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  • A transportation funding ballot measure that inspires

    Over the next 8 years, Seattle will improve safety on every high-injury street in the city.

    That’s the kind statement I would love to see Seattle make when selling the transportation funding measure it will send to voters later this year. This is a high-turnout Presidential election year, and higher turnout should make it easier to pass a bold and inspiring package of forward-thinking and innovative transportation goals.

    The next transportation funding measure is Seattle’s final chance to reach Vision Zero by 2030, the goal the city set when the program launched in 2015. Since 2015, the Vision Zero has conducted a series of very successful one-off projects here and there, and it is now time to scale these efforts up to address all our most dangerous streets.

    We know safety is a top transportation priority for Seattle voters, and we also have a map of high-injury streets throughout the city. Put those together to create an ambitious but achievable goal that may have no precedent among large U.S. cities. Seattle can and should be a leader that inspires other cities by showing them what’s possible. With traffic deaths and injuries rising across the nation, Seattle can be the place that turns that trend on its head. We can take smart action by bringing SDOT’s modernized understanding of safe and efficient street design to all our most dangerous roadways, reversing historical inequities that place the most dangerous roads near lower income communities and communities of color. We can show that this work can be done at scale while keeping people and goods moving efficiently.

    Map with red and yellow lines indicating the injury score for streets throughout Seattle.
    Map of Seattle’s high injury network from Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposed Seattle Transportation Plan. The “scores” shown in this map include a race and social equity weighting that gives a higher score in low income communities and communities of color.
    Map showing fatalities and serious injuries by mode, with the City's Race and Social Equity Index as a background layer.
    Map of deaths and serious injuries 2019-2021, from SDOT’s 2023 Vision Zero Top-to-Bottom Review.
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  • SDOT will upgrade 4th Ave bike lane barrier to concrete

    Images comparing the paint and post barrier on 4th Ave to the concrete barrier on 2nd Ave.
    Images from SDOT.

    The 4th Ave bike lane is getting concrete barriers to replace the paint and post style barrier it has had since opening in 2020-21. The upgrade should bring the 4th Ave bike lane up to the level of quality of the 2nd Ave lane. It will be constructed within the existing buffer area of the lane from Vine Street in Belltown to Jefferson Street on the edge of Pioneer Square.

    Work will begin as soon as March 18 and be completed by July. The southbound lane against the curb will remain open, but sections of the northbound lane one or two blocks long will be closed as work progresses.

    Map of the project on 4th Ave from Vine to Jefferson Streets.

    SDOT initially said that they would extend the bike lane from Jefferson to Main Street in 2023 or 2024, but that work is not part of this plan. The excuse at the time was that too many buses use those blocks of 4th Ave currently, but that they would finish the connection once Link light rail extensions to Northgate and the Eastside open. The 2 Line to the Eastside has been delayed due to issues building the tracks across the I-90 Bridge.

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  • The 20-year bike plan for S/SE Seattle: Beacon Hill and Rainier Valley

    2014 Bike Master Plan map of Southeast Seattle.
    2024 proposed Seattle Transportation Plan map for Southeast Seattle.
    Download larger JPG images of SE Seattle from the 2014 Bike Master Plan and proposed 2024 Seattle Transportation Plan.
    The legends for the 2014 and 2024 plans.

    Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposed Seattle Transportation Plan (“STP”) is now in the hands of the City Council, who can make some final changes before adopting it as official city policy. The STP will supersede the 2014 Bicycle Master Plan, so it’s important to take a close look at its vision for the next 10–20 years of bike improvements across the city. To do so, Seattle Bike Blog will post a series of six stories focusing on different areas of the city. You find other areas as well as other STP-related stories through the 2024 Seattle Transportation Plan tag. First up: Southeast Seattle, including Beacon Hill and the Rainier Valley neighborhoods.

