Seattle Bike Blog

Sunday: Celebrate the new Union Street bike lanes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 11, 2021
The Union Street bike lanes being used to haul freight up the hill. Riders, led by Joseph Roberts, on a Pedaling Relief Project food rescue mission, delivering donations from PCC to the Byrd Barr Place food bank. We hauled 675 pounds of food that day.

East Union Street now has protected bike lanes from 14th to 26th Avenues, providing a lower-stress way to climb the unavoidable ridge that peaks around 18th and 17th Avenues through the Central District.

Before the new lanes were installed, skinny paint-only bike lanes appeared and disappeared seemingly at random along the route. Now they are consistent, traveling between the sidewalk and parked cars. The bike lanes also calm traffic, which can get going pretty fast down the steep hill. People driving used to swerve into painted bike lanes to pass turning cars (and cars stopped to let people cross the street). The new design makes crossing the street significantly more comfortable.

The bike lanes are well-used heading up the hill. Downhill use is a bit more mixed, which makes sense. People who already bike in the area are used to bombing down Union’s steep hill. The new bike lane requires users to brake and go a little slower. I don’t see this as a problem, though. People have choices now. If you like bombing the hill, take the lane like before. But if you’d rather take your time, then use the bike lane. It’s great to have different options for different people.

From SDOT.

Thanks to people who pushed back on the original design, the bike lanes continue through the intersection with 23rd Avenue. This provides a comfortable bike connection for people traveling from east of 23rd, but it also provides a connection to the many destinations at the intersection itself.

To celebrate the new bike lanes, Central Seattle Greenways is inviting everyone for a Sunday ride. Meet 10:30 a.m. at the little park at 15th and Spring. Details from Central Seattle Greenways: (more…)
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tags: central seattle greenways, joseph roberts, sdot, union street

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N 34th Street bike lanes fix some of the challenges near the Fremont Bridge

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 9, 2021
The latest upgrade to the bike connections around the Fremont Bridge make some very significant improvements, though larger solutions are still needed to make it truly comfortable for people of all ages and abilities.

The Burke-Gilman Trail is the region’s busiest bike trail, and it travels under the Fremont Bridge, which is the region’s busiest bridge for biking. So connecting the two is a very obvious, high-demand need of regional importance.

The biggest changes are new protected bike lanes for most of N 34th Street between Fremont Ave and Stone Way, an extended bike lane for people biking north across the bridge, and a much larger sidewalk extension for trail users at Stone Way. These are all significant improvements.

N 34th Street already had painted bike lanes, but they were fairly skinny. Worst of all, the westbound lane was located in the door zone of parked cars and was often blocked by people making deliveries or dropping off passengers. The redesigned bike lanes make these few blocks much more comfortable.

Large numbers of people transfer from the Burke-Gilman Trail to N 34th Street and Stone Way, making that intersection one of the most important and complicated intersections in the city’s bike network. Trail users often stack up on both sides of the intersection waiting f0r the walk signal. So SDOT significantly extended the sidewalk and curb near Solsticio Café, providing more protected space for people to wait and to navigate around each other. (more…)
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tags: fremont, fremont bridge, N 34th St, sdot

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Final stretch of E Lake Sammamish Trail under construction, signalling the end of 4 decades of fighting

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 8, 2021
“If the trail is built, say the neighbors, it would violate their property rights and privacy, and would be challenged in court,” wrote the Seattle Daily Times in 1982 in a story about King County’s plan to convert the defunct rail line along the east side of Lake Sammamish into a walking and biking trail.

The rail line in question is part of the same historic line that had become the Burke-Gilman Trail just a few years prior, which was a huge and immediate success. King County was looking to repeat that success further down the line.

But that threat of legal challenge was very much real, and the owners of the extremely valuable lakefront property had more than enough money to fund as many legal battles as possible to delay or stop the trail. And they did, even taking the case to the doors of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019. The highest court in the nation declined to hear their appeal, finally ending nearly four decades of legal threats and actions.

Paving the East Lake Sammamish Trail was first put to King County voters as part of a 1982 parks bond measure. Of course, it may not have taken this long had voters actually approved that bond measure, which failed alongside every tax measure on the ballot. It’s hard to imagine a parks measure failing these days, but the early 80s were not a good time for tax measures. (more…)
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tags: e lake sammamish trail, king county parks

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City puts final touches on important José Rizal Bridge bike lanes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 4, 2021
Seattle is working to catch up on bike projects after Mayor Jenny Durkan paused or cancelled nearly all bike plans during the first half or so of her term. And though it may be nearly impossible to completely make up for lost time, SDOT has been working on many significant bike improvements. So stay tuned for more coverage of new bike infrastructure around town, a lot of which is really exciting.

First up, the José Rizal Bridge just got a major upgrade with new protected bike lanes. The lines have been painted for months, but the city installed the plastic pylons this week.

