Seattle Bike Blog

Person killed while biking in SoDo just a block from site of January death

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 12, 2022

A person driving a Jeep struck and killed someone biking in SoDo Wednesday morning, according to Seattle Police.

The driver of the Jeep was trying to exit a parking lot onto 4th Avenue near Holgate Street, and told police they were looking south for a break in traffic so they could turn north onto 4th. The person biking was headed southbound on the sidewalk. “The driver collided with the cyclist while turning on to 4th Avenue,” police said.

We send our condolences to their friends and family.

The collision was just a block away from the site of another fatal collision in early January. A person driving westbound on S Holgate Street collided with and killed Antionio Tiongco as he biked across Holgate at 3rd Avenue S. Both cases unfortunately highlight the lack of safe biking and walking routes in SoDo, which has very wide roads with few quality street crossings and no complete and connected bike infrastructure. As Ryan Packer reported earlier this month,”Almost exactly two years before the [January] 2022 incident, on January 7, 2020, Douglas Mayhew was walking across Holgate at 8th Ave S, where there is no marked crosswalk, when he was struck by the driver of a vehicle. He later died of his injuries. On October 2nd of that year, another pedestrian was struck and killed at 1st and Holgate. SoDo’s wide streets and unforgiving intersections are not designed with the safety of people outside vehicles in mind.”

Councilmember Tammy Morales wrote on Twitter,” There are 4000+ miles of road in the city and less than 1 percent of it is protected bike lane infrastructure. These fatalities are unacceptable because they’re avoidable. My heart goes out to the victim’s family. I hope people will join in advocating for safer streets for all.”

Though it is not yet clear if it is related, the collision occurred around the time that the lower West Seattle Bridge was closed unexpectedly for an extended period of time. Anyone biking between West Seattle and downtown would have needed to detour to the 1st Avenue Bridge by biking through SoDo. Whether this person was detouring or not, the bridge closure highlighted yet another reason why safe routes through SoDo are needed. SDOT is set to begin the design process on a Georgetown to downtown protected bike lane this year. If all goes according to the current schedule, the lane should be open by the end of 2024.

More details from SPD:

SPD detectives are investigating after a driver in a Jeep fatally struck a cyclist Wednesday morning in a collision on 4^th Avenue.

Around 10:30 AM, the driver of the Jeep was turning out of a parking lot along 4th Avenue South and Holgate Street, preparing to turn north. The driver stopped to wait for vehicle traffic and was looking south when a cyclist approached on the sidewalk from the north. The driver collided with the cyclist while turning on to 4^thAvenue.

Seattle Fire personnel were in the area and immediately responded to render aid. The cyclist later died from their injuries.

The driver remained at the scene and was interviewed by police. He showed no signs of impairment. Traffic Collision detectives continue to investigate the incident.

tags: 4th ave s, deaths, holgate, sodo, spd, tammy morales

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Bicycle Sundays are now called ‘Bicycle Weekends’ + City begins ‘visioning process’ for Lake Washington Blvd’s future

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 11, 2022
Map of the car-free section.

54 years after the first Bicycle Sunday on Lake Washington Boulevard, the car-free event has long solidified as a beloved tradition. As was the case in 2021, SDOT and Seattle Parks will expand Bicycle Sundays into what they are now calling “Bicycle Weekends,” a series of car-free weekends during the summer. The first 2022 Bicycle Weekend is May 20–23. Here’s the 2022 schedule:
- May 20–23; 27–31
- June 10–13; 24–27
- July 1–5; 15–18
- August 12–15; 19–22
- September 2–6; 16–19
After a half century, public support has grown for making a permanent car-free space on the scenic and historic lakeside roadway. A 2021 online survey found overwhelming support for a permanently-car-free Lake Washington Boulevard. Though online surveys are a limited tool for collecting public sentiments, this one received 6,701 responses, 2,244 of which were from people living in the local 98118 zip code. That’s a lot of responses. Below are the results: (more…)
tags: bicycle sunday, bicycle weekends, lake washington blvd, parks and recreation, sdot

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Tuesday: Tell SDOT we need a continuous waterfront bikeway

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 9, 2022

When complete, the waterfront bikeway may become a Seattle icon.