    Right away, it should be clear why we needed to break map analysis into a series of posts. There’s so much to talk about here, but let’s get straight into the big one: Northern Rainier Ave S is listed as a “tier 1 catalyst project” with bike lanes between MLK Way S and S King Street. The description says only that it would “provide an all ages and abilities bicycle connection between the Judkins Park light rail station, Chinatown International District, and Mount Baker.” As a tier 1 project, it is among the highest priority catalyst projects. It is likely listed as a catalyst project rather than just another bike lane because it would be complex and require a partnership with WSDOT and perhaps also Sound Transit due to the I-90 access ramps and underpass. For many years, this project has been at the top of the priority list for the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board because there is no comparably flat and direct option for connecting Rainier Valley and downtown. The area under and around I-90 is also in desperate and urgent need of major safety changes for biking and especially walking, preferably before Judkins Park Station opens. So my major comment here is that the Council should consider ways to bump the priority of this project as high as they can. It stands out among the rest of the tier 1 projects (it’s S tier). Or better yet, earmark year-one funding for it in the next transportation funding measure and maybe even get early design work going ASAP. It would also be a great poster child for showcasing the benefits of voting YES in November. Perhaps no other project in the city would be more impactful for walking, biking and transit access than this one.

    Beyond this catalyst project, the STP makes the same decision that the BMP made by calling for protected bike lanes on MLK Jr Way and for no bike improvements on Rainier Ave south of MLK. We argued against this decision back in 2013, and continue to argue against it now. All of Rainier Ave needs to be safe for everyone, including people on bikes. It is where most the neighborhood destinations are, and it cuts against the street grid in such a way that there are many places where there are no viable alternatives. Leaving Rainier out of the city’s bike plan continues to be a mistake.

    Much of the good stuff in the BMP is maintained or upgraded in the STP, including many routes on Beacon Hill that were part of a really cool neighborhood-created walking and biking circulation plan from 2011. Here we are 13 years later, and that neighborhood organizing is still imprinted in new city policy documents.

    Looking at the plan for Beacon Ave S, it looks great. It calls for protected bike lanes the entire length of the road, which is great. But confusingly, the map notes it as an upgrade from an existing facility when there are no bike lanes at all currently. I think they may be counting sharrows as a bike facility. Because it may have an impact when prioritizing projects, any project on a street with only sharrows should be considered a new facility, not an upgrade. A quick glance reveals a bunch of these around the city (Boyer Ave E and 1st Ave S, are two obvious examples that jumped out immediately). This is a technical fix worth requesting. I think it is safe to say that this sharrow is not providing any value worth factoring into the 2024 plan:

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  • Mapped: Seattle’s 2014 Bicycle Master Plan vs the proposed 2024 Transportation Plan

    The 2014 Bicycle Master Plan Recommended Bicycle Network.
    The 2024 Seattle Transportation Plan Proposed Bicycle Network.
    The 2014 Bicycle Master Plan Recommended Bicycle Facility map (large jpg) is on the left, and the proposed 2024 Seattle Transportation Plan Proposed Bicycle Network map (large jpg) is on the right. Images resized and composited by Seattle Bike Blog.

    Once amended and approved by the City Council, the Seattle Transportation Plan (“STP”) will supersede the 2014 Bicycle Master Plan (“BMP”). So how does it compare to its predecessor?

    As we noted in our previous story, the 2014 bike plan was a very strong document, especially for its time. And its fingerprints are all over the bicycle section of the mayor’s proposed STP. Mayor Bruce Harrell submitted the plan to the City Council last week, and the new Transportation Committee had its first briefing about it this week.

    To help you see for yourself how the planned bicycle networks compare, I lined the maps from the two plans on top of each other to create the handy tool above. Move the slider left and right to see the changes. And let us know what you find in the comments below.