The relatively short project connects from King Street in the International District to S Charles Street on Beacon Hill. From Charles, people can either continue south up Golf Drive S to 14th and 15th Avenues S, head west to 12th Ave S, or head east to take the connection to the Mountains to Sound Trail.

The bridge is one of the most important bike pinch points for many southend bike routes. So while the length is short, the importance of the connection is huge. Not only will the bike lanes make biking more comfortable, but it should also dramatically reduce the number of people biking on the sidewalks to avoid the often fast traffic.

Oh, and traffic should be calmer and safer, too. SDOT data shows that during the 13 years from 2004 to 2017, there were 15 collisions with people walking or biking at the intersection with S Weller Street, 24 collisions between Weller and Charles, and 5 at the Charles intersection. 44 people in just 13 years. That’s why SDOT saw this project as not just a bike lane project, but a Vision Zero project. The bike lanes help narrow the driving space to reduce dangerous passing and speeding. It also means that anyone crossing the street, including people trying to access these busy bus stops, will have a shorter distance to cross. If it works as well as it should, then every three or four months from now on a person will be spared a potentially life-threatening collision near this bridge. (more…)
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tags: 12th ave, beacon hill, downtown, jose rizal bridge

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Alert: Interurban North Trail will close for 10 months near Lynnwood Transit Center

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 2, 2021
Construction to prepare Lynnwood Transit Center for light rail and build a parking garage will close the Interurban North Trail between 52nd Ave W and 44th Ave W for two years starting May 12, according to Sound Transit.

This is a significant change from the initial closure schedule announced in the fall, which anticipated only two months of closures in 2021 and six months in 2022.

The detour route is unchanged from the initial announcement. It includes a busy stretch of 200th St SW and the sidewalk of 44th Ave W (there is no curb cut from 44th to the trail, so the sidewalk is the only option unless Sound Transit adds a ramp). I suspect most users will use the sidewalk on both 200th St and 44th Ave in both directions, even though it’s really not wide enough for heavy mixed use. Cedar Valley Rd and 52nd Ave W both have painted bike lanes.

The Interurban North Trail is the primary bike route from Everett to Seattle and points in between, following the right-of-way from a former electric streetcar line (this is the “Interurban” those statues in Fremont are waiting for). The last train ran in 1939, and many parts of the right-of-way have since been chopped up, especially by the construction of I-5. Surviving sections serve as vital sections of an important regional bike route, but there is a lot of work to do to make it a complete route comfortable for people of all ages and abilities to use.

Details from Sound Transit: (more…)
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tags: interurban north, lynnwood, lynnwood transit center

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Hey you! Yes, you. Plan a group bike ride!

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

June 1, 2021
Submit your event details to the Seattle Bike Blog Events Calendar.

Marley Blonsky put out a call recently that I support completely: Seattle needs you to plan a group ride.

The pandemic all but erased the Seattle Bike Blog Events Calendar, which was of course the right thing to do. But things are finally changing. At least locally, vaccine rates are climbing, hospitalizations are falling, the weather is warming, and public health guidance on outdoor gatherings has eased. It’s time to allow yourself to have some community fun again.

Marley wrote something that really resonated with me:

“Please, I’m begging you – take a risk, step out of your comfort zone and plan a ride, bike party, alley cat, or charity ride! Nobody holds the keys to bike culture – together we can shape an inclusive community that reflects our values.”

Even before the pandemic, hosting a bike event was a fun way for people who have never organized anything before to give it a try. Bike events typically don’t need permits and can often be hosted for $0. There are a lot of people out there simply looking for something to do that is out of the ordinary, and your idea might fit the bill. There are so many different people who bike in Seattle that whatever ride sounds fun to you probably will appeal to others, too. That’s how community grows and gets stronger.

Just because you have never hosted an event or are not a member of a bike club, that doesn’t mean you can’t host a bike ride. And bike rides do not need to be about biking. Whatever theme or concept appeals to you is great.

Portland just started their annual Pedalpalooza community-hosted bike ride series, which will have a handful of rides every day for the next three months. It’s a really cool tradition that their city and the organization Shift 2 Bikes has developed over many years, and they have great resources on how to host a ride.

Most importantly, be clear about your ride style intentions. If you are going to ride fast, say so in your description. Likewise, if you say you are going to welcome riders of all levels, then make plans to be certain your ride does not drop people (such as designating a “sweep” who knows the route and can bring up the rear in case folks fall behind).

Anyone can post events for free to the Seattle Bike Blog Events Calendar (it should also be less buggy now, so if you tried in the past and it didn’t work, give it another shot). But you should seek additional avenues for promoting your event, such as social media or flyers, etc.

COVID guidance

(more…)
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tags: events, marley blonsky, pedalpalooza

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