Construction work is wrapping up on the new Fairview Ave N Bridge, finally bringing an end to a long closure of a major bike route between South Lake Union and Eastlake.
The bridge opens to all traffic Sunday, but people walking and biking will be able to cross starting Saturday. SDOT is hosting an opening celebration 9:30–11:30 a.m. Saturday.
The old bridge was closed back in September 2019. I suppose if this important route was going to be closed for so long, a pandemic was a good time for it. The detour via Aloha Street adds a significant amount of climbing to the route, so the bridge reopening will be very welcome.
Concept images from an SDOT presentation.
The new bridge will have a two-way bikeway that operates similar to the old bridge, but the sidewalk will now be separate from the bikeway. Ideally, SDOT would have taken the long time they had during this closure to build a bike connection on Fairview between the bridge and Lake Union Park, but they did not. So for now, people biking on this wonderful new bike path will again have the no-win choice of either squeezing onto the west sidewalk or mixing with general traffic. (more…)
Leaders like Lorena González don’t come along often. She has been a stable, very progressive compass during a very tumultuous time in Seattle history, and the Council has shifted around her as voters continue to elect people who stand for bold changes. But the forces supporting the city’s inequitable and unsustainable status quo have managed to occupy enough power to hold back the progress voters want. Seattle has a big opportunity to finally change this dysfunctional dynamic by electing a mayor who will say Yes to change and has demonstrated the community-building and government executive skills to make it happen.
González is a potent mix of ambition and effectiveness, and she won citywide elections in 2015 and 2017 by large margins. It is still very difficult to win a mayoral election in Seattle if you are not the preferred candidate of the Seattle Times and big business interests. But González has already shown that she knows how to lead a worker-focused, progressive campaign that can win citywide.
Biking, walking and transit has never been González’s top issue, but she has always been on the right side with her Council votes. She even spoke to the 2019 protest at City Hall against Mayor Jenny Durkan’s bike plan and safe streets cuts (watch starting at 19:15 here). But perhaps just as importantly, she has demonstrated that she is a decision maker. That would be a huge breath of fresh air compared to our current indecisive mayor. González is also unafraid of asking direct and tough questions, drilling city department leadership if she senses rosy numbers or any other B.S. This is exactly what Seattle needs from a mayor who will craft our city’s next big transportation levy, which should be queued up for the 2024 ballot. González has what it takes to put a levy to voters that is bold, realistic and trustworthy. (more…)
NOTE: The 2021 primary election is August 3. The deadline to register or change your address online in King County is July 26, but you can register and vote in-person through Election Day. Don’t procrastinate! It’s summer, and August 3 is going to come up fast.
This map shows the ambition of the 2015 Move Seattle levy. All this was supposed to be funded, and it’s walk/bike/transit focus inspired strong voter approval. What will the next mayor’s vision look like?
The 2021 election is likely the most important Seattle election since 2015 for safe streets, bicycling and walking.
The next mayor will lead the development for whatever follows the Move Seattle transportation levy, which expires at the end of 2024. Developing the levy requires the mayor and the City Council Transportation Committee to work together with a shared vision, but the mayor will likely be the primary public-facing leader of the effort. Because the city has been following a 9-year transportation levy renewal system, the next levy vote happens to coincide with a very high turnout Presidential election. Seattle will have an incredible opportunity to pass a very bold and ambitious funding package, the kind of effort that sets a new standard for what local transportation funding can accomplish.
But the next mayor will have an enormous amount of work to do before the 2024 vote because they will be inheriting a heap of problems and public distrust. Mayor Jenny Durkan has squandered her time in office, failing to deliver the promises that Move Seattle made to voters back in 2015. Biking, walking and transit promises were dramatically scaled back, and a lot of the people that Seattle will depend on to pass another transportation measure are angry. At the same time, the West Seattle Bridge fiasco has understandably frustrated a lot of people.