    The most immediate high-level observation here is that a lot of the map changes are positive, though there are definitely some needed improvements and clarifications. Many streets that were slated for paint-only bike lanes (or uphill-only “climbing lanes”) in the 2014 plan have been upgraded to protected bike lanes in the proposed STP. This change reflects how SDOT has mostly been operating anyway since many of the streets slated for painted bike lanes in the old plan were actually too busy for that to be an appropriate treatment (15th Ave S on North Beacon Hill is a good example).

    Some streets marked with a yellow line, however, now fall under a new category: Non-Bike+. “Bike+” is a new term in the STP that encompasses any bike facility designed to be safe and comfortable for people of all ages and abilities. So “Non-Bike+” streets are places where the plan acknowledges the need for a connection, but it is proposing a stub-standard facility such as paint-only bike lanes, a bike lane in only one direction or sharrows. The STP specifically states that it does not preclude these streets from getting Bike+ facilities if it is later deemed possible, but the plan estimates that the “right-of-way is so constrained that an AAA bike facility is not feasible.” We will discuss specific examples when we go neighborhood-by-neighborhood in future posts, but the most glaring and obvious one is Seward Park Ave S between Seward Park and Rainier Beach.

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  • The Emerald City Ride returns in May with a ride over the West Seattle Bridge

    Route map and elevation chart for the Emerald City Ride 2024.
    Route map and elevation chart from Cascade.

    For the first time since 2019, Cascade Bicycle Club will host its wildly popular Emerald City Ride, a rare chance to ride on our area’s freeway infrastructure that is usually off limits to bicycling. The 2024 ride will take an all-new route across the West Seattle Bridge. The high one.

    As Cascade Executive Director Lee Lambert put it, they are “putting the ‘everywhere’ in Bike Everywhere Month.” The ride scheduled for the morning of May 5, and registration opens March 12 (Tuesday).

    The Emerald City Ride started in 2016 with a route across the not-yet-open 520 Bridge and the I-5 Express Lanes. The ride immediately became one of the club’s best-attended events of the year along with the annual Seattle to Portland Classic (“STP”). Over the following three years, the ride also toured the I-90 Bridge, the old Alaskan Way Viaduct before it was demolished and the new SR-99 tunnel. But then the 2020 ride was cancelled, and it hasn’t been able to get off the ground again since. Cascade was very close to making it happen in 2023, but the necessary permissions didn’t come through until it was too late to organize it properly. As Lambert put it at the time, they could have done it, but they would have needed to over-stress their already stretched staff. The Emerald City Ride is much more resource-intensive than other Cascade events and has higher fixed costs “by leaps and bounds” than even the two-day STP, according to Lambert.

    So after a five-year hiatus, the fifth-ever Emerald City Ride will start in Pioneer Square near the stadiums, then hop on the SR-99 viaduct freeway south to the West Seattle Bridge. There is a climb up to the highest point of the bridge, but riders will get a view there that is rarely possible outside of a traffic jam. The route continues on the freeway bridge to Harbor Ave SW near Westside Bicycle. From there, riders will have two choices. Those looking for a shorter route with minimal traffic can hop on the Alki Trail and head back to Pioneer Square via the low bridge and E Marginal Way bike lanes. But the main 20-mile route will stay near the waterline all the way around Alki to Fauntleroy before heading up the hill to South Delridge and then back to Pioneer Square via 16th Ave SW and the usual low bridge bike route. The ride is only 20 miles long, but that mile-long climb up from Fauntleroy is a doozy. There will be snack stations along the route as is usual for Cascade events. Also, only the freeway sections will be closed to usual traffic, so there will be mixed-traffic riding much of the way.

    All riders must be clear of the West Seattle Bridge and SR-99 sections by 9 a.m., so the ride will start bright and early. The latest starters will be allowed to leave is 8 a.m. Pricing is on a donation-tiered scale starting at $55 ($22 for riders 18 and younger).

