— Advertisement —

No Bikes Allowed

When drivers get mad about a little bike box or a couple bike lanes, show them this map. Your taxes pay for these roads, but you are not allowed to ride your bike on any of them. In fact, it’s a $124 fine if you do, according to the P.I. (I made the map using the P.I.’s data). That’s 140 miles of the most expensive roads in the area, all off-limits to the cyclists who helped pay for them.


View Where bikes can’t go in a larger map

When a bike lane goes in, it is typically a mere five feet wide. I would prefer larger or with buffer space, but five feet is what we usually get (Note to angry drivers: That is already a compromise on our part). Cars are still allowed on the road, and in almost every case, car capacity is preserved.

Seattle’s bike projects are going in on roads that are paid almost entirely by general taxes we all pay, according to Josh at Publicola. Gas taxes only make up 4 percent of SDOT’s funds (and only 0.44 percent of SDOT’s paving expenditures are paid by gas taxes). The rest are from property taxes, sales tax, grants, etc.


— Advertisement —

Gas taxes do pay for about 28 percent of WSDOT’s budget, but that’s not enough to pay for all these highways. Where does the rest come from? Everyone, of course.

My point is not that bikes need to be allowed on I-5, and true, cars are not allowed on bike trails. But the money and space dedicated to cars is so clearly unequal. You see how ridiculous people are when they suggest bikes don’t pay for roads and, therefore, should not get even tiny little five-foot slivers of it so they can get around a little more safely. We’re really not asking for that much, especially in comparison.


About the author:


Related posts:

Comments

5 responses to “No Bikes Allowed”

  1. Robby

    It’s also worth pointing out that those car only roads are usable at night. I only point this out because I forgot to take into account how much earlier it gets dark this time of year when I decided to ride to Woodinville a couple of weeks ago. There was almost no light on the trail except for the light on my bike. The interstate is set up with lights, why not dedicated trails?

  2. Brad Hawkins

    The one place where I would love to see access and perhaps a bike path on the area freeways is across the ship canal bridge between 45th St N and Roanoke E. That would allow cyclists to get from downtown, along Melrose, Lakeview (or whatever the road is by the colonnade MTB park, and then to UW area without any big hills. The real benefit would be southbound getting onto Capitol Hill.

    Imagine.

    1. mike archambault

      I’m imagining some pretty amazing views of downtown and Lake Union from a trail along the west side…

  3. VeganBiker

    Talking about I5, do any of you remember the Bicycle Sundays in the 80’s when the express lanes from Northgate to downtown were open to bikes, skates and walkers?
    They only did it a couple of years but it was wonderful. The views were fantastic.

  4. really loved the article added to my favourites

— Advertisement —

Join the Seattle Bike Blog Supporters

As a supporter, you help power independent bike news in the Seattle area. Please consider supporting the site financially starting at $5 per month:


Latest stories

Bike Events Calendar

Apr
2
Tue
6:30 pm West Seattle Bike Connections mo… @ Online
West Seattle Bike Connections mo… @ Online
Apr 2 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
 ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
7:30 pm NW Greenways Meeting @ Virtual via Zoom
NW Greenways Meeting @ Virtual via Zoom
Apr 2 @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Our regularly scheduled meeting, happens every other month. Please check NW Greenways Twitter account – https://twitter.com/NWGreenways, our Google Group – https://goo.gl/W9jmzW or our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/NWGreenways/) to confirm the meeting. ShareMastodonTwitterFacebookRedditEmail
Apr
3
Wed
6:00 pm Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board M…
Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board M…
Apr 3 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Monthly agendas can be found at: http://www.seattle.gov/seattle-bicycle-advisory-board/meetings/meeting-agendas The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board (SBAB) advises the Mayor, City Council, and City Departments and Divisions on projects, policies, and programs that improve and/or affect bicycling conditions in[…]
Apr
4
Thu
7:15 pm Point83 @ Westlake Park
Point83 @ Westlake Park
Apr 4 @ 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
Apr
6
Sat
9:00 am First Saturday Neighborhood Clea…
First Saturday Neighborhood Clea…
Apr 6 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Every month volunteers gather to collect garbage and help beautify our neighborhood. On average, we collect about 15 bags of garbage per clean up, which means 1,000’s of small pieces of plastic that do not[…]
— Advertisements —

Latest on Mastodon

Loading Mastodon feed…