SDOT Director Peter Hahn speaks at a recent Puget Sound Bike Share press event

Puget Sound Bike Share is now officially half way to the funding they need to launch Phase I, likely covering the University District, downtown, South Lake Union and some of Capitol Hill.

With a $750,000 state grant secured for launching the system in the University District, PSBS continues to search for both public and private funding sources. Passing the 50 percent mark should give the project the momentum it needs to launch in early 2014 as planned. One big sponsor can still step up to claim branding rights.

PSBS, a non-profit partnership between many government and private organizations, announced recently that they selected Alta to build and run the system.

Details on the recent grant, from SDOT:

The City of Seattle has been awarded a $1 million federal grant from the Puget Sound Regional Council to fund bike and helmet stations in South Lake Union and north downtown. Combined with a $750,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation, Puget Sound Bike Share and its partners at the City of Seattle and King County Metro have now secured $1.75 million in grant funds to fund approximately 30 stations. These stations will be part of the network’s Phase I roll-out in the rapidly growing University District, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill and downtown neighborhoods.

“Bike share stations will connect existing transit options and make it easier for employees, residents and visitors to rely on public transportation,” said Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Director Peter Hahn. “Thanks to the Puget Sound Regional Council, this grant moves us one step closer to fully launching a bike share program in Seattle.”

“Puget Sound Bike Share is incredibly grateful for the City’s diligence in pursuing these federal grant funds, and the Puget Sound Regional Council for awarding these funds. Now that we’ve reached our public funding goals, we’re offering local companies the unique opportunity to align themselves with an innovative program that promotes a healthy, sustainable form of transportation and offers significant brand exposure and media value,” added Holly Houser, Puget Sound Bike Share executive director.

The bike stations funded by the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant will connect employees, residents and visitors to some of the region’s most popular and densely linked destinations, including Lake Union Park, the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), REI, Group Health, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UW Medical Center, Amazon, two Seattle Children’s worksites, the convention center and the downtown transit tunnel.

SDOT submitted the application in mid-2012. Puget Sound Bike Share board members and community members, King County Metro, REI, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Vulcan, the Downtown Seattle Association, Cascade Bicycle Club and the Bicycle Alliance of Washington assisted the grant application with letters of support.

For more information, follow Puget Sound Bike Share on Twitter @PSBikeShare, Facebook or sign up for its email newsletter at www.pugetsoundbikeshare.org.

First up, here’s how you can turn a couple parking lots into a boom for your business:

Pacific Northwest News

• The Fight Against Small Apartments by Dominic Holden – The Stranger
• Where Are My Cars: SR-167 HOT Lanes | Sightline Daily – WSDOT has a serious traffic growth prediction problem.
• City librarians to bring services to popular community events by bike this summer « Cascade Bike Blog
• Trikes race down Queen Anne Hill for beer | Picture This | The Seattle Times
• Community celebrates completion of 33rd Avenue pedestrian improvements | Lake City Live
• Cyclists Aren’t the Ones “Digging In Their Heels” On Burke-Gilman Trail | Seattle Met
• Man trying to help drunk cyclist ends up getting him arrested | KOMO News
• Woman dies following collision with stolen pickup in Everett | Seattle Times
• Seattle man dribbling soccer ball to Brazil killed in Oregon | Seattle Times
• State Senate panel OK’s changes to DUI laws | Seattle Times
• Driver cited for DUI in collision that left Zipcar upside down on E Madison | CHS Capitol Hill Seattle
• Commute Challenge sponsor Adobe achieves BizCycle Gold « Cascade Bike Blog
• Commute Challenge Lessons Learned: Part 1 | Bicycle Alliance of Washington
• “Linking cycling and transportation, you can get most anywhere.” « Cascade Bike Blog

Halftime show! Denver has come a long, long way since 1976. For example, the photo below shows an epic parking crater…