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  • Veo ‘temporarily pauses’ Seattle service, pledges to relaunch with refreshed e-bikes

    Screenshot of a 2022 Seattle Bike Blog tweet with photos of a Veo Cosmo e-bike and text: I finally rode a Veo shared “bike.” It was zippy, sturdy and fun. I prefer it to Wheels, it’s closest competitor. But it’s definitely a scooter with pedals. I was surprised how low the gear ratio was. Above maybe 5 mph, the pedals do nothing.
    Our review of the original Veo Cosmo-e bike when they first launched in Seattle.

    Veo paused Seattle service as of March 1, but the company says they will return in “several weeks” with refreshed e-bikes and revamped operations.

    With the demise of SuperPedestrian and their LINK scooter service as well as the ongoing bankruptcy of Bird, Lime has been eagerly gobbling up market share in Seattle. Veo, meanwhile, is not trying to compete directly with the stand-up scooters or traditional e-bikes, at least not yet. Instead, their Cosmo-e bikes land smack dab in the middle. They are essentially a sit-down scooter with a throttle but with bicycle pedals that don’t do much if anything. Veo does have a more traditional e-bike model called the Halo as well as a very interesting two-seater scooter called the Apollo, but the company is not planning on bringing those to Seattle at this time. When they restart service, they will be bringing revamped versions of the existing Cosmo-e bikes, according to a company spokesperson.

    “We are making multiple upgrades to improve ride quality,” the Veo spokesperson said. “While refreshing our fleet of Cosmo-e vehicles is our current focus, Veo is excited about the possibility of bringing new vehicle types to Seattle in the coming years.”

    As a bicycle rider, the Cosmo-e is my favorite of the scooters because I feel much more secure when stopping quickly or going over big bumps. It is the only scooter I would feel comfortable riding down a steep cobblestone street (which I did, and it was totally up to the challenge). However, I much prefer a more standard bicycle with an adjustable seat and pedal-assist. But these are my subjective preferences, and scooters seem to be more popular among the broader public. In 2023, people took an average of 10,300 trips per day on 5,950 available scooters from all companies, according to Seattle’s micromobility data dashboard. That’s about 1.7 trips per scooter per day, significantly higher than the 1 trip per bike per day on 3,114 available bikes.

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Bike Events Calendar

Mar
19
Tue
6:00 pm South Seattle Safe Streets Coali… @ Virtual via Zoom
South Seattle Safe Streets Coali… @ Virtual via Zoom
Mar 19 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Joint meeting between Rainier Valley Greenways & Beacon Hill Safe Streets.ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Mar
21
Thu
7:15 pm Point83 @ Westlake Park
Point83 @ Westlake Park
Mar 21 @ 7:15 pm
Point83 @ Westlake Park
Meet up in the center of the park at 7ish. Leave at 730. Every Thursday from now until forever rain or shine. Bikes, beers, illegal firepits, nachos, bottlerockets, timetraveling, lollygagging, mechanicals, good times.ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Mar
23
Sat
11:00 am Sharing Wheels Bike Parking Lot … @ Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop
Sharing Wheels Bike Parking Lot … @ Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop
Mar 23 @ 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Sharing Wheels Bike Parking Lot Sale @ Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop | Everett | Washington | United States
Sharing Wheels will have completely cleaned and refurbished bikes, As-Is bikes, parts and accessories at our spring Parking Lot Sale! All road bikes will be 50%. All other bikes are 20% off. We have mountain,[…]
Mar
25
Mon
5:30 pm Downtown Greenways monthly meeting
Downtown Greenways monthly meeting
Mar 25 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Last Monday of the month.  Join us! https://seattlegreenways.org/downtowngreenwaysShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Mar
27
Wed
6:00 pm Ballard-Fremont Greenways Meeting
Ballard-Fremont Greenways Meeting
Mar 27 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Ballard-Fremont Greenways meets monthly on the 4th Wednesday of the month. Join the google group for monthly meeting information: https://groups.google.com/g/ballard-greenwaysBring your enthusiasm and ideas to share with the group or just stop in to say hello[…]
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