![Excerpt from the design concept maps showing new floating bus stop and protected bike lanes.](https://www.seattlebikeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eastlake-zoom-1-575x265.jpg)
The Eastlake bike lane plans are still moving forward with the RapidRide J bus improvements project, but bike advocates in town are not taking their eye off the project until those bike lanes are on the ground.
City Councilmember and Transportation Committee Chair Alex Pedersen (D4) made comments during an Eastlake Community Council meeting that spooked the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board enough that they penned a letter (PDF) this week strongly supporting the project and the planned bike lanes.
“SBAB requests that SDOT, council, and the Harrell Administration complete the RapidRide J project as shown over the last several years including the fully protected bike lane,” the Board wrote in the letter addressed to Mayor Bruce Harrell, the Seattle City Council and SDOT. “We, along with numerous individuals and organizations in the city have supported the project with the understanding that it would include protected bike lanes. To remove them at this point would be a betrayal of trust as well as counter to our city’s council adopted Bicycle Master Plan, Climate Action Plan, and Vision Zero commitments.”
The comments were actually from an April meeting about the project, but many people didn’t see them until Ryan Packer noticed a recap of the meeting in the summer edition of the Eastlake Community Council’s newsletter Eastlake News (PDF). During the meeting, Pedersen reportedly said that he wished SDOT would consider “a creative sharing of the road” and that he anticipated an uproar similar to people opposed to the 35th Ave NE bike lanes a few years ago.
“It was very disheartening to read in the summer 2022 edition of the Eastlake News that the head of the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee appears to be seeking to water down this vital project,” wrote the Bike Board. “35th Ave NE represents a failure of the city to follow through on its adopted climate and Vision Zero policies. To hear 35th Ave Northeast referenced as a template for the future trajectory of the Rapid Ride J project is incredibly disappointing, and frankly unacceptable.” (more…)