So the next mayor will first need to restore public trust in the Department of Transportation and in the city leadership’s willingness and ability to maintain our infrastructure and follow through with its bold promises. They will have a couple years to turn things around before voters go to the polls, but they will need to get started immediately after taking office. This is no small feat, but it’s also very achievable. The next mayor will need to deliver some high quality and impactful projects from the Move Seattle levy plan that genuinely improve people’s everyday mobility. And they will need to be able to educate the public on the value of these investments.
In the years leading up to the next vote, the city will also need to reassess its transportation needs and priorities. This effort will help guide the creation of the levy. Before the 2015 vote SDOT and Mayor Ed Murray created what they called the Plan to Move Seattle. That plan was very exciting, but it has since proven to have been unrealistic without more funding than was available in the levy (partly because it did not predict an unfriendly Federal government). So Seattle’s next mayor needs to be both bold in ambition and realistic about cost forecasting. We will need a mayor that the voters will trust. (more…)
The Snoqualmie Valley Trail will be closed for two weeks just south of Duvall Park starting today, King County Parks announced. There is seemingly no alternative other than SR-203 (AKA Carnation-Duvall Rd NE), which has fairly skinny shoulders. And though looking at a map might suggest there is a road along the river, that is a private road with a gate. So you will most likely need to bike on SR-203 from NE 138th St to NE 124th St.
More details from King County Parks:
The trail will be closed from a half mile south of NE 138th St in Duvall to just north of the roundabout at NE 124th St. Heavy equipment will be in place on the trail and no visitors will be allowed through the work zone. The trail will be closed for repairs until Monday, July 26th.
For any questions or concerns email [email protected] or call 206-477-4527
Duwamish Valley Safe Streets created this cool image to promote the concept.
The Georgetown to South Park Connection, a walking and biking trail concept promoted for years by the community-led group Duwamish Valley Safe Streets, is on schedule to begin construction in 2022 and open in 2023. Final design should be complete near the end of 2021.
The path will lead from near 12th and Bailey in Georgetown to the South Park Bridge, connecting the two often neglected mixed industrial and residential neighborhoods. Walking and biking in the neighborhoods today is often stressful or dangerous because there are many wide, dangerous streets like E Marginal Way S. This trail will create a continuous and separated pathway for people to get between the two neighboring communities and business districts.
The route follows 13th Ave S, S Albro Place, Ellis Ave S and S Myrtle Street before reaching a parcel of underutilized land owned by Seattle City Light. Called the “Flume Property” because it “was the historic site of the conveyance that transported water from the Duwamish River, to the Georgetown Steam Plant until it ended operation in 1975,” according to the project page for the park project. SDOT and Seattle Parks are partnering with City Light to turn it into a dog park and pathway, and City Light is paying for the environmental remediation required to make it a park. (more…)
It didn’t start that way. But as the project developed, many biking and walking safety improvements were cut short or removed completely. Recent news that the city won’t move forward with the planned improvements and protected bike lanes on Stone Way from N 45th Street to N 50th Street is just the latest cut to the project’s bike improvements plan. “A change of funding availability due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other competing needs led to construction at this location being paused,” SDOT wrote in a project update.
Initially, bike lanes were planned on N 40th Street as identified in the Bicycle Master Plan. The project was also going to make much needed improvements to the connection between the Burke-Gilman Trail and streets leading up the hill like 5th Ave NE. But then, as with 35th Ave NE, SDOT and Mayor Jenny Durkan did not stand by the goals of the bike plan and folded in the face of some complaints. So instead they repaved the whole street without making any significant safety improvements (beyond the accessible curb ramps they were legally required to update). In lieu of bike lanes, SDOT proposed a couple biking and walking safety “spot improvements” as a consolation prize for people hoping the busy east-west neighborhood street would become safer to navigate. These included improved crossings at Ashworth, Densmore, Bagley, 2nd Ave NE and Latona.
But then as COVID-19 threw city budgets into question, SDOT cancelled the spot improvements. As a result, they simply repaved the street and prioritized car parking over safety.
