Seattle Bike Blog

The Bikery is seeking board members

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 11, 2022

The volunteer-run bike access and repair-teaching organization The Bikery is seeking new board members to serve in 2022-24.

In addition to hosting open shop hours Saturday–Sunday from 12–6 to help anyone keep their ride rolling regardless of income, The Bikery also offers classes and hosts social rides (like Saturday’s Let’s Get Gay ride for LGBTQ folks). It’s the kind of organization where you can bring your energy and make things happen.

More details from the Bikery:

The Bikery’s Board of Trustees are looking to fill three positions for the 2022 to 2024 two year term. The application for the Board is now live!

Please help us spread the word far and wide. You may also consider applying, yourself! The deadline to apply is Sunday Feb. 13, 2022.

Learn more about the board position responsibilities and qualifications here and please feel free to direct any questions to [email protected].

tags: bikery

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Test riding Seattle’s new bike lanes to Lower Queen Anne/Uptown

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 8, 2022

There’s finally a bike lane from downtown to the Lower Queen Anne/Uptown business district. Over the weekend, crews constructed a two-way bike lane on Broad Street between the existing bike lane on 2nd Avenue to 1st Avenue, then on 1st from Broad to Denny Way. Though just a few blocks long, the new lanes make a difficult connection from the downtown bike network to the recently-completed bike lanes on 1st, Thomas Street and Queen Anne Avenue. This is an improvement for people biking northbound, and a brand new option for people heading southbound.

Map from SDOT.

As noted in our preview post last week, the new bike lane is a two-way bikeway that requires a pair of somewhat awkward turns at 2nd and Broad and at Broad and 1st. The whole thing feels a bit squeezed in, but it works OK. It certainly beats the way things used to be. Previously, people biking northbound needed to mix with car traffic on 1st, then cross the terrifying angled intersection with Denny into a skinny paint-only bike lane in the parked car door zone. But at least people headed northbound had an option. There was effectively no direct bike route for anyone headed southbound from Uptown to Belltown. The best option was to head several blocks and an extra hill climb out of the way to Seattle Center. (more…)

tags: 1st ave, 2nd ave, belltown, broad st, lower queen anne, uptown

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SDOT starts work on bike connection from Belltown to Lower Queen Anne/Uptown

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 4, 2022

Map from SDOT.

There’s a good chance you missed the news about this one because, well, let’s just look at the timestamp … oh no.

As part of the Climate Pledge Arena transportation plan, SDOT closed a short section of the 2nd Ave bike lane to create an additional lane for cars leaving the arena parking garage. Because nothing says “climate pledge” like turning a bike lane into a car lane. People started mounting a campaign to reverse this decision in early 2020, but you all know what happened next. Amid lockdowns and everything else in 2020, everyone had more pressing matters to attend to and the half-block of bike lane removal just south of Denny Way went through. Now the bike lane is routed up onto the sidewalk. No additional sidewalk space was created. It’s not great.

But OK, that’s all behind us. The city is beginning work this weekend on what they hope will be the primary bike route for people traveling between Belltown and Lower Queen Anne/Uptown. It does require a zig-zag, but it should be a big improvement for people accessing the business district rather than Seattle Center. This post does include feedback on the design, but we criticize out of love and because we care so much about this work. It is great that the city is building a connected bike route here, and this project required several blocks of on-street parking removal, which is rarely politically easy to do. Bike advocates have a habit of focusing on what needs to be improved rather than what has been accomplished, and that’s because the shortcomings are very important. But our city has never had a connected bike route to the Lower Queen Anne/Uptown business district before. This is a big deal. (more…)

tags: 1st ave, 2nd ave, belltown, broad st, climate pledge arena, lower queen anne, sdot, seattle center, uptown

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KUOW: Larger vehicles on wide roads are at the center of Seattle’s rising traffic death toll

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

February 1, 2022

See more charts and listen to the radio program on KUOW.

Traffic deaths, especially for people walking, are rising in communities all across the United States, and Seattle is no exception. We have known this increase in deaths is happening, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic changed traffic patterns. But why?

There likely is no single answer to that question because the traffic system in a city is a complex social space. But KUOW recently published an analysis of traffic collision data that points to a few clear factors. Local, state and federal agencies all have major roles to play in making our streets safer, and the responsibility for addressing the problem extends beyond just the transportation agencies.

“Seattle’s homeless, elderly, impoverished and non-white, especially Black, communities continue to bear the brunt of this devastation,” said KUOW reporter Gracie Todd. “And I’ll note that around 20% of pedestrians who die do not have housing.” Addressing traffic deaths relies on addressing inequality and vastly improving human services and housing affordability. These are all huge issues that are intertwined and span nearly every government agency.

One promising bit of news is that the the traffic collision rate for pedestrians has significantly decreased in Seattle. But counterintuitively the traffic fatality rate for pedestrians has increased. Seattle has been successful at preventing more collisions, but those efforts are undermined by other factors that are making the collisions that do occur more deadly.

Todd’s report highlights two big clues about what is leading to the increase in deaths: How wide and fast the road is and how big the vehicle is.

Wide streets are deadly

(more…)

tags: gracie todd, kuow, vision zero

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After 9 years as a cornerstone of the Seattle bike scene, Peddler Brewing will close March 5

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 26, 2022

Peddler Brewing is closing in march, nine years after opening its bike-loving doors on Leary Way just west of the Ballard Bridge. Owners Haley and Dave made their bike-friendly intentions very clear from the start by dedicating a front corner of the taproom to indoor bike parking.

With the space mostly constructed, they ran a Kickstarter to fund some finishing touches and to build some hype for their opening (it was 2012-13, after all, and Kickstarter was a pretty big deal back then). One of the donation level prizes was a small plaque on their indoor bike repair stand. Seattle Bike Blog eagerly paid for one.

I found this video in an old Bike Blog post, and it’s pretty fun to watch now knowing how much the place grew and changed over the past nine years: (more…)

tags: ballard, haley keller, peddler brewing company

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Alert 1/21-24: Montlake Bridge is fully closed this weekend for maintenance

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 21, 2022
The Montlake Bridge will be closed for maintenance this weekend starting 10 p.m. Friday (today) and ending 5 a.m. Monday. The closure includes the sidewalks as well as the roadway.

There will be a shuttle to take people on foot or bike around the closure, but you’re probably best off rerouting to the University Bridge if possible.

As we wrote when the University Bridge was closed in November, the detour options between the Montlake and University Bridges on the south side of the Ship Canal are not great. It’s best to plan your reroute early rather than riding all the way to the closed bridge, then detouring. Perhaps this is a good excuse to ride Interlaken Boulevard.

Details from WSDOT:
The SR 513 Montlake Bridge will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 24. The bridge sidewalks will also be closed.
- Shuttles will be available to transport pedestrians and bicyclists from one side of the bridge to the other using a detour route. The shuttle stop on the north end is near the bus stop on eastbound Northeast Pacific Street just west of Montlake Boulevard. The stop on the southern end is on southbound Montlake Boulevard just south of Shelby Street. Shuttles will run from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily on Saturday and Sunday. The sidewalks will be open outside of those hours.
tags: Bike Route Alert, montlake bridge, wsdot

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