Downtown Denver June 1976. Image: Nick DeWolf via Flickr

…but today that area has a bustling pedestrian-only street that looks like this (video is shot from that tower you see in the photo. The black building next to the tower is the one on the left side of the frame):

National & Global News

• Cyclists Are Special, and They Should Have Their Own Rules | Streetsblog.net
• ‘Cycle tweet’ girl breaks her silence | Anglia – ITV News – Hit and run is a despicable crime. Bragging about it on Twitter afterwards? Yikes.
• The Granddaddy of Sprawl Subsidies, Illustrated | Streetsblog.net
• HelmetHub: Bicycle Helmet Vending Machines Rolling Out in Boston
• Women Lead the Way For Future Growth of Cycling in North America – Momentum Mag
• BikePortland.org » You’re not as visible on a bike at night as you think, new study shows
• BikePortland.org » Urban Cycling Hall of Fame will put spotlight on ‘urban bike movement’
• Next Boondoggle From Wisconsin DOT: Double-Decking Milwaukee Freeway | Streetsblog.net – Seriously?
• The Inequitable Toll of Pedestrian Deaths | Streetsblog Capitol Hill
• Bike Trains are the Lightest Rail | LADOT Bike Blog

Image from Cascade Bicycle Club

We already know that the largest group of people projected to use the Northgate Station parking garage live within an easy walk or bike ride to the station. So let’s make sure it is safe and easy for station neighbors to get there without needing a car.

Sound Transit is holding an open house today (Thursday), and biking and walking access is on the agenda.

Details from Sound Transit:

May 23, 2013
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

(presentation begins at 6:30 p.m.)

Olympic View Elementary School
504 NE 95th Street, Seattle

Sound Transit is hosting a public open house to discuss:

• Refinements to station and plaza design.
• Preliminary results of Northgate Station Access Study (pedestrian and bike improvements).
• King County Metro’s transit center plans.

Please come to learn and share your thoughts with us.

For more information, visit the Northgate Station page or contact the Northgate Link Extension project team at 206-398-5300 or northlink@soundtransit.org.

A recently-opened section of trail near the University Bridge demonstrates what the whole trail could someday be like

The Burke-Gilman Trail moves as many people through the University of Washington campus per hour during rush hour as a lane of freeway at peak performance. And it does so without emitting pollution and with remarkably few injuries.

Aside from being a beloved space, the Burke-Gilman Trail is a vital transportation corridor for the entire region. But even before the opening of the UW light rail station by Husky Stadium (2016) and the 520 Bridge walking and biking trail (20??), the trail is feeling the stress of congestion that far exceeds what planners had imagined when it was built decades ago.

But the UW has a plan to address these issues, and they are looking for $12 million in Federal TIGER money to finalize funding they need to completely rebuild the trail across their campus before the light rail station opens in 2016.

But they need your help. Endorse the project online today. TIGER money is rarely used for trail projects, but this one has huge regional transportation value and the upcoming opening of the light rail station adds urgency to the project.

The UW already has the funds (including $3.02 million from the Puget Sound Regional Council and $1.6 million of their own) to begin construction on the section of trail closest to the light rail station. The TIGER money would allow them to do the whole project at once. This would greatly reduce the impact on trail users, especially the increased number of people using it in the near future.

The Burke-Gilman through the UW, which may be one of the busiest bike trails in the nation, already has congestion issues. When UW Station opens in 2016, the number of people using the trail during peak hours is expected to increase significantly. The level of service in many key crunch spots is expected to plummet, and safety issues and travel times could become a real problem. By 2030, with two and a half times as many people using the trail, planners expect that congestion will be completely unacceptable if no action is taken.

Plans developed recently would include a redesign of the trail to separate people walking and biking by installing a raised sidewalk, significant improvements to areas where walkways cross the trail to reduce conflicts, a grade-separated crossing at Pend Oreille Road and significant safety improvements to notoriously dangerous intersections at 15th Ave, University Way and Brooklyn Ave.