But at least most of 40th has a bus route that can benefit from the paving investment. That’s more than can be said for N 50th Street. I don’t understand how this street made it to the top of SDOT’s priority list for paving. It does not carry any bus routes, and the team did not even try to make any real safety improvements. There’s no equity benefit, no safety benefit, no transit benefit, and no neighborhood improvement benefit. They simply repaved a street through a neighborhood without making it any easier or safer to navigate. Unlike safety projects require years of planning and advocacy and long master plans with lengthy justifications, cars-first projects like N 50th Street don’t need to demonstrate any tie-in with the city’s stated goals. I wrote a slightly tongue-in-cheek argument back in 2019 arguing that the city needs a Car Master Plan, and I used N 50th Street for the imagined cover image:
Without a Car Master Plan, many of Seattle’s biggest transportation investments are being spent without a clear focus on how these public projects will help us reach our major climate change, race and social justice, public health, housing growth, and high-level transportation goals. All of the other modal master plans take these issues seriously, but those master plan projects are the exception to the rule at SDOT. The default mode of operation is that every inch of road space should go to cars unless an existing master plan says otherwise. And even then, those plans are only considered suggestions that can be ignored.
I’m particularly salty about this project because it’s near my house and I get angry every time I try to walk or bike along it or across it with my child because it’s terrifying. But there are streets exactly like this all over Seattle. The sidewalks are very skinny and right next to traffic, which is moving very quickly because there are multiple lanes in the same direction, a design SDOT knows is dangerous and leads to speeding. There are also long stretches without a safe crosswalk, which is frankly unethical for a transportation department to build. And after investing a lot of public money into this street, we still signs prohibiting people from crossing the street:
Walking across SDOT’s brand new street is prohibited at 4th Ave NE near my home.From an SDOT presentation about the NE 75th Street changes (same effect applies to N 50th Street). If the city knows this is dangerous, why didn’t they fix it when they repaved the street?
This project either should have received a safety update or the budget should have gone somewhere else. The task of achieving Vision Zero is far too vast to be investing in dangerous street designs like this.
And that brings us to the latest cut. SDOT just announced that they will not be repaving and redesigning Stone Way between 46th and 50th Streets due to “a change of funding availability due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other competing needs.” At least this time they are also cutting the paving project and not just the safety upgrades. But it’s more bike lane mileage that isn’t happening, adding to the city’s long list of bike plan cuts and delays. SDOT lists the work as “paused,” but there’s no timeline to resume.
But let me put on my infinite optimist hat for a second. In addition to cutting the bike lanes, the city also will not make improvements to the awful 5-way intersection at Stone, Green Lake Way and 50th. Maybe this is actually an opportunity for Seattle’s next mayor to do something really great. Because that intersection needs a very bold change, and it’s very clear that Mayor Durkan is not up to such a challenge.
Idea: Delete Green Lake Way N between Aurora and Stone Way.
I gotta suggest my favorite idea, which comes from an old Seattle Bike Blog comment: Delete Green Lake Way between Aurora and Stone Way. The whole street, just gone. Then reconnect the neighborhood street grid and turn that awful 5-way intersection that absolutely everyone hates into a normal 4-way intersection. Do the same to the odd intersection with N 46th Street near Aurora. I am of course not a traffic engineer and don’t have the means to run all the traffic simulations and such, but I have a good feeling that this short diagonal street is causing a lot more traffic problems than it is solving. But I know for a fact it creates a lot of walkability and bikeability challenges. It’s so frustrating and stressful to cross, cutting off a lot of homes from easy access to neighborhood businesses, Woodland Park, and the nearby Rapidride E and Route 44 buses.
What’s really great about this idea is that even after reconnecting the neighborhood street grid, the city will have a lot of new developable land. This could be turned into park space, affordable housing, or sold to fund the road redesign project (or some mixture of these ideas).
This is all a long way of saying, We are getting a new mayor soon. We need a visionary leader who will stand up for our safety and climate goals and restore trust in SDOT’s ability to deliver on its promises. Rather than constantly looking for ways to scale back our city’s ambitions until they look like more of the same, our next mayor should challenge our city to think bigger and imagine a better world.
Construction work is wrapping up on the new Fairview Ave N Bridge, finally bringing an end to a long closure of a major bike route between South Lake Union and Eastlake.
