I ride a bike around Seattle all the time, but can I fly a seaplane? Let’s find out!
Join me for an air tour of Seattle from behind the yoke of a seaplane in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Do I know what I’m doing? Will we survive the journey? Will we have fun? At least one answer is yes.
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Nearly all of the funding for walking, biking and transit projects in the state Democrats’ Move Ahead Washington funding package has made it through to the latest version of the bill. The House and Senate both voted Thursday to approve the updated package shortly before the end of the 2022 state legislative session.
The package was significantly reworked in the final weeks of the short session after Democrats decided to abandon a fuel exports tax amid outcry from neighboring states that rely on oil from Washington refineries. However, because that revenue source was mostly for highway spending, the walking, biking and transit investments were largely spared from cuts. The reworked package now includes more funding the state operating and public works budgets.
Democrats control the House, Senate and Governor’s Office, and this package would be the party’s first major transportation funding measure since controlling all three. Republicans largely opposed the bill. Versions of the package previously passed the Senate and the House, but the reworked version needed another set of votes before it could head to Governor Inslee’s desk.
Comparing the “pedestrian and bike safety” project list from March 9 to the previously-approved February 14 list, no projects were cut. Two projects received budget boosts (the Usk Bridge shared-use path over the Pend Oreille River and the Bradley Road Safe Routes project in Lyden), but the $10 million “contingency” budget has been removed. So the total allocated to the list decreased by $3.5 million, but the total specifically earmarked for projects increased $6.5 million. Compared to the initial proposal from the start of the session, the list has increased by $20 million. (more…)
Complete with colorful digital filters and titles that fly in and spin, this Seattle Engineering Department promotional video is a wonderful time capsule of early 1990s Seattle bicycle policy. The video is mostly aimed at agencies from other cities looking to emulate Seattle’s relatively successful Bicycle Program. In the process, it presents the state of bicycling in the best possible light. You can find the original video on the Seattle Municipal Archives website.
I had seen clips from this before, but I thought it would be fun to watch it all the way through on camera, pausing it to comment along the way. I’ve been enjoying experimenting with different formats for videos over at the Seattle Bike Blog YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe both so you can keep track of new videos as they drop and to help the channel grow. We still need about 600 more subscribers to be eligible for monetization, so each subscription helps. I am also eager to hear your feedback and get your ideas for future videos. Let us know in the comments below.
This spike in gas prices will probably cost car-dependent folks more than any transit-funding or bike lane-building measure we’ve ever approved. But we won’t be left with anything to show for it. A bike network or expanded transit is an investment in community. Gas only burns.
Our reliance on gas is an enormous vulnerability in our society. We have almost no resilience against price increases. People barely scraping by are going to hurt the most. Many low-income folks live in places far away from jobs with no or poor transit service.
Biking can be a source of relief for many people, and I suspect we will see an increase in bicycling like we did during previous gas price spikes. If you can be a resource to help folks in your community get biking, do it. But moments like these make our region’s inequitable bike infrastructure so much more stark. Many communities hit hardest by gas prices are lacking safe and direct bike lanes and paths. Even communities that do have some paths are often too far from jobs to make biking widely feasible. Suburban sprawl severely inhibits biking and walking as transportation modes. A 15-mile (per direction) ride is possible for some, but not the masses.
Biking is best at getting around within a community, and transit is best at connecting communities to each other. So biking to transit is a viable option for many places. But those places need both quality transit and quality local bike facilities for this to truly work. Our region has made many improvements to biking and transit in recent years, so that’s the good news. A lot of people looking for alternatives will find them, which is great. But others will be left behind.
Investing in biking and transit is not an attack on people who drive. A bike or bus lane does not take away from car drivers. They are investments in resiliency and community strength.
Work to build Mercer Island Station and redesign the bus connections there will displace a section of the I-90 Trail starting March 7, Sound Transit announced. Though the work area may change as work progresses, expect some kind of trail detour for about a year.
The closed section runs along the north side of N Mercer Way between 76th Ave SE and 80th Ave SE. This section is the most direct bike route option for people crossing the island. Crews will also close one of the lanes on N Mercer Way, taking it down to one lane in each direction.
The good news is that there is already a trail connection that bypasses the closed section. In fact, maps often label this alternative trail “I-90 Trail” even though the Mercer Way route is used much more. It is a bit longer, but it is more pleasant. People who don’t want to detour can ride in mixed traffic on N Mercer Way, though there will not be a temporary bike path on the roadway.
The detour route sends riders south across the freeway in the trail along the east side of 76th Ave SE. That trail curves and heads east through a small freeway-adjacent park before reaching 77th Ave SE. The official route turns north on 77th to cross back over the freeway before sending riders east for a block on the sidewalk along the south side of Mercer Way. This sidewalk is not very wide, especially for two-way walking and biking travel.
Another option would be to start the detour all way back near the ball fields in Aubrey Davis Park by taking the south fork in the path rather than the more common north fork. This path stays south of I-90 and crosses 76th to connect to the detour route’s path. Then continue on the trail until reaching the existing trail connection on 80th, which connects back to Mercer Way and the rest of the I-90 Trail near the park and ride. Below is a map of the general idea:
An enormous amount of water has fallen on our region, leading to flooding and landslides. So if you are planning a bike ride on a route near a river, be sure to check in with the King County Roads and Parks alert websites.
The worst flooding as of press time is along the Snoqualmie River. It is best to stay away, as there are road and trail closures at various points between Duvall and North Bend. This is not the day to ride the Snoqualmie Valley Trail if you can avoid it.