I’ve seen a whole lot of planning documents in my time writing this site, and the UW’s plans (included below) are imaginative, exciting and practical. You can see a demonstration section of the new trail concepts near the University Bridge, where a short section of trail next to a set of under-construction housing buildings has opened for use.

People biking will be separated from people on foot by a raised curb and sidewalk. Unlike the confusing and rarely used painted walking lanes you may be familiar with on the trail near Fremont, the sidewalk on the new section will have a different pavement style and will be raised a couple inches.

Spaces where paths intersect with the trail will be rebuilt into “mixing zones” full of visual cues that tell everybody they should be prepared to slow down and look out for others. The mixing zone space is at the sidewalk level, and a gradual incline brings people biking into the space in a way that makes it clear that people on foot have the right of way. The brilliance of the design is that no signs are really needed, it simply feels natural to slow down and look out for people crossing on foot.

People walking are no longer dumped out directly into the path of people biking. Instead, ramps, staircases and sidewalk crossings all have several feet of buffer space so people have a chance to look for people biking before crossing. Compare this to a typical trail crossing today:

Image via Google

The new way is more comfortable and logical for all users.

Many of the bridges through the campus are old, and it will be expensive or impossible to widen them. Much of the price tag on the project comes from these crossings, many of which require building new structures, such as this one:

One of my favorite ideas in the plan is how they hope to address the crossing at Brooklyn. Notorious because the trail spits people out into the street with poor sight lines, the new plan would raise the entire intersection like a giant mixing zone (otherwise known as a “speed table”):

Here’s more information on the TIGER application:

BGT Tiger One Pager 1 by tfooq

Here’s a recent trail redesign document:

Burke Gilman Trail Concept Plan Final Report by tfooq

Press release about the push for TIGER funds:

BGT-Tiger by tfooq

Pedal over to the U-District on Thursday, May 23, for the annual UW Trail Party. Join UW Transportation Services and the Cascade Bicycle Club from 4-7 p.m.  for music, free bike fits, basic tune ups, and lots of giveaways along the Burke-Gilman Trail.

We’ll have free drawing at 4:30, 5:30, and 6:30 p.m. where anyone present will have the chance to win great prizes like a Bern Helmet, a MAXXON wireless brake light, a Chipotle burrito party for ten, a Racktime Bag or some delicious Theo Chocolate.

Also be sure to check out:

- The UW Commuter Services booth with give-a-ways for first time UW bikers and team captains;
- Membership specials including a free pair of JL Velo socks or $5 off if you join Cascade;
- Free bike fits and SmartID tags from Real Rehab and R2 Bicycles;
- UW Police doing bike registrations;
- Student Health Advisory Quorum selling discounted safety gear;
- Performance Bicycle providing free bike checks and basic maintenance;
- Information about World Bicycle Relief and the Red-Bell 100 ride;
- Free samples from Honest Tea;
- And Cascade’s own dj Dyno GT will be spinning tunes.

The event will take place in the park just off of the Burke-Gilman Trail between University Way and Brooklyn Ave. We hope to see you there!

Under construction at NW 58th and 15th Ave NW. Image courtesy of Bob Hall

After many delays to projects across the city, Seattle is set to get its first real miles of neighborhood greenways this year.

Delayed last year, the city is now constructing a modified version of the NW 58th Street neighborhood greenway in Ballard, which will connect all the way from the Burke-Gilman Trail on the western edge of the neighborhood to 4th ave NW at the base of the climb to Phinney Ridge.

The biggest elements of the project include crossing improvements at 24th, 15th and 8th Avenues, a bunch of ADA improvements and 460 sidewalk improvements.

While we here on Seattle Bike Blog focus mostly on the biking elements of neighborhood greenways, community groups discussing the projects are finding a big demand for improvements to the walking environment, especially for people with mobility issues. Neighborhood greenways should be places for all people, as well as safe and convenient transportation corridors.

