UPDATED map with more recent version (note “future phase” walking trail)After a years long, sometimes heated public process, the Seattle Parks Board voted unanimously to move forward with a pilot set of soft surface biking and walking trails in the hilly Cheasty Greenspace natural area between Rainier Vista and Beacon Hill.
The Parks Board of Commissioners (a volunteer advisory board that the Parks Dept. takes very seriously) also gave a thumbs up to a second phase of the trails plan if environmental assessments of the first phase proves positive after 15 months.
This is not everything the Cheasty Trails advocates wanted, but represents a compromise that takes seriously neighbor concerns about disturbance to the natural area. Natural areas without lots of developed human access are rare within the Seattle city limits, and some people were concerned these trails would turn the area from a rare wildlife refuge into a packed and busy park. (more…)
One example of a school walk zone. Every child who lives in the white walk zone area should have a truly safe route to school.
The Move Seattle transportation levy puts a pretty strong emphasis on safety, but there’s one key piece that many safe streets advocates in the city think is far too low: Safe Routes to School.
You can tell the City Council what you think of Move Seattle (see our previous coverage here, here and here) and support investments in Safe Routes to School at a public hearing 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Anne Fote is a Seattle school nurse, and her school nurse association believes that investing in walking to school is vital not just to helping kids get their necessary daily exercise, but also to helping them learn. Walks to school can be learning experiences and opportunities to make friends. But most directly, it’s about their safety, as she told the City Council’s transportation levy committee:
A few Hamilton kids have been hit by drivers since I’ve been a nurse there. Two girls were hit by a Hamilton parent. It’s kind of a vicious circle. Parents wouldn’t be driving their kids to school if they felt the streets were safe for walking, and streets are less safe because so many parents are driving our 55,000 Seattle Public School children to school.
Safe Routes to School are also great because… (more…)
If you find the #ProntoGlam bike you should not only post an image on social media using the hashtag, but I believe you are also legally obligated to sing Christina Aguilera’s 2010 song “Glam” while riding it.
The special bike is the latest “unicorn” bike promotion, a one-of-a-kind Pronto bike among 500 identical green bikes. Though riding the special Pride-themed bike assures that you will look awesome, post a photo to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #ProntoGlam and you will also get a chance at winning a prize.
Bill Davidson has been building bike frames in Seattle since 1973, and he didn’t let little details like nobody here knowing how to do it (and, therefore, able to teach him) get in his way (Rodriguez and Erickson also started in 1973). So it should be no surprise that the closure of his longtime shop didn’t stop him, either.
As we reported previously, Davidson had to move his shop when Elliott Bay Bicycles near Pike Place Market closed its doors after 31 years. Davidson then formed a partnership with bike maker Max Kullaway of 333fab to open a new shop in Fremont. That shop has been operating for a couple months at 34th and Stone Way.
Josh Cohen caught up with Davidson recently and published a great interview with him at his blog The Bicycle Story. It’s a great look at what it was like to be on the frontier of craft bicycle making in America, based right here in Seattle.
Summer just took a bike adventure hit. King County will close a small-but-key section of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail between Duvall and Carnation.
The amazing rail trail — which mostly has a very bikeable hardpack gravel surface — will be closed from June 1 through October 31. The closure is needed so the county can repair “a damaged structure along the Snoqualmie River that protects a state highway, a fiber optic line, and a King County regional trail from river erosion,” according to a press release.
But here’s the really bad part: There will be no detour. The section of the Carnation Duvall Road that runs next to the trail is busy and has little-to-no shoulder, so you will likely want to look for a longer (and likely hillier) route. If you’re walking or on a horse (this is a popular equestrian trail), well, I don’t know what to tell you. Neither does Biking Bis, who knows the area much better than I do:
Avoiding the blockage in this case would require use of State Route 203 for approximately 3.3 miles, an inadvisable route because of truck traffic and lack of adequate road shoulders for walking or bicycling.
Bike Month is almost over! Well, actually, Bike Month never ends in Seattle. But if it’s an excuse to drink bike-loving beer, then I’m bike-loving there!
Peddler Brewing in Ballard will host two days of bike party, kicking off with a happy hour Friday and an all-day Pedal Heroes party Saturday. You can also dress up like a super hero for a costume bike ride Saturday afternoon. This sounds like a job for Sprocket Man!
