The Ballard Ave Café Street project has been an iterative series of changes since 2020 designed to expand outdoor space for businesses, including lots of outdoor seating for restaurants and bars. To make it happen, SDOT made the street one-way for cars and limited parking. Now the city is preparing the next phase of changes, which could make things a bit better for walking and biking.
While the basic goals of project’s phase 1 were good, there was one big issue: By making the one-way northbound travel lane relatively skinny, the project made it very difficult for anyone on a bike trying to head south through the business district. The only parallel route options are Shilshole Ave NW and Leary Way NW, both of which are famously unfriendly to people on bikes. There are also no signs helping people on bikes figure out what to do, leaving people wondering if they are even allowed to bike the wrong way. But surely the city doesn’t want people to bike on the busy Ballard Ave sidewalks, right? It feels like people on bikes were just completely forgotten about, which is not the welcoming and comfortable experience that the café street is supposed to create. And unlike Pike Place, the single traffic lane on Ballard Ave still feels like a cars-first space rather than a shared space.
I asked people on social media how they ride south through the Ballard business district, and nearly all said they ride the wrong way on Ballard Ave (though a few said they ride on Shilshole). This is also what I do, though it does not feel comfortable. I suspect some people simply avoid the area now, which is too bad since a project like this thrives on people arriving by walking, biking and taking transit.