The project should be completed this summer. Map of the route:

Stay tuned for a look at the awesome 39th Ave NE neighborhood greenway, which was finally completed this month.

Basra, an employee at Essential Baking Company, was struck and killed one week ago at First Ave S and S Findlay Street.

Details on the walk from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways:

A family and community were torn apart by a horrific collision on Tuesday, May 14 as Surinderpaul Basra crossed at the intersection of First Avenue South and South Findlay Street right after she left after work at Essential Bakery. It’s the sort of tragedy we hear about all too often.

Please join us Tuesday, May 21st at 5:30 p.m. in front of Essential Bakery, 5601 1st Avenue South in Georgetown. We will walk where Surinderpaul Basra walked to pay our respects to her family and friends, and we will walk to send the message that we want safer streets for everyone in Seattle. These tragedies don’t need to keep happening.

Additional details about the Memorial Walk can be found here:

http://seattlegreenways.org/memorialwalksrides/

https://www.facebook.com/events/478702302200928/

Nearby Metro buses: 113, 121, 122, 123, 131, 132, 154, 173

We support the goals of Seattle’s Road Safety Action Plan to achieve zero fatalities and serious injuries by taking action. With more effective public policy, better engineering, stricter enforcement and more responsive education, thousands of deaths and injuries can be prevented.

Community leaders will walk with us. Please join us to pay your respects and to show your support for safe, healthy streets in Seattle!

The sites are very different, and I love them both. But Seattle Bike Blog, now just a month and half away from its third birthday, has grown dramatically. It’s time for me to make the jump from part-time to full-time, so I am leaving Central District News next month in order to focus my attention here.

This is a big step for me and blog, and it couldn’t have gotten this far without the support, news tips and participation of dedicated readers like you. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of so many people organizing efforts to improve and increase cycling or starting bike-centric businesses, my list of potential stories has grown so large I wouldn’t be able to keep up even if I could write day and night without sleep. That’s a great problem to have, and a clear sign that Seattle is beyond ready for a full-time independent news website about biking.

The change means that starting in late June or early July, you can expect more news about cycling in and around Seattle. It also means more depth to reporting, more coverage from the field and a faster turn-around on breaking news and news tips.

It also means a renewed effort to grow revenue through advertising and reader subscriptions. Stay tuned for some exciting news about our subscription program (teaser: It involves beer).

I am a little bit nervous and a lotta bit excited to take this leap. And with more and more people and families across the city discovering the joy and convenience of getting around on two wheels, I look forward to telling their stories and keeping them informed about Seattle’s still-young cycling revolution.

A column of bike cops at the 2013 MLK Day march

There was a time not long ago when one of the most prominent images of urban cycling in Seattle was one of social rebellion. Once much larger than today, Critical Mass drew cheers and scorn alike. Ultra-low-budget bike repair co-ops taught people how to wrench their rusty found road bikes back into working order, and a person simply taking their space on the roads seemed a bit out-of-place.

Clearly, much of this is still true today. Taking the lane on some busy streets still often feels like a tiny revolution and bike co-ops are still teaching bike repair skills (though many more bike shops now operate in more corners of the city). But something big has changed: The Man has taken up cycling, too.

While the numbers at Seattle’s monthly Critical Mass rides have dwindled in recent years, Danny Westneat at the Seattle Times wrote a column recently noting that many of the same people who might attack Mayor McGinn for his unapologetically pro-bike stance would now be praising his handling of the May Day protestors relying almost entirely on bike cops:

Take last week. The campaign for Seattle mayor finally kicked into gear, with the first debates featuring a peloton of candidates pushing to brand lead rider Mike McGinn as bumbling and incompetent, especially when it comes to his police force.

So what happens? The May Day protests. At which Seattle police finally figured out how to handle the anarchists. Using as their secret weapons … wait for it … a bunch of bikes.

Police employed dozens of bicycles, helping direct the flow of the protests and then forming barriers with the bikes to block and sweep streets when some demonstrators got violent. Police experts said that while bikes for crowd control isn’t new, the stepped-up use of them this year was the key difference in limiting May Day property damage and injuries.

