Seattle Bike Blog

We need a safer Rainier Ave now. Meetings Thursday and Tuesday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 25, 2015

Collisions on Rainier Ave in the study area in recent three years. The whole length is dangerous. Image from SDOT

Rainier Ave is Seattle’s most dangerous neighborhood street. There’s a collision every day. Somebody is injured in a traffic collision every two days. And it has been this way for a long time.

The injury rate is so high in part because the speeding rate is so high. In fact, more than half of all people driving on Rainer speed, according to a city study. As many as 1,800 people drive more than 10 mph over the speed limit every day. This is not a problem with a few bad apples. Rather, the road design encourages speeding by having too many lanes that are too wide.

The faster a person drives, the more likely they are to be in a collision and the more seriously they will injure someone. If the typical driving speed were 30 mph (the current speed limit) rather than 38 mph (the measured 85th percentile speed on some sections of Rainer), far fewer people would be injured.

But now the city is looking to finally make a serious change to address the dangerous design of the street between Letitia and Seward Park Ave. These four miles pass through the Columbia City, Hillman City, Othello, Brighton, Seward Park and Rainier Beach neighborhoods. You have two opportunities to meet with the city and other community members and discuss the changes in the next week: Tomorrow (Thursday), 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Columbia School and Tuesday 6 to 8p.m. at the Ethiopian Community Center.

Collisions occur along the entire length of the street, pointing to a core design problem. Small changes just in commercial centers always help, but they will not be enough to calm the damage this street causes to the neighborhoods it passes through. (more…)

tags: brighton, columbia city, hillman city, othello, rainier ave, rainier beach, rainier valley, road safety corridor, sdot

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69 percent of downtown workers don’t drive alone

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 25, 2015

From Commute Seattle

The most recent Downtown Seattle Association/Commute Seattle survey (PDF) of downtown commute habits shows that 69 percent of workers do not drive alone to their jobs.

Transit is by far the preferred way to get to downtown jobs, though walking, biking and telecommuting are also growing. Though the number of jobs downtown has been rising fast, the number of people driving alone to work has remained flat. People are getting to those new jobs using other means of transportation.

“As transit service continues to improve with Proposition 1 adding Metro service within Seattle, new Link light rail extensions on the way, and improved bicycle infrastructure, we expect these positive trends to continue,” Commute Seattle said in a press release.

There is one easy way to continue this trend: Connect neighborhood bike routes to and through downtown. Since 2010, bike commute rates are also fairly stagnant even as the number of people biking in other parts of the city increase dramatically. The Fremont Bridge bike counter has been measuring consistent increases in bike trips averaging 8.5 percent year-over-year. Yet these new bike trips are not making it all the way downtown, according to the survey. UPDATE: I learned that the mode split survey was taken in the final week of October 2014, which was exceptionally rainy. So weather likely played a role in the small apparent decrease in bicycle mode split.
(more…)

tags: commute seattle, downtown, downtown seattle association

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Pronto’s helmet solution just might work, but can it keep up with growth?

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 24, 2015

Photo from Pronto

We’ve discussed the challenges of launching a bike share system in a city with a rare all-ages helmet law previously. In fact, we’ve done so at length several times.

But while some other municipalities with helmet laws balk — Vancouver’s planned system has been delayed yet again, and B.C.’s helmet law was cited as a reason — or repeal the adult portion of their helmet laws, Pronto Cycle Share made the call to go ahead with the launch despite the helmet law.

In fact, Pronto even forged ahead despite issues from the maker of their planned helmet vending machines. A much more high tech helmet solution was planned for each station, but Pronto instead launched in October with simple unlocked bins of cleaned and inspected helmets.

At first, helmet thefts were fairly high. But four months in, the theft rate has dropped to around three or four percent. “That’s sustainable,” Pronto Executive Director Holly Houser told PeopleForBikes: (more…)

tags: capitol hill seattle, helmet laws, holly houser, pronto emerald city cycle share

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First look: South Park’s new connection to the Duwamish Trail

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 23, 2015

The city has completed a new connection between the South Park neighborhood and the Duwamish Trail.

Officially, it is a multi-use trail because it is open to both walking and biking. But it certainly feels like the city’s newest and southernmost modern bikeway. Fully separated from S Portland Street’s truck traffic, the trail provides a family-friendly connection for South Park residents to all the parks and destinations along the Duwamish Trail as well as the regional bike routes it leads to.

But perhaps most importantly, the new connection provides a starting point for more safe connections to and within the South Park neighborhood. Here’s what the Bike Master Plan suggests (red = trail, blue = protected bike lane, green = neighborhood greenway, orange = painted bike lane): (more…)

tags: duwamish trail, south park, south park bridge

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What can bike advocates learn from the Youth Bike Summit?

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 23, 2015

Thanks to a lot of hard work by the folks from Bike Works, Seattle hosted the Youth Bike Summit this month. An annual gathering of youth-focused bike organizers, the fifth summit was the first one outside of New York.

I had planned to have lots of live coverage, but I woke up the summit morning terribly sick. Huge bummer. It sounded like an amazing and inspiring time.

But lucky for all of us, Bike Works recorded the excellent lineup of keynotes, including both not-youths (no offense) like Mayor Ed Murray (19:38) and jump-out-of-your-seat awesome young leaders like Brook Negussie of Cascade Bicycle Club’s Major Taylor Project (1:29:19) and Kahlil Brewer of Bike Works (lead-in video about Bike Works starts at 1:35:26). Or you can watch the whole thing here:

(more…)

tags: bike works, brook negussie, ed murray, kahlil brewer, oboi reed, youth bike summit, youth bike summit 2015

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Cascade announces new south end fundraiser ride for Major Taylor Project

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 20, 2015

Cascade has announced a brand new ride, and it sounds a lot different than their standard events. The Ride for Major Taylor starts in West Seattle and heads down through White Center, SeaTac and Burien, neighborhoods where the club’s Major Taylor Project is most active.

“We see this event as an opportunity for people to get in touch with a part of Seattle they might not otherwise see,” said Ed Ewing, Cascade’s Director of Diversity & Inclusion in a press release (posted below). “To discover the richness and diversities of these communities while supporting the community building and youth-empowering work that the Major Taylor Project is doing in these communities.”

The ride costs $30 to register, and there are youth rates for people under 18. But on top of registration, riders can also donate to help fund the Major Taylor Project. The various donation levels and rewards are outlined in the press release below.

From Cascade: (more…)

tags: cascade bicycle club, events, major taylor project, ride for major taylor

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