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Bicycle dangers of the proposed streetcar network

The city council discussed possible streetcar routes earlier this week.

Looking at the map, I see some obvious conflict zones with cyclists.

1. On the Ballard line, cyclists heading downhill on Fremont Ave will be crossing tracks at a bad angle on a downhill where they could be traveling at speeds where accidents might be fatal.

2. On the Ballard and Fremont lines, cyclists heading downhill on Dexter will also be crossing the tracks at a bad angle after a downhill where they could be traveling at high speeds.

3. On the University District line, cyclists headed to and from Capitol Hill will be crossing the line regularly.  If it is a center alignment, the risk is lower, but it is still a high traffic area and a known problem area.  Do we need more dangers at Eastlake and Fuhrman?

What conflict areas or dangers do you see?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 10:21 am and is filed under Streetcar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Bicycle dangers of the proposed streetcar network”

  1. Raindog says:
    May 13, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Hey guys. Wow, I’ve been away for too long. The new site looks good and your recent email + gradually more acceptable weather are getting me back into the swing of bicycle advocacy.

    The Fremont route scares me a bit. I live near the top of the hill so flying down the hill at unsafe speeds is something I do several times a day. How are they planning to handle the bike lanes on this route? Cycling and mass transit are both things I strongly support, so I really would hate to have to choose sides on this one.

    Anyway, more importantly, the link in your email for the June 2 SLUT ride didn’t work. Are you planning to post info about that ride here?

    All the very best of luck & hope to see you guys soon!

    Cheers,
    Raindog (aka Jeremy-in-Fremont)

  2. MichaelSnyder says:
    May 13, 2008 at 2:30 pm

    So far there hasn’t been anything in the way of details on implementation plans for these routes. They need to find a local improvement district willing to tax themselves to pay for it first.

    We have assurances that there will be ample time for public comment on the details, but as you point out there are some places that are just dangerous interaction points and I’m personally not sure that there is any engineering way out of that problem.

    All information on the June 2 ride will be posted here. Email us if you want to help organize the ride.