And they call him Mayor McSchwinn as if that’s a bad thing!

Read more…

Now, I am certainly conflicted about the role of police in protest control, and I am posting this to neither praise nor scorn the actions of SPD during May Day. That’s a conversation for another blog (please).

Rather, if you take a step back and look at the events through a strictly bike culture lens, SPD’s liberal use of bicycles as an officer mobilizing tool and weapon is a very clear illustration that bikes have gone from being something novel on the force (“Hey look! There’s a cop on a bike!”) to being a core part of the department’s policing strategy.

In fact, there were so many officers on bikes that the number of protesters on bikes (mostly dressed as clowns) were completely overshadowed:

On a recent memorial bike ride for Lance David, SPD officers biked with riders from West Seattle’s Seacrest Park to E Marginal Way and S Hanford Street. Along the way, officers took pages straight from the Critical Mass playbook, corking intersections to allow the group to move through intersections safely. The rush hour ride was essentially a Critical Mass ride that included politicians (Mayor Mike McGinn, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and Mayoral hopeful Kate Martin were there) with police officers on bikes marshaling group safety.

SPD officer corks intersection at E Marginal Way and S Hanford Street

The number of officers on bikes has grown so much in recent years, it is no longer worth remarking about. Now, it’s the vintage police cruiser that has people giving a double-take.

“Victory” for participants of Critical Mass during its height meant a lot of different things to different people, and I’m sure the sight of a police officer crosschecking a May Day protester with the top bar of a militarized mountain bike is not what many people had in mind (as someone who celebrates cycling in Seattle at every opportunity, it’s certainly hard for me to see).

But if one central goal of Critical Mass was raise awareness of cycling, spread its use to more people and make it a fully normal part of Seattle life, then is the complete embrace of cycling by the police force a sign that cycling truly is a core part of our city? Or is it just a co-opting of a social revolution that is not yet finished?

Details:

The Alki Beach Creeps have joined forces with the SDOT Summer Streets to bring you and your family the largest costumed bike parade in West Seattle’s 111 year history!

Bikers, plan to meet at 12:45pm on 63rd and Alki Ave in front of Alki Arts. At 1:00pm we’ll head North Alki Ave to the Don Armeni Boat Ramp, turn around and end our parade in front of El Chupacabra where we will be greeted by the soapy stylings of the one and only, Bubbleman!!

After the parade, performing right next door on the rooftop of the Alki Homefront, the Beach Creeps are proud to present an after-party of epic proportions featuring some of West Seattle’s finest Musicians!!!

DJ Zach Galafinotkiss

DJ Liability

The Dolly Rottens!

So come one, come all, friends and families, and join us on Alki Car-Free Day for a day of bikes, bands, and bubbles!

Details on Alki Summer Streets, the first Summer Streets event of the year:

Walk. Bike. Shop. Breathe. Play.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Activity Map available!
Detour and Water Shuttle Taxi Map

Tell your neighbors, tell your friends! Sunday, May 19 is a party along Alki! This free event opens the city’s largest public space – its streets – so people can walk, bike, roll, run, skip and shop – without having to watch out for cars! Participate in the West Seattle 5K Run/Walk in the morning, sponsored by West Seattle High School PTSA. The race starts at 9:20 a.m. Pre-registration is suggested. Stay for the party starting at 11 a.m.

What a great time it is going to be. The Alki Beach Creeps are joining forces with us to bring the largest costumed bike parade in West Seattle’s 111 year history. Skate Like a Girl is planning skateboard workshops; Hollow Earth Radio will be spinning tunes in-between live music; Coastal Boutique will have a t-shirt tye-dyeing station; Detective Cookie will have chess games for the kids; Alki Bike and Board will be repairing bikes; and the Alki Art Fair—West Seattle’s premier art and music showcase—is inviting local artists to join the fun.