Seattle Bike Blog

2nd Ave protected bike lane on schedule to meet bike share launch

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

July 11, 2014

In a city known for it’s overly-laborious process for just about any significant decision, Mayor Ed Murray has given the green light to build an ambitious protected bike lane on 2nd Ave to be in place by the time Pronto Cycle Share launches in September.

The two-way bike lane will be a relatively low-budget pilot project meant to demonstrate the potential of having a network of protected bike lanes in the city’s center. It will also be a vital piece to the success of Pronto, since the bike share system depends on trips by people who would likely not find today’s downtown bike routes inviting or comfortable.

When the bike lane launches, it will not only attempt to fix the awful existing southbound bike lane, but it will provide a brand new northbound option that has be a vital missing piece to biking downtown.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager Sam Woods briefed the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board Wednesday on the progress her team is making on the project, which is so far on schedule and getting close to full design. Outreach to 2nd Ave businesses and organizations has begun to help make sure everyone’s unique needs are met.

When the mayor announced the pilot bike lane in early May, it surprised even the most optimistic bike advocates in town. But with the Green Lane Project in town and experience from a growing number of example lanes around town and throughout the nation, Seattle has the ability to create a transformative bike lane in downtown with little time and funding in the existing Bike Master Plan budget. (more…)

tags: 2nd ave, downtown, ed murray, protected bike lanes, sam woods, sdot

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The 35th Annual Seattle to Portland bike ride leaves UW Saturday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

July 10, 2014

See full route in this PDF

The 35th Annual Seattle to Portland Classic bike ride leaves the Husky Stadium parking area Saturday morning as 10,000 people start a 202.4-mile journey to Stumptown.

The ride, which was once a time trial, has become something of a legend. People come from all over the world to participate. It’s by far Cascade’s biggest event of the year, and has been sold out for months.

Some people do the ride in one day, while others sleep in Centralia, Napavine or Castle Rock to break the ride into two days.

If you aren’t riding, you can still swing by the starting line or find a spot along the route to wave and cheer everyone on. Riders will start in waves every ten minutes or so starting around 4:45 a.m. and going until 7:30 a.m. Below is a map of the start in Seattle. You can find a more detailed map in this PDF or you can get GPS data here:

More details from Cascade: (more…)

tags: cascade bicycle club, events, seattle to portland 2014

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Best way around July I-90 work: Bike (of course)

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

July 10, 2014

Biking is already the best way to travel along I-90 to Mercer Island and Bellevue, but it’s going to be especially so during a big lane closure scheduled for July 18 – 25.

WSDOT will work to replace expansion joints on the bridge between Mercer Island and Bellevue. This likely means traffic crunches, but people biking and walking will have a way through during the work.

While crews are working on the expansion joints along the trail, people on bikes will be escorted through the construction area. But you should plan on delays up to five minutes.

This is one of the great advantages to building biking and walking space on major freeway bridges: It gives people another option for getting where they need to go during road work or other traffic backups. Perhaps WSDOT and the most affected cities should be conducting outreach to encourage people to bike during the work.

More details from WSDOT: (more…)

tags: bellevue, I-90 trail, mercer island, wsdot

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After community push, West Seattle is getting its first bike corral

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

July 9, 2014

Click to read the initial post from West Seattle Bike Connections

I received a fun email from West Seattle Bike Connections this morning. After a community push to make sure a proposed bike corral actually happens in the Junction, the group announced that the city will install an on-street bike parking corral at California and Alaska.

Good job, WSBC and everyone who helped push the city to bring bike parking to this destination-packed commercial area. Here’s the note from WSBC:

The West Seattle Junction is gaining a new amenity for our community. A “bike corral” for on-street bike parking will be coming soon to California Avenue SW at SW Alaska St in the heart of the West Seattle Junction. More customers will have convenient parking without congesting the sidewalks or taking away any car parking or loading zones.

Bikes are good for local business districts. When we travel by bike, we shop and dine locally, instead of at malls and big boxes. That is why Junction merchants and West Seattle Bike Connections have been working for this one for the past 18 months.

As Chair of the Transportation Committee, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen helped navigate the many layers of SDOT to avoid another year of delay. According to Rasmussen’s staff, SDOT shared the following with the Councilmember: (more…)

tags: bike corrals, the junction, tom rasmussen, west seattle, west seattle bike connections

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Seattle Bike Blog turns 4! A look at site growth and what lies ahead

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

July 8, 2014

Our first official post!

Seattle Bike Blog officially launched July 8, 2010. Since then, I have learned so much about bicycling, advocacy and all the wonderful things Seattle residents are doing to make streets safer and spread the bike love around this beautiful city we call home.

While reading some of my earliest posts can make me cringe (lots of “bikers” vs “drivers” talk), my introductory post is still pretty much spot on. I still consider myself a journalist who rides a bike, not an expert (and I still ride the same old bike and don’t know a whole lot about bike gear). I am still focused on reporting about bikes as transportation, and I still hope to provide a forum for discussion that can “dig deeper than the typical car vs. bike debate that takes over so many online discussions elsewhere.”

That last point could not be more true, and it’s due to all you wonderful readers who bring compassion and an open mind to the blog comments. To date there have been more than 18,000 of these comments. You might be surprised how often people, especially story subjects, will tell me they were surprised by how helpful and thoughtful the comments are on the blog. You don’t always agree, of course, but the level of respect and quality of content provides a much-needed safe online space for talking about biking in Seattle. So thank you all for being so awesome. (more…)

tags: site updates

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Regional Council recommends funds for 7th Ave bike lanes, Bellevue trail design + more

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

July 8, 2014

The Puget Sound Regional Council, which distributes federal transportation funding in the area, has recommended additional funding to build the 7th Ave protected bike lanes downtown, design a replacement Hed Ec bike/walk bridge on UW campus and to fully design two phases of the Mountains-to-Sound Trail (AKA I-90 Trail) in Bellevue.

The funds will help the council meet project delivery goals for 2014, and will help projects close remaining funding gaps. As we reported in December, the projects did not make it on the funding list initially, but were on the contingency list.

UW’s aging Hec Ed Bridge over Montlake Ave will receive $1.47 million. Replacing the bridge and redoing the uncomfortable trail crossing is a key and pricey piece of the UW’s Burke-Gilman Trail remake plans. So getting this funding could help the UW move forward with their ambitious trail plans, especially if the university wins the TIGER grant they are trying to get. Here are more details from the UW plan: (more…)

tags: 7th Ave, bellevue, burke-gilman trail, hec ed bridge, psrc, uw

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