Seattle’s downtown waterfront has been under construction for so long, it’s sometimes easy to forget that when the dust finally settles there will be a complete waterfront bikeway for the first time in Seattle history. Upon opening, this bikeway will surely become an icon of the city, the setting for countless photos showcasing our beautiful city. In 2024, it should be possible to bike from Pioneer Square to the Burke-Gilman Trail entirely along flat, separated bike lanes and trails. By 2025, this continuous connection will extend all the way to Alki and South Park.

This is the most important bike route under construction in Seattle, and we must do it right. But the high-budget Waterfront Seattle project ends north of Pike Place Market, leaving a nine-block gap between the flashy new bikeway and the existing Elliott Bay Trail in Myrtle Edwards Park.

The northern end of the Waterfront Seattle project shows how the bikeway (blue lines) will continue along the west (waterfront) side of Alaskan Way until Virginia Street.

SDOT is currently designing a redesign of Alaskan Way through Belltown that will include a bike connection, but the current design concept bafflingly switches sides of the street twice within a span of six blocks. They are hosting an online open house about the project 4:30 p.m. Tuesday on MS Teams, which is a great opportunity to comment. Seattle Neighborhood Greenways also has a handy online form you can use to send a letter to elected officials.

Here’s the current SDOT design:

(more…)

tags: alaskan way, elliott bay trail, sdot, seattle neighborhood greenways

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Interurban Trail near Lynnwood Transit Center reopens

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 5, 2022

Map of the former closure.

The section of the Interurban North Trail near Lynnwood Transit Center is now open again following ten months of construction closure. This significantly shortens the ride through the area while also removing some awkward detour routing along the sidewalk.

Sound Transit completed its light rail and parking garage construction work on schedule to get the trail open for Bike Month. A section of the short Scriber Creek Trail will remain until the fall.

The reopened trail is actually a temporary asphalt path. Some sections will have wide paths for each direction while one shorter section will be a 10-foot, two-way path.

More details from Sound Transit:

After being closed for nearly ten months, the portion of the Interurban Trail between 52nd Ave. W and 44th Ave. W near the Lynnwood Transit Center will reopen on Sunday, May 1. The section of the trail was closed to allow construction crews to work on the future Lynnwood City Center light rail station, as well as the new parking garage.

Users will now have access to a temporary trail connection through this area while construction continues. The temporary trail connection will be paved with asphalt and include a two-way separated section with ten-foot wide lanes, as well as approximately 300 feet of 10-foot wide non-separated trail.

The Scriber Creek Trail connecting Scriber Creek Park to the Interurban Trail remains closed as construction at the future light rail station site continues. This trail connection is anticipated to open in fall 2022. Users should continue to use the detour route to connect to the Interurban Trail at 52nd Ave W and 44th Ave W. People should follow all detour signage and stay within marked trail detours.

The station at the Lynnwood Transit Center will serve one of the busiest transit centers in the region. A new garage will contain approximately 1,665 parking stalls in a five-story structure. Along with adjacent surface lots containing 226 stalls, the Lynnwood City Center Station will have nearly 1,900 parking stalls, approximately 500 more stalls than are on the current transit center site.

Sound Transit is simultaneously working to extend light rail north, south, east and west. After Lynnwood opens, passengers from the Lynnwood Transit Center will enjoy 20-minute rides to the University of Washington, 27-minute rides to downtown Seattle and 60-minute rides to Sea-Tac Airport. Trains from Lynnwood will also serve the Eastside and reach downtown Bellevue in 51 minutes.

tags: interurban north, lynnwood transit center, sound transit

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Everyday Rides relaunches its Seattle bike fun calendar + Meetup tonight

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 4, 2022

Bike events are roaring back to life in Seattle at a level not seen since 2019. Cascade Bicycle Club’s Bike Month calendar is packed, as is the Seattle Bike Blog Events Calendar. But that’s not all. After a two-year hiatus, Everyday Rides is relaunching its local bike fun calendar, and is hosting a relaunch meetup 6 p.m. tonight (5/4) at Good Weather Bicycle & Cafe on Capitol Hill.

