Seattle Bike Blog

Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board seeks 3 new members for pivotal term

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 12, 2021

The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board is seeking three new members to start two-year terms in the fall. This term will cover some very important decisions for Seattle’s transportation future, including development of the next big Seattle transportation levy likely headed to the 2024 ballot. Apply online by August 27.

The volunteer board is purely advisory and does not have any direct authority, but their work does help the department of transportation craft planning documents and prioritize projects to some extent. This work is especially important in the run-up to a major levy because the department and city political leaders will be using these plans when setting the scope and funding priorities that will be sent to voters.

No professional expertise or transportation planning experience is required. In fact, the most effective board members tend to be people with a desire to learn and a willingness to ask down-to-earth questions that engineers may not have fully considered. You just need to be a Seattle resident who wants to help the city increase bicycling and bicycle safety.

The time commitment includes attending evening meetings the first Wednesday of every month as well as some time spent reading relevant documents or working with small task forces as needed. Meetings are currently held virtually online, but some day will go back to being in-person in Seattle City Hall or the Municipal Tower downtown. More details from SDOT: (more…)

tags: seattle bicycle advisory board

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U.S. Bike Route System grows in southeast Washington

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 9, 2021

Existing and proposed U.S. Bike Routes in Washington (PDF).

WSDOT has started four new U.S. Bicycle Routes in southeast Washington, establishing Clarkston along the Snake River and Tekoa along the Palouse to Cascades Trail as long-distance bike route nexuses.

The US Bike Route system is a vision for a connected network of bicycle routes spanning the nation, making it easier to travel by bike and encouraging economic activity in communities off the beaten path. Being designated a USBR is largely symbolic, though there are hopes it will someday be much more than that. Official designation does make them “eligible for national and global promotion,” according to the WSDOT press release. It also allows the state to install official USBR signage. But it doesn’t mean USDOT is sending money to upgrade their bike facilities.

The longest of the new stretches, USBR 81, connects Clarkston to Tekoa, passing through Pullman (and Washington State University) on the 104-mile segment. Riders can also take the alternative USBR 281 for a shorter route between Clarkston and Pullman. From Clarkston, just across the border from Lewiston, Idaho, people can head west on USBR 20, which will someday connect to the Tri-Cities, Kennewick and Columbia River routes toward Vancouver, Washington, and beyond. For now, it reaches Lewis and Clark Trail State Park about 77 miles west of the Idaho border.

The shortest of the four new routes is a 2-mile stretch of USBR 40 between Tekoa and the Idaho border. But this route is also one of the most exciting because the bulk of the planned 400-mile route in Washington follows the car-free Palouse to Cascades Trail. Long stretches of this rail-trail are very remote and rough currently, but the state is investing to rehabilitate key trestles and bridges. This work is worth a post of its own, but the next year should be very exciting for this trail and the future USBR 40. So while the USBR designation is not exactly a source of revenue, it does help add to the list of reasons the state should invest in them.

Washington State added its first route to the national network in 2014 with much fanfare. USBR 10 crosses the state along US Highway 20. The national network is also building out slowly, though Washington’s neighboring states do yet not seem in much of a hurry to link up. Oregon does have its own Scenic Bikeways, though they are often loops or short segments and are not in the USBR System.

More details from WSDOT: (more…)

tags: barb chamberlain, clarkston, tekoa, US Bicycle Route System, USBR 20, USBR 281, USBR 40, USBR 81, wsdot

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Watch: Searching for the 125-year-old Interlaken bike path

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 5, 2021

In 1896, Seattle city crews and a group of volunteers worked together to build a bike path from downtown to Lake Washington. They made it quickly, following the terrain around the north end of Capitol Hill to find the easiest route. They cleared the skinny path and dug as needed to make it mostly flat, then they covered it with cinders and ash. For less than a decade, biking out on this path was a very popular activity, and it helped promote the city’s first major bike boom. But by 1905, most of the route had either vanished or was being developed into a boulevard.

One of the most iconic sections was through what is now Interlaken Park. It was not unheard of for people to encounter a bear while biking through the deep woods of Interlaken, and much of the route of the old path was immortalized when the Olmsted Brothers used it as the guide for Interlaken Boulevard.

But a path paved with ashes and often routed through private property did not last long. Property development closed some sections while nature took care of others. Still, I was curious if I could find any hints today that the old path ever existed. Jonathan, a Seattle Bike Blog reader, sent me an old hand-drawn plot city engineers used to construct the 1896 path. I traced that plot into a Google Map that I could follow on my phone, and then set out to follow it.

Did I find the old path? Watch the video to find out.

Woman with bicycle on the Lake Washington bicycle path, 1899-1900. Photo by John P. Soule.

tags: history, interlaken, videos

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Initial drop of primary results suggests very close races for Mayor, Council Position 9

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 4, 2021

Seattle’s November election for Mayor and City Council Position 9 are going to be very close.

King County Elections will drop more ballot results around 4:30 p.m. every weekday until they are all counted. Because later votes in Seattle tend to skew younger and more progressive, the final tally will likely bring both primary results much closer as more ballots are counted over the next week or so. So Tuesday’s count is probably as good as it gets for leading candidates Bruce Harrell and Sara Nelson. If past patterns hold true, Lorena González and Nikkita Oliver will close the gaps in their races to within a few percentage points.

Perhaps the most important data point won’t be the final vote leads themselves but voter turnout. As of Tuesday’s count, turnout was only 18%. That number will climb as more ballots are counted, but will it reach previous mayoral years? Turnout in 2017 was 19% on election night but grew to 41%, a high level that was likely a response to Trump’s election. But if turnout this year can’t even reach the 35% turnout in the 2013 mayoral primary, that’s probably not a good sign for the more progressive candidates. Older and more conservative voters vote earlier and more reliably, so a bigger turnout usually means more young people and a more progressive outcome.

One thing is almost certain: Teresa Mosqueda will keep her City Council seat. She had an overwhelming lead on election night of 55% that will likely grow further. Her leading opponent Kenneth Wilson, who owns a structural engineering firm that worked on the Northgate bike/walk bridge, is a far distant second with 18%. You can see updated results on the King County Elections website.

(more…)

tags: 2021 primary

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Vote! How to find a drop box, replace a missing ballot, register + More

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 2, 2021

Look at all these ballot drop boxes! You can also mail it, but drop box will get there faster.

The primary election is tomorrow (August 3), and turnout in King County was sitting at a mere 13% as of Friday evening. That’s too low.

But you are a Seattle Bike Blog reader, so you are engaged and vote in every election already (you do, right?). So what we really need is for you to personally contact friends and family members to make sure they vote, too. And if they say something like, “Oh, I don’t know where my ballot is,” tell them they can still vote.

It’s not even too late to register. Just head to a voting center (including Lumen Field in Seattle) during open hours (King, Snohomish, Pierce). You can register and vote at the same time. You can also simply head to a voting center if you didn’t get your ballot and don’t feel like navigating the elections website to figure out how to print a replacement.

If you do have your ballot sitting around the house, don’t let it go to waste! Summer primaries have a way of sneaking up on people. But it’s a short ballot without many difficult decisions. There are a lot of really great people running for very important offices, and this is our chance to make sure the best possible slate of candidates are on the November general election ballot. Low-turnout elections tend to over-represent conservative voters, and your vote could easily be the one that decides who gets the second spot on the ballot. That’s a big deal.

And hey, biking to a drop box is a great excuse for a ride.

tags: 2021 primary

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Alert: Montlake Bridge east sidewalk closed Aug 2-6 + Weekend closures coming in the fall -UPDATED

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

July 30, 2021
Yeah, they should probably fix this. Photo from WSDOT.

The state is starting work on a significant Montlake Bridge repair project, which includes replacing all the metal roadway decking and maintaining the moving mechanism. This will lead to major closures for cars and buses. But because crews will keep the sidewalks open when the bridge deck is closed, there should only intermittent and limited closures for people walking and biking.

First, work crews “will restrict access on the east bridge sidewalk from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.” August 2–6. So plan for a little extra time in your trip to cross to the west sidewalk at the E Shelby Street signal. That sidewalk will likely also be more crowded than usual.

But it is great news that the sidewalks will remain open during the 26-day full closure to motor vehicles starting August 9. The bike detour options for the Montlake Bridge are really tough, especially because heavy traffic makes biking on Boyer Ave E to the U Bridge even worse than it usually is. So to whoever made sure the sidewalks were open during this work, thank you for making that a priority.

If you rely on any of the buses that cross the bridge, however, be ready for a major disruption and significant rerouting. Or bike if you can.

There will be a series of four full-weekend closures in September and October when the bridge will need to be held in the raised position so crews can maintain the mechanical components. From 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday during these weekends, people biking will unfortunately need to detour to the U Bridge:
- ~~Sept. 11-12~~ (UPDATE 9/10: WSDOT now says the west sidewalk will remain open during this work)
- Oct. 9-10
- Oct. 23-24
- Oct. 30-31
The SR-520 project will take advantage of the closed Montlake Bridge in August by conducting a major soil rehab project at the location of the old gas station at Montlake Blvd and Lake Washington Blvd. This work will close the west sidewalk and all but two lanes of traffic there, but it appears the east sidewalk should remain open.
tags: Bike Route Alert, montlake bridge

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