SDOT is proposing changes to 15th Ave S and S Columbian Way that would add much-needed bike infrastructure in Mid-Beacon Hill and will help connect much of south Seattle to downtown. There will be an open house tomorrow, August 24, at the Jefferson Community Center to give residents a look at the proposal and a chance to give feedback. Be sure to take a look and speak up.

The proposed plans will add bike lanes and calm dangerous, chronic speeding by changing the layout of the street. The plans also involve the removal of some on-street parking.

I know from experience that an uphill bike lane on this stretch of Columbian Way would be a big help. Anyone else have thoughts yet?

The details, via the city’s Beacon Hill Blog:

15th Avenue South between South Bradford Street and South Oregon Street (the red line on the map below) currently consists of four travel lanes with parking restricted at the morning and evening peak rush hour. Motor vehicles often travel significantly faster through this corridor than the speed limit of 30 mph. SDOT is proposing to remove on-street parking from both sides of the street, remove one northbound travel lane, widen the travel lanes and install dedicated bike lanes in both directions.

15th Avenue South between South Oregon Street and Swift Avenue South (the green line on the map) currently consists of one travel lane in each direction with parking on both sides of the street. There are marked school crosswalks at South Dawson Street and South Shelton Street for Maple Elementary School and St. George School as well as a school speed zone for Cleveland High School. SDOT is proposing a combination of a bicycle lanes where the road is uphill and sharrows where the road is flat or downhill. On-street parking would be removed from the east side of the street between South Lucile Street and South Dawson Street, and from the west side between South Dawson Street and South Angeline Street. Removing street parking in this alternating fashion will provide some traffic calming at the school crosswalks.

South Columbian Way between Beacon Avenue South and South Alaska Street (the blue line on the map) currently consists of four travel lanes. SDOT is proposing to remove one downhill lane and install dedicated bicycle lanes in both directions.

These proposals, when completed, will create continuous bike facilities from downtown Seattle and North Beacon to Mercer Middle School, Cleveland High School, Mid-Beacon Hill and Columbia City. If approved, these changes would be implemented in 2010. This project is funded by the “Bridging the Gap” transportation levy approved by Seattle voters in 2006.

UPDATE: For some reason, I saw the URL for the Beacon Hill Blog (beaconhill.seattle.wa.us) and wrote that it was connected with the city. That was silly, as it’s clearly an independent ‘hood blog. I apologize for the confusion.