The Duwamish Trail will finally connect to the Spokane Street Bridge in May, SDOT told area stakeholders. Work will begin in early April and, weather permitting, should be be completed in just a couple weeks.
The permanent trail connection will replace the temporary barrel-lined trail constructed during the emergency Spokane Street Bridge closure in January. Though the department removed the 1st Ave S bike lanes after the bridge reopened, they kept the Duwamish Trail connection on West Marginal Way between the bridge and the Duwamish Longhouse.
The new trail will use highway-style concrete barriers similar to the barrier used along Aurora to create the Green Lake Outer Loop bike route. It’s not the prettiest style of barrier, but it is effective, can be installed quickly and is appropriate in this industrial context.
This is great news, and both Mayor Bruce Harrell and SDOT leadership deserve credit for standing behind their Vision Zero goals despite resistance from the Freight Advisory Board. SDOT analysis combined with observation from the temporary trail show only positive impacts to general traffic. Travel times were a couple seconds higher, but that’s only because the amount of speeding decreased. This is a fact that cannot be repeated enough: Bike lanes make streets safer for all users, including people inside cars and trucks. Calming traffic is itself a valuable investment, and it’s even better when transportation departments create and improve bicycle network connections at the same time.
Industry does not need streets to be dangerous in order to operate effectively, and it’s great to see SDOT and Mayor Harrell taking action here where Seattle’s previous mayor failed. I look forward to the opening celebration, which should fall within Bike Month.
SDOT’s email to stakeholders: (more…)
