requested February and current figures and will update when I get them. UPDATE: At the end of February, the count was 1,906):

(more…)

tags: Ethics and Elections Commission, nicole freedman, pronto emerald city cycle share, scott kubly, sdot

— Advertisement —
Woman biking critically injured in Bellevue collision, person driving flees

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 23, 2016

If you see a suspicious vehicle missing a headlight like this one, that may be the suspect. Photo from Bellevue PD.

Map of the incident location from Bellevue PD

Someone driving an unknown vehicle struck a woman biking in Bellevue this morning, critically injuring her. The suspect left the woman in critical condition on the side of the road and fled the scene without even calling for help.

The location is a major crossing of the I-90 Trail. 118th Ave SE is also a popular north-south bike route in Bellevue. There has been no indication yet from police how the collision happened.

In fact, KOMO reports that a passerby spotted the woman lying on the road around 6 a.m., but it’s not yet clear how long she was lying there. She was thrown 100 feet from the collision site, and the person driving left her for dead.

She was rushed to Harborview with critical injuries. We send our best wishes. (more…)

tags: bellevue, bellevue police, crime, hit and run, injuries, vision zero bellevue

— Advertisement —
With U Link, combining bikes and transit just got even more powerful

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 22, 2016

Bike valet! If only this were permanent or replaced with another more secure option.

UW loaned these old-style staple racks while Sound Transit works to install more permanent and modern staple racks in addition to the “coat hanger” racks already installed.

University of Washington Station opened Saturday and immediately assumed its role as the bikiest light rail station in the region.

The bike parking was overflowing during Saturday’s opening celebration. Even the additional free valet bike parking space provided for the day was handlebar-to-handlebar.

And it makes sense, UW Station is only a stone’s throw from the Burke-Gilman Trail, likely our state’s busiest walking and biking trail. Not only that, but the segment of the trail through UW campus was already the busiest section of the trail before the light rail opened, moving about as many people during a busy commute hour as a lane of a freeway. (more…)

tags: burke-gilman trail, capitol hill station, sound transit, uw station

— Advertisement —