This bridge’s days are numbered. Photo from the Port of Seattle.
The Port of Seattle plans to remove a couple problem spots for trail users traveling through the Terminal 91 rail yard in Interbay, work the Port Commissioners could approve during their September 12 meeting. The highlight improvement is removal of a rusting and skinny fenced-in bridge with a couple sharp turns and fairly steep approaches that don’t meet modern accessibility standards. The port will also widen a very skinny pinch point where the trail squeezes down to just a couple feet in width, too skinny for two-way travel.
The Terminal 91 Trail is often referred to as the Elliott Bay Trail or the Interbay Trail and is owned and operated by the Port of Seattle. It opened in 1987, offering people a much-needed alternative to biking on busy 15th Ave W. The Port initiated, designed and funded the trail.
I had the privilege of sitting down with KUOW’s Libby Denkmann this week to talk about some of Seattle bicycle history I wrote about in the first part of Biking Uphill in the Rain.
The Eastlake Community Council last week voted 5-4 to kick those four members off the Board after they voiced support for a fully designed and funded bike lane and transit project ready to begin construction on Eastlake Avenue.
The act has sparked outrage and called into question the legitimacy of the organization, which has existed since 1971. Those removed include the only three renters on the Board as well as the three youngest members. Removing these volunteers for voicing a dissenting opinion is an extreme act that abandons the Council’s standing and legacy as a democratic voice of the neighborhood.
ECC President Detra Segar told the Urbanist that the members were ousted because they “had decided to undermine our efforts by sending a letter to some city leaders voicing their opposition.” The ECC Board recently voted, again by a narrow margin, to send a poorly-written letter to city and regional leaders voicing opposition to the RapidRide J project, which is preparing to search for a contractor to begin construction. The four ousted members decided to send their own letter of dissent to city leaders in which they identified themselves as “members of the Eastlake Community Council Board of Directors who disagree with the letter that was sent to you.” They note that the official ECC letter was approved by a 6-4 vote and was “in no way unanimous.” The dissenting letter is entirely factual and does not misrepresent the writers as acting on behalf of the Council, acknowledging clearly in the opening paragraph that the other letter received the majority vote. The official letter, in contrast, does not note the vote count or acknowledge that there was any dissent among the board members. You can read both letters in full at the bottom of this story.
Segar, meanwhile, has a history of making unhinged negative statements about people who ride bikes. As Ryan Packer reported for the Urbanist, Segar penned a 2022 letter then-new SDOT Director Greg Spotts in which she wrote, “The Move Seattle vision seems to only see able-bodied peak hour commuters pedaling along arterials pretending to be the equals of buses and cars.” It seems she feels that people biking don’t belong on her streets, and people who support bike lanes don’t belong on her Council. Unfortunately for Segar, the streets belong to everyone. Likewise, the Eastlake Community Council is supposed to belong to the whole neighborhood, which includes a lot of people who ride bikes.
The author in the act of biking uphill in the rain.
It’s finally out. Preorders should arrive in the mail any day now, and you will start to see it in bookshops around town. Or you can order it online from UW Press.
Last night was surreal. Thank you to everyone who packed the reading room at Elliott Bay Book Company. It was a huge relief to finally get to tell you all some of these stories that have been stuck inside my head and my computer since I started writing this thing in 2019.
So whether you preordered a copy or are planning to buy one at the event, you should come to the event. The presentation will be full of great images that didn’t make it into the book, and I’m hoping it will help add some extra insight to inform your reading of it. There will also be a Q&A, and I’ll happily add my terrible signature to your copy.
A group of philanthropists will fully fund a $45 million set of upgrades to the downtown waterfront north of Pier 62, where the existing under-construction Waterfront Park project ends. The Elliott Bay Connections project includes cove and park improvements in Centennial and Myrtle Edwards Parks as well as a new walking and biking trail along the defunct Benson Streetcar rails.
The new trail will exist alongside the city’s planned protected bike lanes on the waterfront side of Alaskan Way, which is part of a larger street safety project for the relatively low-traffic street. The usability of the planned trail will rely heavily on whether Alaskan Way feels safe to cross.
The group hopes to begin construction in early 2025 so that it can be complete before Seattle hosts the 2026 World Cup in June. Expect a lot of community engagement this fall and winter.
The press release (PDF) claims the project “will be undertaken at zero cost to taxpayers”:
