Seattle Bike Blog

Man killed while biking in Everett, person driving fled but was caught

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 20, 2015

A man driving a pickup truck in Everett struck and killed a man biking Thursday evening around 6:30 p.m.

The identity of the man killed has not yet been released. Our deepest condolences to his friends and family.

Few details have been released about how the collision at 126th Street SE and 19th Ave SE (AKA the Bothell Everett Highway SR 527) occurred.

The Everett man driving the pickup fled the scene, but witnesses led police to his location near Silver Lake. He was captured and transported to the hospital. Everett Police said in a statement Thursday evening that they expected to book him in Snohomish County Jail for investigation of Vehicular Homicide.

It is not yet known if drugs or alcohol were factors. 19th Ave SE is a wide five-lane street with skinny painted bike lanes. It is a major north-south bike route.

More details from Everett Police: (more…)

tags: bothell everett highway, deaths, everett, everett police, silver lake, sr 527

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Mt Baker intersection plan continues to wow + A new standard for public outreach

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 20, 2015

Images from the Accessible Mt Baker open house materials.

Seattle’s plan to turn one of its worst intersections into one of its best just keeps getting better. With the misleadingly-boring name “Accessible Mount Baker,” the project would simultaneously revolutionize non-motorized transportation in the whole Rainier Valley, prevent dozens of serious traffic injuries every year, improve general traffic flow, improve transit connections and create space for a successful neighborhood center complete with more housing, more businesses and more gathering spaces.

When you add up all the benefits, the $20-24 million price tag starts to sound like a real bargain.

Then general plan hasn’t changed since our previous report, but the design concept has gotten more specific and complex traffic analyses have shown the concept can work as predicted. Also, voters passed Move Seattle, which will invest $6 million into the project.

The general idea is to uncross a crisscrossing intersection of Southeast Seattle’s two major north-south streets: Rainier Ave and MLK Jr Way. Today, this intersection works horribly for everyone. The traffic volumes, turning movements and large size of the intersection require long signal cycles. Buses full of people wait, people walking wait, people driving wait and people biking, well, they’re basically left to fend for themselves.

Collisions are common both at the intersection itself and at nearby intersections that are impacted by the cascading traffic headache caused by this one mega-intersection: (more…)

tags: accessible mt baker, department of neighborhoods, mlk way, mt baker, public outreach and engagement liason, rainier ave

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Online Premiere: Groundswell #7 on the neighborhood street party as a response to gentrification

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 19, 2015

It’s a world (online) premiere! Seattle Bike Blog is happy to host the online release of Microcosm Publishing’s Groundswell #7: Gentrification Response Team.

For years, Elly Blue and Joe Biel over at Microcosm Publishing have been touring the country visiting towns small and large to talk about bicycling. They have met and listened to people at the grassroots who see bicycling as a tool for change — all kinds of change.

“Joe and I had both been to a bunch of transportation conferences, and we kept hearing the same exact stories told over and over,” said Blue via email. “The narrative underlying those canonical stories is basically that a visionary planner or elected official or bicycle advocacy organization appears in a city, says, ‘Let there be bike lanes,’ and then, lo, the people come and ride bikes gratefully on their new infrastructure.

“But we’ve been traveling extensively with the Dinner and Bikes tour for the past six years, meeting people all over the country, and the stories we saw unfolding were very different. The people who take the risks and have the initial visions are usually regular people who want to make their community better and see bicycling as a tool—often one tool among many—for doing that.”

The seventh video of the series takes place in Portland, but it was produced with help from a delegation from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways (you can hear Phyllis Porter from Rainier Valley Greenways conducting some of the interviews). This trip was one big impetus for Seattle’s first two Summer Parkways events this year. (more…)

tags: elly blue, groundswell, joe biel

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Westlake Bikeway could open in summer, construction meeting Thursday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 18, 2015

Construction on the Westlake Bikeway and parking circulation improvements is about to begin. You can learn more about construction activities at an information session 4 – 7 p.m. Thursday (tomorrow) in the Commons Room of the AGC Building.

Meanwhile, there is no official update yet on the status of the lawsuit brought against the city and the project by the “superyacht” marina Nautical Landing (“soon,” I’m told). The lawsuit came after a laborious community design process went over every inch of the bikeway plans, crafting compromises and creating a plan for a more efficient and safe parking area.

The lawsuit does not stop work unless a judge orders a stop.

If all goes according to schedule, the bikeway should be open in the summer.

Details on the meeting: (more…)

tags: westlake, westlake cycle track, westlake lawsuit

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Thursday: Go see Phoebe’s Father, a new indie film including lots of Seattle cycling scenes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 18, 2015

Press image from Pheobe’s Father

An independent family drama where cycling in Seattle plays a central role? I bet there are a lot of readers of this blog who can identify with that.

You can be among the first people to see Phoebe’s Father 6:30 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) at Cascade Bicycling Center in Magnuson Park. Tickets are $7.

Filmed and set in Seattle, Phoebe takes up competitive cycling, but finds she can’t flee from her family troubles. And the trailer is packed with scenes on streets and trails around Seattle (watch below). There’s even a scene in Recycled Cycles. And you may just see some familiar faces in some of the scenes… (hi Taldi, Anne-Marije and McKayla!)

So go see it! Here’s the official synopsis: (more…)

tags: events, phoebe’s father

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Move Seattle saves the transpo budget + Pronto gets oversight + Red light cameras will fund school safety

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 17, 2015

Just the Move Seattle budget adds for 2016, from City Council

When Mayor Ed Murray presented his proposed 2016 budget, he had to assume there would be no replacement for Bridging the Gap, and it was pretty devastating. There was an exciting $5 million one-time expenditure for expanding Pronto Cycle Share, but the budget for biking, walking and safe streets was dismal. The sidewalk maintenance budget would be zeroed out, and the trails and bike paths budget would have declined from about $6 million annually to $1.3 million, for example.

But that won’t happen because you all approved Move Seattle by a commanding 17-point margin (as of the most recent count). The levy adds nearly $100 million to the 2016 transportation budget, including massive increases in biking, walking and safe streets investments.

These additions as well as other transportation elements of the budget — including funding to expand Pronto Cycle Share and a proposal to focus ten percent of red light camera funds on safe streets projects — sailed through a major Budget Committee meeting Monday. Nothing is official until the full Council votes on the budget next Monday, but yesterday’s committee meeting (which included all Councilmembers except Bruce Harrell) is typically where most of the big budget changes happen.

Pronto would double in size, with Council permission

(more…)

tags: 2016 budget, cathy tuttle, city council, ed murray, move seattle, move seattle levy, nick licata, pronto emerald city cycle share, red light cameras, sally bagshaw, school zone speed cameras

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