Seattle Likes Bikes!

The Ballard streetcar forum was interesting.  For a forum intended to get the opinion of Ballard residents, quite a few positive commenters were from Capitol Hill, Magnolia, and Queen Anne.

Several people suggested running the streetcar up Dexter instead of Westlake.  This could be a very dangerous choice unless the through traffic was eliminated and Dexter was made into a wide, quiet street with only bicycles, streetcars in the center, and slow local traffic.  Dexter is already voted both the best and worst bike lane in Seattle, the best because it is so highly used and the worst because there are still many dangers.  A streetcar only adds to those dangers.

One other spot wasn’t commented on by anyone in the meeting and seems like a significant error.  Due to height issues, the streetcar would be routed under the Ballard Bridge approach at 46th, one block south of Leary Way, and then up Ballard Avenue.  Any cyclist who bicycles in Ballard should recognize the intersection of 46th, 17th, and Shilshole, the intersection where the sharrowed extention of the Burke Gilman trail ends and the Missing Link really starts.  This intersection is already painful and dangerous to cross due to car speeds and visibility issues.  Already the BINMIC businesses along Shilshole want bicyclists to use Ballard Avenue instead of Shilshole, and many do because Shilshole is hostile as the previously mentioned news illustrates.

Adding to the complexities here, 17th is a street that some in the SDOT Bike and Pedestrian group has been considering for a Bike Boulevard.  Is it the best idea to have a bike boulevard cross both the Ballard Shortline railroad tracks and streetcar tracks before reaching the Burke Gilman Trail?

More transit is great, but someone needs to spend a lot more time talking to bicyclists about these routes.  This is the purpose of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, if Seattle government staff and officials would talk to them more.  When a streetcar representative last talked to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, he had no details for them to use to give advice.  These are major projects that have large ranging impacts on bicycling and much more communication is needed all around.

The Coast Guard has a comment period open right now regarding easing
rush-hour traffic by keeping the low bridge (Spokane Street Swing Bridge)
from opening during certain times of the day:
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=7816
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=USCG-2008-0256

If you are in West Seattle, or travel to West Seattle frequently, get your comments in before July 21st.

SEATTLE- Mayor Greg Nickels is seeking candidates for the Seattle
Bicycle Advisory Board.

Mayor Nickels and the City Council are committed to promoting diversity
in the city’s boards and commissions.  Women, youth, persons with
disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, persons of color, and
immigrants are encouraged to apply.

These haven’t show up in the mainstream news yet:

• Road Rage in Ballard along the missing link of the Burke Gilman Trail where a pickup pushes a cyclist off of the road.
• Rocks thrown at cyclists exiting the I-90 tunnel.
  • “Between 4:30-6pm on Thursday, July 3rd numerous cyclists traveling through the Mt. Baker bike tunnel (west entrance) were pelted with golf ball size rocks. Three youths were spotted above the tunnel tossing the rocks. Despite repeated 911 calls from multiple cyclists over a period of an hour and half, there was no police response. The incident raised concerns because it was in the exact same area where a cyclist was mugged in mid-May. Though the incident was not as serious as the mugging, I thought it might be good to publish the story so to raise awareness of those cyclist and pedestrians that use the tunnel and bike path.”

    Several cyclists mentioned calling 911 with no response from police in over an hour.

From King5 news: 

The city will hold community forums to hear what people think about the proposed trolley expansion. The forums will be held next month throughout the city:

Wednesday, July 2: Proposed Central Line at Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave., Bertha Knight Landes Room, First Floor, 4-6 p.m.

Tuesday, July 8: Proposed Ballard/Fremont Line at Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 NW 67th Street, 4-6 p.m.

Wednesday, July 9: Proposed U-District Line at University Heights Center, 5031 University Way NE, 4-6 p.m.

Tuesday, July 15: Proposed First Hill Line at Yesler Community Center, 917 E. Yesler Way, 4-6 p.m.

Thanks again to the West Seattle Blog for some good research.

SDOT is still working on the plans and more public input will be requested in the future.  Stay tuned.

Tonight, the agenda for the Seattle Board of Parks Commission calls for a discussion on closing streets to car traffic, and also to discuss the fire ban proposal.  This could be an interesting meeting.

What if we could close the street along Alki beach to car traffic for Sunday mornings in the summer so it could be used by cyclists, skateboarders, rollerbladers, joggers, and pedestrians just like we do with parts of Lake Washington Blvd?

From the West Seattle Blog:

SDOT is proposing Car Free Days for one Sunday each during this August and possibly September at these locations:
• Alki, between the Water Taxi dock at Seacrest Park and 63rd Ave SW in West Seattle;
• Create a loop from Pioneer Square to Pike Place Market via Alaskan Way and First Avenue to Olympic Sculpture Park;
• Connect Magnuson Park to Seward Park via Burke Gilman Trail, the Arboretum, part of Montlake Bridge and Lake Washington Blvd and encourage attendees of the Pro Bike Pro Walk event to participate. There will be the need for close coordination as park usage will be involved. For all locations, SDOT is interested in linking to special events and/or including programmed activities to enhance public awareness of the program and have a critical mass of public participation.

Here is an update on the Kirkland Non-Motorized Plan for anyone who rides on the east side:

You are invited attend an Open House on June 19, Kirkland City Hall, Peter Kirk Room, 5:30 to 8 p.m. to learn about and comment on proposed bicycling and walking facilities within the City of Kirkland

The Kirkland Transportation Commission encourages everyone interested in cycling or walking to come to the Open House and 

• understand and help shape what projects are being planned for the future.
• make sure that your favorite projects are considered for the plan.
• comment on how projects should be prioritized for funding and construction.

Last summer, the City conducted a non-motorized transportation survey, which you may have participated in.  The results are posted on the City’s website and were used to develop the products to be presented at the Open House.

This Open House is part of the Transportation Commission’s update to the Non-motorized Transportation Plan.  We hope to see you on June 19.  If you have questions, please contact David Godfrey at dgodfrey@ci.kirkland.wa.us or (425) 587-3865.

If we can direct your attention to the sidebar on the right side of the page, there is a new link for the Seattle Likes Bikes forum.

After the Back on the Tracks ride, there was a discussion about coming up with a mission statement and other administrivia.  Rather than trying to do this via email and doing this with a very small set of people, we invite you to join our forum and give us your ideas.  We would also like the forum to serve as a place to share rants, raves, questions, suggestions, and information about bicycling and advocacy in the Seattle area.

 Flyers here! 

Dear Friends,

On Monday, June 2, we will meet at Westlake Center at 6pm, then ride together at 6:30pm along this route. The first half of the route consists of a loop around the South Lake Union Trolley (aka S.L.U.T.) tracks, as well as following the signed route along 9th Ave N that the city has suggested as an alternative to Westlake.

The second half of the ride, up Eastlake, is along one of the proposed routes for streetcar expansion service, and leads us to the College Inn Pub (near the University of Washington), where we plan to convene so we can meet all of you, eat chili, drink something cold, and talk about bicycle advocacy in Seattle as look to the coming year of riding bikes!

Seattle cyclists are everywhere in this beautiful weather and the city is making progress in terms of including cyclists in street-planning, but Westlake Ave N still lacks adequate signage, bike lanes continue to be striped in door zones, and cyclists on the road continue to face a lack of driver education as to cyclists’ rights, including what sharrows markings really indicate (they are visual on-road reminders to all that cyclists always have a right to the road unless otherwise indicated).

Please join us as we celebrate the successes of last summer, and plan for the next year!

Ride Safe,

the SeattleLikesBikes crew