“The pandemic threw everything for a loop, but the social cycling scene in Seattle is 🔥 right now and I’m super stoked for Summer,” wrote Everyday Rides creator Zach Hale in an email announcing the relaunch effort. “Come support Good Weather, have a drink, and chat about ideas for rides and events y’all would like to do this year. I’ll bring my bag of maps for folks to use and be available to help with ride planning and ideas for anyone looking for help making their ride dreams come true. Let’s fill the calendar this summer!”

Everyday Rides is not just a calendar, it’s also a tool to collect RSVPs and organize a ride group. A newly-added groups feature allows people to create and join private groups, which can post public events as well as events only visible to other members of the group. It can also host group conversations, so it can be a way to organize events and stay in touch. With more and more people ditching Facebook, Everyday Rides could be a more widely accessible home for your bike event listings.

tags: everyday rides

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Person killed while biking in SoDo was 1 of 21 King County residents who died in January while presumed homeless

By

Ryan Packer

| Posted

May 3, 2022

S Holgate Street at 3rd Ave S has a single stop sign facing 3rd Ave but no traffic control for users on Holgate. (Google maps)

Four days into 2022, someone riding a bike in SoDo, at the intersection of S Holgate Street and 3rd Ave S, was struck by someone driving a Hyundai Accent. Receiving substantial injuries in the crash, including a badly injured leg. The cyclist, Antonio Tiongco, was recorded as having his address registered at a social service agency in Belltown, and was presumed by the King County Medical Examiner’s office to be homeless.

Tiongco’s death was not noted by any major news outlets in Seattle, being one of at least twenty-one people presumed homeless who died in King County in just that month alone. So far in 2022, that number has reached 64, according to the medical examiner’s online dashboard. 188 people presumed homeless died in 2021, an increase from 167 in 2019. “Accident” is the leading cause of death, making up 62% of 2021 deaths and 72% of 2022 deaths.

The recently obtained police report details how the crash occurred, on a rainy January evening just before 5pm, nearly a half hour after sunset. The driver of the Hyundai was in the left lane of westbound Holgate heading toward the railroad tracks that cross Holgate just west of 3rd. Tiongco was attempting to cross Holgate at the same time. Traffic on 3rd has a stop sign, but there is no stop sign on Holgate at the intersection. Since October 1, 2020 people riding bikes can treat stop signs as yield signs in Washington State; there is no way to know whether Tiongco didn’t see the approaching vehicle coming or misjudged the distance on a rainy night. “Based upon my review of patrols investigation and interview of [the] driver…the proximate cause of this collision was Tiongco’s failure to obey the traffic control device (stop sign) and the grant the right of way to the 2014 Hyundai Accent,” the final report on the collision investigation states. Tiongco survived for ten days, passing away from his injuries on January 14th, 2022.

This diagram from the traffic collision investigation details how police reconstructed the crash. (Source: Seattle Police Department)

SODO is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Seattle for people to walk or bike in. In 2017, Celso Diaz was killed at 1st Ave S and S Andover Street where he worked. Diaz had been formerly homeless but had secured a place of his own to live when he was struck and killed by someone going twice the speed limit, who fled the scene.

Almost exactly two years before the 2022 incident, on January 7, 2020, Douglas Mayhew was walking across Holgate at 8th Ave S, where there is no marked crosswalk, when he was struck by the driver of a vehicle. He later died of his injuries. On October 2nd of that year, another pedestrian was struck and killed at 1st and Holgate. SoDo’s wide streets and unforgiving intersections are not designed with the safety of people outside vehicles in mind.

Our condolences go out to the family members and friends of Antonio Tiongco.

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